What is a pocket concert?
New things happen when everyday life changes and one of the ensemble's new formats, the new “Pocket Concertos”, has just sprung from the challenges of the Corona era with large gatherings.
It is a reinterpretation of the violin concerto as a genre in a condensed chamber music pocket format, which the ensemble has developed together with the violinist Niklas Walentin over the past year. We have commissioned a number of short violin concerts by some of the most exciting Nordic composers of the time, which we will start recording later this year on the record company Naxos.
We will premiere the first two pocket concerts with Niklas Walentin as soloist for our Spring Festival in March. It was actually the internationally known Danish composer Poul Ruders who invented the name “Pocket Concerto”, and we set out to premiere a concert by him and one by the Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi (photo). We are excited to work with the two on the new works!
In July, we will premiere two more new pocket concertos, which we have commissioned from the Greenlandic composer Arnannguaq Gerstrøm and from the Norman Aksel Kolstad.
It was, as I said, the Corona Crisis that led us and Niklas Walentin on the trail of a new and intimate concert form that explores how, instead of violin concerts traditionally played by a large symphony orchestra, one can renew the genre in a smaller chamber musical pocket format.
We hope you will follow us on this journey with the new handy violin concerts.
Many greetings
Maj
