This year's tradition-rich late summer festival in KUMUS this year celebrates the rich art and music life that for more than 100 years has been Fuglsang.
The festival is called "Jeg Bodil" and is named after Bodil de Neergaard, who for many years was the soul of Fuglsang Herregaard, who made the place a cultural focal point.
It is Fuglsang still today with the historic manor house, which is now a hotel and restaurant Fuglsang Art museum and as the home of the Danish Chamber Players.
Composers who have a connection to the place are presented and the exuberant artistic life from the 1920s Fuglsang carried up to the present day. Carl Nielsen, JPE Hartmann, Emil Hartmann, Emma Hartmann,
Julius Röntgen, Niels W. Gade, Asger Hamerik, Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen as well as a quartet by Magareth Hamerik, which has only been played for the first performance, are on the programme.
The ensemble has invited distinguished soloists to the traditional three-day festival:
Tuva Semmingsen, mezzo-soprano, Sonja Richter, actor, Sophie Hagen, alto and Nikolai Bentzon,
piano. In addition, the Danish Chamber Players have been expanded for the occasion with more wind instruments and an extra violin and double bass, so that we can perform the classical works from the venue.
And then we present a brand new book: Toke Lund Christiansen publishes a biographical collection of poems about Bodil de Neergaard. Flutist Svend Melbye will again this year lead the sonorous walk in the garden by Fuglsang og Fuglsang Kunstmuseum launches the first stage of its large Art Landscape during the festival.
We look forward to some festive days where Fuglsangs unique tradition of cross-aesthetic encounters vibrates and where the ensemble spins a musical thread through history.
Actress Sonja Richter is particularly known for her many film roles, for which she has received a large number of grants and awards, including The Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize in 2007 with the rationale: "Sonja Richter has a special ability to burn through. She has this amazing ability to come off the ramp or penetrate the screen and the screen and reach us with an inexplicable strength that opens a channel directly into the human mind.” Of the more than 30 film roles, mention can be made of the dogma film "Love You Forever", "Cecilie", "The Woman in the Cage" and "The Suicide Tourist".
At the theatre, she has played a number of leading roles and has been permanently associated with the Royal Theater and the Betty Nansen Theatre. Among other things. in Antigone, Hedda Gabler, A Dream Play, The Tin Drum, The Misanthrope and most recently in the title role as Frk. Juliet in Strindberg's classic at the Bellevue Theater in 2022.
With a voice likened to 'black velvet', Sophie Haagen is praised for her distinctive timbre and flexibility. She is already establishing herself as a sought-after mezzo-soprano in large parts of the world. Sophie Haagen studied singing at Det Kgl. Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, after which she was admitted to the Kgl. Teater's opera academy, where she trained as a soloist. The studies were completed during the summer of 2021. In addition, she has studied at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York and at the School of the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. In October 2019, Sophie Haagen was awarded first prize together with the pianist Elias Holm at the "Copenhagen Lied Duo Competition" at Det Kgl. Danish Conservatory of Music. She had her first leading role (Ursula) in 2020 in David Bruce's opera “Nothing” at Det Kgl. Theater. In 2021, Sophie Haagen could add this year's Leonie Sonning Talent Award to the list of awards.
Educated from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Royal Opera Academy. Danish Conservatory of Music. Debuted 1999 at Det Kgl. Theater as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and sang the same part at the Teatro Fenice in Venice 2000. At Det Kgl. Theater she has made a name for herself in several productions as a member of the soloist ensemble 2000-2016.
Tuva's love for baroque music has led to collaboration with, among others, Concerto Copenhagen, The King's Consort, and the Baroque Soloists. With the latter, she has the CD "London Calling" with arias by Händel. They can also be heard together in the soundtrack to von Trier's film "Antichrist".
Tuva also has a secret passion for jazz music, and it is sometimes cultivated in larger and smaller formats and to a large extent in collaboration with Nikolaj Bentzon.
After studying at Berklee College of Music, Boston, 1983-86, Nikolaj Bentzon made his debut in 1989 in trio format with the album "Pianoforte", and the release attracted a lot of attention in the press and music community.
Since then, there have been 24 releases under his own name – the 6 with his jazz funk group, the Bentzon Brotherhood, as one of the main streams. In between there have been large productions and releases with both big bands and symphony orchestras, but also intimate performances such as his solo release "12 Songs for Mature Lovers", where he himself sings about the dignity of mature love life. The songwriting has also had a Danish-language outlet with Wilhelm Hansen's 2018 publication of his "7 new homeland songs" both in sheet music and audio form. His recent sheet music publication, "Jazz Piano for Classical Pianists", is another example of his initiatives and work as a stylistic bridge builder.
Another main stream was his long engagement with the DR Big Band – both as pianist and conductor.
The starting point is i.a. family history with great-great-grandfather JPE Hartmann and father Niels Viggo Bentzon – each in his own right, lighthouses in Danish music history.
Bentzon has inherited the ability to chalk up the musical path so that you prick up your ears. And to break down genre boundaries.
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