This love between us
A young, innovative Indian-American composer meets one of the central masters of Western classical music.
Kork and The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir reunite after last year’s successful collaboration on Handel’s Messiah. These are two ensembles that thrive in each other’s company, and the audience can look forward to powerful musical experiences performed at the very highest level.
In this concert, two masterpieces written 300 years apart are brought together. In their own distinct ways, they lift us out of the everyday and into the beautiful and sublime. The result is a meaningful and deeply moving entry into the Advent and Christmas season.
Programme
Reena Esmail (b. 1983): This Love Between Us
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): Magnificat in D major
Bach’s Magnificat is the older of the two musical jewels. It is a hymn of praise to the Virgin Mary, composed for major church feast days.
This Love Between Us was composed as a modern counterpart to Bach’s Magnificat. It uses the same orchestral forces, while also incorporating the distinctive sounds of sitar and tabla.
The music is based on texts from seven major religious traditions in India. With the subtitle A Prayer for Unity, Esmail highlights the aspects of these traditions that seek unity, goodness, and brotherhood. The result is a work that is both deeply personal and universal, exploring what connects us across differences.
For the composer, this vibrant and richly coloured work is also a way of bringing together her two cultural roots. Together with Bach’s Magnificat, it creates a concert experience that spans the timeless and the contemporary—from jubilation and energy to a more meditative expression shaped by unity and hope.
To bring this programme together, The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir and KORK are conducted by Swedish conductor Sofi Jeannin. She is one of Europe’s most sought-after choral conductors today, holding principal positions with the BBC Singers, Ars Nova in Copenhagen, and La Maîtrise de Radio France.
With her distinctive musical insight and artistic clarity, she creates a strong and cohesive arc across 300 years of music and humanist history.