Sweden – Uppsala, Orphei Drängar and Robert Sund – Part 3

After the concert, we all got into busses to go up to the Castle. It’s an imposing structure which for some time has been not a royal building, but the residence for the county Governor and the large rooms are used for special occasions such as this one, degree granting, etc.



On the way to the castle we were taken by way of the river, where across from Robert and Margareta’s apartment, there hung a giant poster with Robert’s face—another surprise for Robert when he woke up that morning! Robert’s visage was everywhere, a great caricature on banners, same on the coaster under the beer, and on the beer bottle itself a picture of Robert—the beer was called Avslaget (which was explained to us means both “cut off”—as in a conductor’s cut off—and “out of date!”). And the caricature was even on the top of the dessert. All the pictures led to a running joke in the speeches, based on North Korea’s leader Kim-Jong-il, and his ubiquitous portraits: “Kim-il-Sund.”







There were over 700 of us in the hall, a striking high-ceilinged room, tapestries on the walls, with a very long head table, and all the other tables in long rows (each seating 49 or 50) at right angles to it. Candles, a beautifully set table, and everyone in their tails and gowns made for a gorgeous setting. There was also a beautifully prepared program booklet, with lots of pictures of Robert from early days with OD to the present, the complete list of guests, and a number of the songs that were sung (I knew a couple well enough to join in).



A glass of champagne waiting for us as we arrived, and eventually Robert led the group with a song into the hall. There was beer all ready at the table, and (for us guests) tickets for snaps (schnapps). The snaps and beer (and later the wine and sherry) came in handy, since at least 10 times Robert would be announced, stand with his tuning fork and give the pitch for the next song (which was always followed by a toast: skål!



This is a repertoire all members of OD know by heart, so hearing that many voices in a resonant room is amazing. A side note: OD has long had a rule that members have to leave at a certain age (I think 50 or 52) in order to keep the group with a balance of youthful and more mature voices. For this reason there are lots of “veterans” (who do sing on particular occasions and even do their own concerts) who are still amazingly good singers. Across from us at the table were Christer and Karin Solén—Christer sang with Eric for many years in the Chamber Choir as well as OD, where he was tenor soloist for 15 years, and he can still sing a powerful, ringing high C.



Next to Kathryn was Kettel Skarby, who I’d met twice in Uppsala, first in 2002 when I gave lectures on the book, and then again last year during a conference sponsored by the Choral Centre. It was great to talk to all of them (and have ready explanations for such things as the meaning of “avslaget”).



There were of course, speeches (including a nice one by Philip Brunelle on the “secret” group’s behalf), awards, some planned songs, and much else. Robert gave a great speech near the end, mentioning many people—Eric Ericson, of course, (who couldn’t be there because he was on tour with EEKK that weekend—he’ll be at the Stockholm concert), and the many officers who make OD work. Robert also mentioned Cecilia Rydinger-Alin, who will be the next conductor of OD and who was there, of course, with her husband Folke Alin, the long-time accompanist and assistant conductor of OD, as well as repetitör and co-choirmaster at the Royal Opera (he prepared the opera chorus for the great production of Orphée that we saw).

Cecilia and Folke (seated):



The waiters and waitresses (dressed beautifully) came out for each course (or to remove the last one) in a long line in front of the head table, paused, then moved down the long rows between the tables together.

Quite simply, everything was done with class.

And, of course, the reason we were here (Robert and Margareta):

Robert, Steen, and Margareta:



Robert and Margareta:



After dinner (around 11 PM), everyone repaired to an upstairs room for coffee and brandy, before coming back downstairs for dancing with a big band. We greeted a few people, but didn’t stay. Most of us called it a night after dinner and we walked back to the hotel with Dick and Diane Loomer. A fabulous time!

Sunday morning around 9 we bid goodbye to Gunilla and Jerry, who were headed to the airport, had breakfast with Ágnes, visited with several others including Lawrence and the Brunelles, then went for a lovely walk. We were to meet Ágnes again at 1 PM, so checked out after the walk and hung around the lobby, where we managed to see almost everyone one last time as they were on their way out. We then had a long lunch and visit with Ágnes before catching the train ourselves.

Gunilla and me:



Kathryn Sparks with Ágnes (all photos credit to Kathryn--except this one!)



Again, I can’t say how much of an honor it was to be a part of this. It was a special occasion in every way.

Sweden – Uppsala, Orphei Drängar and Robert Sund – Part 2

Gunilla met us at the apartment early Friday afternoon to drop a few things off, since she was going back home directly from Uppsala. We caught the train to Uppsala and who would we see when we got settled, but Diane and Dick Loomer! We had a wonderful time catching up during the trip. Diane has been co-conductor (with Morna Edmonson) of the women’s choir Elektra in Vancouver B.C. for 20 years and is founder/conductor of the men’s choir, Chor Leoni. She and Dick also run a small publishing company dedicated to Canadian choral works, Cypress Music, well worth checking out. Dick and Diane are both delightful people and the time passed quickly.

The weather, by the way, has been beautiful, with lots of sunshine. After checking in at the hotel we made plans for dinner. When we came downstairs, Jerry McCoy (head of the choral program at the University of North Texas and President-Elect of ACDA) had just arrived, so he joined us for dinner. A great time with great people.

The next morning we met Lawrence Cherney for breakfast—Lawrence is Artistic Director for Soundstreams in Toronto. Pro Coro has taken part in several Soundstreams events and we wanted to talk about possible future collaborations. Ágnes came down for breakfast as well. At 11 AM we met to rehearse a Schubert song (including some different words wishing Robert a happy birthday) that we were singing at the dinner, so met all the others at that time. Philip Brunelle led the rehearsal—I have to say, we were a pretty motley choir! Afterwards we all had lunch, joined by Karl Eric and Margareta.

After a bit of a break, we dressed and left for the concert. There was an almost full house, with most of the “veteran” members of OD who were attending wearing tails, as is traditional for the dinner (their wives in evening dresses). The concert itself was great and Robert chose a program with some of the pieces that will be on the tour program next fall, traditional Swedish male choir repertoire, plus guests Lena Willemark (a marvelous singer who does a wide variety of styles from folk to jazz to “kulning”—the high, loud singing originally designed to call the cows home), Claes Janson (a fabulous blues/jazz singer), and jazz piano trio, Trio X.

Besides traditional Swedish male chorus songs, the classical repertoire included Bob Chilcott’s 5 Ways to Kill a Man, Anders Hillborg’s male chorus version of muo:ayiy:oum, Toivo Kuula’s Iltapilviä, and Murray Schafer’s Magic Songs, commissioned by OD some years ago. Magic Songs is a challenging set (I’ve done the mixed voice version with Pro Coro) and OD did them from memory with choreography—very impressive! There were also songs by Lena and Claes, duets with the two of them, a solo performance by the trio, and Robert joining Lena on Ale Möller’s Tango vid midnatt on accordion (a talent I didn't know he had, but I'm not surprised!). There were also speeches and the presentation of a medal to Robert by the President of the University. Great fun, the choir sounded wonderful, and the program was followed by at least three encores.

During the second half of the program it was arranged to have spotlights on all of us so that Robert could finally see the “secret guests.” It took a minute for him to finally realize who was there—he said he first saw Steen, who’s very tall—and he was genuinely surprised and delighted. In his own speech, he broke into English momentarily to great his “friends from abroad.” Believe me, it was our pleasure!

Sweden – Uppsala, Orphei Drängar and Robert Sund – Part 1

I’ll break this post up into several parts, since there’s so much to tell (plus pictures).

Orphei Drängar is one of the world’s best men’s choruses—you can find their website here—with a history that dates back to 1853. They came out of a tradition of student choirs at the famous Uppsala University (founded in 1477), although OD (as it’s called) has long had members who are no longer students. Uppsala itself is a beautiful university town with a rich history and impressive Cathedral and castle. Because of the Cathedral (earlier versions than the present one) it has been the center of spiritual life in Sweden since the 1200s.



The first time I came to Sweden in April of 1989, OD formed the “bookends” of that visit. When I arrived, they were about to go on a short tour with Eric Ericson and he invited me to go along—and so I did, riding the bus, attending rehearsals and concerts, staying at the hotel with them, eating meals, and generally having a wonderful time. At the end of my stay Eric invited me to attend the first of May “Serenade” concert (which Robert Sund was conducting). This is part of an important time in all Northern countries when Spring is officially declared and the long, dark winter over—and in this case the students party, shall we say, impressively! We had a luncheon with Orphei Drängar, then the afternoon concert, then went to the library for sherry with some honored guests and the President of the University. At the appointed hour we all went out onto the balcony where we could see that every square foot of ground was covered with students. The President made the official announcement that Spring had arrived and the students cheered, threw hats into the air, and began their celebrations. Shortly afterward we went to the castle, where we heard a brief, outdoor performance by Allmänna Sången under their new conductor, Cecilia Rydinger-Alin (Robert Sund had recently finished his 15 year stint as their conductor)—you’ll see (if you haven’t already figured it out) how prescient all of this is! After that we had a lovely dinner at the Castle. You can imagine this was a pretty impressive introduction to Sweden and OD!

By the way, if you conduct a men’s choir, OD has probably the most extensive library in the world for this repertoire, and the library is online in a searchable database here.

OD has a particularly strong history of conductors: Hugo Alfvén (you may know his beautiful “Aftonen”) was the choir’s fifth conductor from 1910-1947 and raised standards, plus writing many compositions for this choir. Eric Ericson followed him from 1951-1991, which meant further increases in the choir’s standard, a much wider repertoire, and eventually recognition and tours outside Sweden (they first toured the USA in 1970, for an incredible six weeks). Robert Sund has had a long career with the choir, beginning as a singer in 1965, becoming Eric’s assistant conductor in 1968, in 1985 becoming co-conductor with Eric (they alternated responsibility for concerts), and sole conductor in 1991.

Robert and I also go back a long way. While I met him briefly in 1989 in Sweden, I really got to know him a month or so later, when we were both judges at the first International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. All the judging discussions were done in German and I sat next to Robert, who was kind enough to supply me with words when my German ran out! We’ve kept in touch over the years; he helped with background when I was researching my dissertation on Swedish choral music the summer of 1990, and I also brought him as a clinician to the PLU summer choral workshop in 1993. I’ve seen him and his wife Margareta at conferences and on every visit to Sweden since.

That’s all prelude to the events of this past weekend, which marked Robert’s 66th birthday and his last series of concerts with OD in Uppsala (he will lead them on a tour to North America in October—don’t miss it if you’re anywhere close by!). Margareta and Karl Eric Ericson were the primary conspirators (Karl Eric is a life-long friend of Robert’s, was involved with the tour I was a part of back in ’89, and was at a memorable dinner at Robert and Margareta’s in 1996 after Kathryn and I were married). Along with a few others I got this message from Karl Eric a year ago: “I am writing to you as a member of a "secret" group within Orphei Drängar. The group is planning for Robert Sund's last official appearance as OD's conductor. Part of the planned activities and events will be kept in utmost secrecy, especially for Robert. My task is to approach some of Robert's old and close friends inviting them to Uppsala for the concert on April 19. We believe that Robert will be highly surprised but also most happy and delighted to spot you and the other old friends in the audience during the concert!”

Karl Eric, Margareta, and Dick Loomer:




Karl Eric and Margareta did an amazing job of keeping this secret . . . except for me, since Robert already knew I’d be in Sweden. I got a message from Karl Eric in January: “I guess that Robert will rather soon contact you. The reason is that OD's president (Christian Wetterberg) a few minutes ago has talked to him about OD's wish to invite his two sons and their wives to the concert and the dinner. At the same time he asked Robert if there were some other persons he would like OD to invite for the event. His first proposal was you! The president told Robert that OD will invite you as soon as Robert has delivered your contact addresses! So, in short: when Robert contacts you - try act as if you are really surprised! That is to ensure that Robert will not get a suspicion that you already know about this.” Of course, I acted “surprised” when I got the call from Robert!

So it was that Kathryn and I got to go to this truly fantastic event, along with other friends of Robert, including Philip and Carolyn Brunelle, Gunilla Luboff, and Jerry McCoy from the USA; Diane and Dick Loomer, and Lawrence Cherney from Canada; Gardar Cortes from Iceland; Tove Ramlo-Ystad and Tor Ystad from Norway; Steen and Sigga Lindholm from Denmark; Matti and Mariana Hyökki; Seppo and Laura Murto, and Gottfrid Gräsbeck from Finland; and Ágnes Szalai from Hungary (Ágnes is also a dear friend of ours—we also met for the first time in Marktoberdorf). Simply put, it was a great honor to be included in this group and the amazing weekend.

Cast of Characters:

Philip and Carolyn Brunelle:



Carolyn, Ágnes Szalai, and Gunilla Luboff:



Jerry McCoy, Richard, Steen Lindholm, Philip:



Diane and Dick Loomer:



Lawrence Cherney (on the right--Seppo and Laura on the left):



Gardar Cortes:



Tove Ramlo-Ystad and Tor Ystad:



Steen and Sigga Lindholm:



Ágnes, Matti and Mariana Hyökki:



Laura and Seppo Murto:

Stockholm 2007 - Week 2

Week 2

Early in the week I spent time at St. Jacobs with Gary, beginning to look through some of the latest Swedish music, plus other pieces Gary's done recently from around Europe. It's always wonderful to find new repertoire! Tuesday evening we went with Gary and his choir to Uppsala, where they were having their first rehearsal with orchestra for Mendelssohn's 'Paulus.' This was a co-production with the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, so one concert to be in Uppsala and one in St. Jacobs, with the orchestra's conductor leading the performance (he's Estonian, so the rehearsal was conducted in English rather than Swedish). This is a very good chamber orchestra and they will be the orchestra for Bach's Johannespassion in another month, this time with Gary conducting. To give an idea of how quickly they work, the choir had 4 regular rehearsals and a long Saturday rehearsal for a LOT of music in Paulus. The Bach is a repertoire piece for them, so they'll likely have 2 choral rehearsals before beginnning with the orchestra.

Wednesday was a Radio library day for me, while Kath wandered and shopped nearby. Thursday, we met Eric at this apartment for coffee at 1 PM to chat further about what we're both doing, what's happening in Sweden, etc. We then went to the first full RK rehearsal for their next production, with conductor Frederik Malmberg. I'd met Malmberg before, but hadn't seen him work. He's particularly known for his specialties in early music, but does a wide variety of music and last year was appointed conductor of the Danish Radio Choir, which has reorganized with a 14-voice core that they expand as necessary for different repertoire. His program with RK is eclectic (to say the least!): several Gesualdo madrigals (only 12 singers) and the Monteverdi 'Amor; then full choir for Rossini's I Gondolieri and Toast pour le nouvel an; a short chorus from Verdi's Otello (Fuoco di gioia); Petrassi's Nonsense (in Italian--they're settings of Edward Lear limericks--I sang them in English years ago with Rod Eichenberger); and Luciano Berio's 'Cries of London (which has sections for solo voices as well). The connection is Italian composers. Interesting to watch him work and it will be interesting to see the program develop.

Friday morning I went to Fredrik's 2nd rehearsal with RK (still just working through the repertoire, not a lot of detailed work yet) while Kathryn did some things around the apartment and then went to one of her favorite small museums. At the end of the rehearsal I went to the other end of town to meet Mats Nilsson for lunch and then coffee at his apartment. Mats is anther friend and colleague whom I've known since my earlierst time in Sweden and is now in his late 40's, I'd say. Mats has done a lot of different things and was one of Eric's last generation of students: quite a few productions with RK, a nice recording with his own small vocal ensemble, worked with the symphonic choirs in Gothenberg and Oslo, spent 5 years in Sydney Australia conducting the Sydney Symphonic Choir, and now conducts the Bach Choir (which Anders Öhrwal had for many years), plus a small amateur choir that we'll hear on Sunday evening, and teaches conducting part-time at the Conservatory (primarily to the music teachers). Great to catch up with him and we'll also see him work with Orphei Drängar, the fabulous men's chorus from Uppsala--Robert Sund is retiring next year and Mats is one of three candidates for the position.

I then headed back to the apartment to meet Kath, as we were to catch the train to Uppsala and meet Robert and Margareta Sund for dinner at their apartment at 6 PM. We had a fantastic evening with them (and a wonderful dinner) as both are great, fun people. Again, I've known Robert for a long time and particularly got to know him at the first Marktoberdorf competition in 1989, where we were both judges. The judging sessions were all conducted in German and Robert was there to help me find the right word when I needed it--it's not easy to describe what you think of some choir's performance in another language! Robert is ALWAYS traveling (in the next couple months he'll be in Cuba for America Cantat, several places in the US for about three weeks--including Miami for the ACDA convention--and then in Amsterdam to do a week-long conducting workshop with the Netherlands Chamber Choir. Robert turned 64 last year and at OD's famous "Caprice" concert sang the Beatles' "When I'm 64" -- so we convinced him to recreate it for us, which he did, accompanying himself on the piano. We left just in time to catch the final train back to Stockholm, getting home just after midnigtht.



Saturday was Mendelssohn's Paulus at St. Jacobs, and the concert went very well. The choir was great (again, 40 singers over a large orchestra) and soloists (from Sweden, Latvia and Estonia) were very good, particularly the Estonian tenor. We also saw Birgit Hemberg (Eskil's widow) there--her daughter sings in Gary's choir--and had a lovely visit. We both know Birgit from before and had a great dinner at Birgit and Eskil's home during our last visit to Sweden. We'll find time to meet with her later and hope to get her, Gary, and Gary's wife Maria, over to the apartment for dinner. Birgit is a fabulous cook and was for a long time editor of Sweden's leading food magazine. She's now "retired", but apparently is working on a new cookbook, so Kathryn (a foodie, for sure) in particular looks forward to talking to her more about that! Birgit is also busy continuing to promote Eskil's music. After a great reception for the choir and orchestra afterwards, we headed home.

Mats' concert was with an amateur choir based at Emmanuel Church, 20 singers of decent quality, but nothing like the other choirs we've heard. A nice performance including Jan Sandström's (no relation to Sven-David) Biegga Luotha, which is a version of a Lapland "Joik"--the performance was a bit less vigorous and "ethnic" than some I've heard. It ended with Morten Lauridsen's Lux aeterna--Lauridsen's music seems just as popular here as in the US (I did the Madrigali with RK in 2002 on my last visit and at that time it was a bit new).

Next week brings more rehearsals with RK, coffee with composer Thomas Jennefelt; a dinner with Gunnar Andersson; watching Mats in rehearsal with OD in Uppsala; a choral seminar in Uppsala on Friday with Stefan Parkman, Eric, Gunnar Eriksson, and others; a fun concert Saturday at St. Jacobs with Gary singing, jazz pianist/composer Steve Dobrogosz and soprano sax player Anders Paulsson playing (and a visit from our British conductor friend, Joy Hill, whom we first met when I first conducted RK in 2002), plus what I'm sure will be a great party at Gary's afterward; and dinner at Eva Wedin's with Arne and his wife (on my mom's 80th birthday!). So it remains a fantastic (and busy) time here.