Nordic Lights Festival –
Barokkanerne, Concerto Copenhagen, Drottningholms Barockensemble, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra
30. Juni & 1. Juli 2023
Philharmonie Berlin & Säälchen auf dem Holzmarkt
Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ on the Hardanger fiddle – Swedish folk music arranged for baroque orchestra and nyckelharpa – “Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz” from Finland – baroque music from the Danish-German border region and from Sweden – a chamber music excursion into Swedish Romanticism: the Nordic Lights Festival brings together the four most important baroque orchestras in Northern Europe, Barokkanerne (Norway), Concerto Copenhagen (Denmark), Drottningholms Barockensemble (Sweden), Finnish Baroque Orchestra (Finland) and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra for an inspiring night of concerts at Säälchen at Holzmarkt. The multifaceted programme not only shows the musical richness of Northern and Central Europe, but also the almost unlimited possibilities of interpretation for period instrumentation. Soloists are the bass-baritone Jakob Bloch Jespersen, the virtuoso on violin and Hardanger fiddle, Ragnhild Hemsing, and the “innovator of the guitar”, Petri Kumela. Immerse yourself and celebrate with us!
The concert performance of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra on the previous evening in the Berlin Philharmonie will kick things off. Afterwards, the musicians of the five orchestras will meet on stage together for the first time to play Edvard Grieg’s “From Holberg’s Time”.
The festival was conceived by conc.arts berlin and the Nordic Baroque Scene (NBS). The NBS is a cooperation platform established by Barokkanerne, Concerto Copenhagen, the Drottningholms Barockensemble and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) with the aim of strengthening the Nordic Baroque Scene through joint innovative projects, highlighting its diversity and quality while expanding its international visibility. This includes joint opera productions, reciprocal concert invitations and collective education programmes. In cooperation with Stormen Konserthus, the NBS hosted the Aria Borealis Bodø Festival in the summer of 2022, which also included an international early music vocal competition.
The Nordic Lights Festival marks another milestone: not only do the four ensembles present themselves together in Berlin for the very first time, but they also invite a Central European orchestra, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, to expand the network and share the joy of exchange and cooperation.
Find out more on the festivals’s website.
Kick-Off
30 June 2023, 08.00 p.m., Philharmonie Berlin
Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1 / 10785 Berlin
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream op. 61 – Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, RIAS Kammerchor, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor), Max Urlacher (actor)
Edvard Grieg: „Aus Holbergs Zeit“ op. 40 – NBS & FBO
Tickets for this concert are available here.
Nordic Lights Festival
01 July 2023, 06.00 p.m, Säälchen auf dem Holzmarkt
Holzmarktstraße 25 / 10243 Berlin
With works by Antonio Vivaldi, François Couperin, Johan Helmich Roman, Dietrich Buxtehude, Luigi Boccherini, Antti Auvinen, Johan Agrell, Franz Berwald, Joseph Haydn, Carlos Baguer, Marin Marais, Agnes Ida Pettersen and traditionals from Norway and Sweden.
Tickets for this concert are available here.
With the kind support of “Klangwert” – Ensemble-Förderung der Aventis Foundation.
