Coming Projects

Our conductor – Jesper Ryskin – describes the upcoming projects for the 2018-2019 season.

Summer 2019

Where our autumn and spring projects focus on the chamber-music elements of playing together, and have a focus on strings and winds respectively, the summer-project is where we put everything together, and unleash the full potential from working through the year with those different parts of what makes a symphony-orchestra great.

The concert will consist of two halfs, each with a massive strength to it.

The first half consists of Tchaikovskys Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem. The Overture is rarely played, but reminds somewhat of the over-the-top 1812 ouverture, maybe in a more controlled version. The overture is basically one long variant of the danish national song “Kong Christian Stod Ved Højen Mast”, and was written as a gift to the Danish Princess Dagmar when she married the Russian zar-to-be Alexander the 3rd.

Tchaikovsky himself considered the piece to be better than the 1812-ouverture, but some performances were cancelled because he attempted to include the Russian national anthem in the minor key.

The piece is very efficient and the only reason why it is not included in the Danish repertoire the same way as “Rule Britannia” is for the British, must be because there is a Russian composer behind it.

The second half of the concert bring one of the most beloved symphonic pieces of the 20th century: Sibelius symphony nr.2. The symphony is a difficult endeavor which have been our goal to play since I started as the principal conductor, but we wanted to wait until the time was right and we felt we were ready.

By summer 2019, it has been three years, and we now dare to play this magnificent piece that is both extremely lyrical, extremely romantic, very fast and difficult (3rd movement), and maybe have one of the longest buildups in the music history (4th movement), giving competition to Ravels Bolero.

The symphony will conclude a very ambitious programme for any symphony orchestra, and will require all our energy and attention, but will also bring some musical experiences to our members on a level they have not been able to enjoy so far.

Jesper Ryskin