Koster Chamber Music Festival 2008
The program for this year’s festival was chosen in view of the festival’s new brainchild: A chamber orchestra! A completely new orchestra with symphonic instrumental composition in a limited format. This allows for a wealth of new opportunities and challenges. We have chosen to dive into this challenge with the highest ambitions and with a magnificent program. It has been important to select works that are written to fit a smaller orchestra, which has made it natural to choose repertoire from Neoclassicism, as well as some newer works for chamber orchestra.
An important factor in the process to create a new symphony orchestra is to facilitate the development of the ensemble to be a well-functioning instrument. This year’s program was also selected on the basis of the desire to create the best possible start for this new ensemble – for who knows where the road can proceed? The starting point is fantastic. The orchestra members belong to the best of young musicians and come from large parts of Europe with a common goal: to create an unforgettable week filled by magical musical highlights, where the world surrounding us stop, and all that exists is our flourishing oasis in Kosters Trädgårdar.
This year’s festival opens on Munkekyrkans nature scene on North Koster. We’ve been so lucky to be able to present to you part of the ensemble Mia Cara, who created a brand new family show for this year’s festival. It is the third year in a row where we have the pleasure to collaborate with this ensemble, which attracted loads of audience to their family show “Kostermysteriet” last summer.
The afternoon’s symphonic opening concert at Koster’s Trädgårdar was spectacular in several ways. The festival’s new main stage was inaugurated, as well as the festival’s new grand piano. What does not fit better than Mozart overtyre to Figaro for that occasion! Piano Soloist Mikael Holmlund honoured the festival by inaugurating our new grand piano with no less than Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4.
I chose to do both Haydn cello concerts, probably due to my own uninhibited enthusiasm over the possibility that raised when the orchestra was a fact. Audience do not have so many opportunities to hear these works during the rest of the year elsewhere in Scandinavia, which also goes for much of the best-known classical repertoire. Mozart Symphony No. 29, and especially Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, were the festival’s major works this season. The orchestra’s approximately “authentic” size creates unusual possibilities. This allows for a rare opportunity to achieve a distinct clarity and a chamber musical perspective in the performances that otherwise rarely occurs. This is something I have dreamed of doing for a long time and now we have the opportunity at Koster Chamber Music Festival!
Another dream I have nurtured was to get Richard Russell from London to perform the fantastic clarinet concert in A Major by Mozart, of which the second movement is thought to be the world’s most beautiful. After many attempts Russell finally had the opportunity to come. He also appeared in the orchestra.
Lars Erik Larsson’s anniversary was celebrated this year. For that occasion we included his famous work “Pastoralsvit” in the program.
Gothenburg’s chamber choir (Göteborgs kammarkör) also came to visit. They presented to us a concert filled with feelings of summer and wonderful Swedish choir magic at its best!
Tore Norrby (bass baritone) and Ulrik Gaston Larsen (lutt) created a beautiful concert, performed in Koster’s churc.
As Grande Finale we performed for the first time our newly arranged Bellman operetta for tenor and orchestra with Thomas as a Flodin soloist. It was an ambitious project based on Bellman’s “Fredmans epistler and songs”.
Sunset concerts on Valfjäll was an evocative end of the days, where the audience experienced the festival’s musicians perform chamber music encores.
Martin Rasten
Artistic leader
