Our new performance takes inspiration in the great Maria repertoire from the middle ages to modern times. With carefully chosen works from this music treasury we want to show the Maria figure from different perspectives, through various artistic expressions such as singing, organ music, dancing and recitation, and through this illuminate and focus on the different Maria images.
Historically, Maria has been represented as the Queen of the Heavens, Mother of Compassion or the Morning Star, in singing as well as litterature. The organ as a symbol of power is in vast contrast to the common image of Maria as the humble servant of the Lord, as often presented by the Church. Together with singing, organ, recitation and dancing we wish to shine light upon the differences and contrasts in the symbolic world surrounding Maria. It is our hope that this performance will reflect something of the enormous riches present in the Maria music through all times.
Contributors:
Helena Ek, singing
Anna Westberg, dance
Johannes Landgren, organ
Svante Grogarn, direction
Contact:
Helena Ek, +46(0)703-396417
Johannes Landgren, +46(0)31-276992
- Kristallen den fina
- O Florens Rosa
(both files are in MP3 format, 192 kbps, and can be downloaded by right-clicking the links above)
Helena Ek, soprano, is educated at Göteborgs Musikhögskola. Her repertoire is broad, spanning through early music, folk music as well as modern pieces. She was recently soloist in Karin Rehnqvist's "Till ängeln med de brinnande händerna", performed at the Nordic Music Days 2007. She has also been soloist many times in the newly composed Passion of Marcus by Fredrik Sixten. In the field of early music Helena Ek continously give performances with the lutist Jakob Lindberg, with whom she has among other things toured in Japan. Under the direction of conductor and lutist Stephen Stubbs she has concerted at festivals in Germany and last year in a project with Holland Baroque Society with concerts in, among other places, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Apart from having collaborations with Swedish baroque ensembles such as Svenska Barockorkestern och Stockholms Barockensemble, Helena has also sung with Arte dei Suonatori and with Norsk Barockorkester. Helena Ek has taken part in many baroque operas and debuted in 1997 on Drottninghols Slottsteater. Her artistic activity also include an extensive touring in for example England, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Poland. Helena has on numerous occasions participated in TV and radio and has recorded many CDs with renaissance and baroque music, for example in England for Sony Classical and Virgin Classics. Last year she released the CD "Maria" on the label Musica Rediviva, with medieval songs and Swedish folk music.
Johannes Landgren, organ, is educated the School of Music and Musicology at the Gothenburg University where he got a Church Music degree in 1985, soloist diploma in 1987 and choir pedagogy in 1990. In May 1997 he presented his dissertation on the Czech composer Petr Eben´s organ music.
In recent years Johannes has been teaching at the Göteborg School of Music and Musicology and at present he conducts postdoctoral research at the Faculty of Arts at Göteborg University, and is active as a freelance organist and conductor.
As a conductor and organist Johannes has had great international success at competitions and festivals. A.o. in the Prague Days of Choral singing in 1994 with the choir ”Varbergs kammarkör”. He has, as conductor and organist, made recordings for radio and Television in Europe. He has also made more than twenty CD recordings, including renaissance, baroque and contemporary music. Together with alto saxophonist Håkan Lewin, Johannes has toured in the USA, Southern Europe, the Baltic, Scandinavia and Russia. They have recorded five CDs together and performed in TV and radio in Sweden as well as abroad.
Anna Westberg, dance, is since 1989 active as a freelance dancer based in Gothenburg. She has an education background in classic ballet from the Great Theatre Ballet School in Göteborg and the Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm with further studies in contemporary dance, improvisation and release techniques from a.o. Amsterdam and New York. In 1992, she formed the group Floke, which uses improvisation as scenic expression. Since 1990 Anna has worked with the coreographer Gunilla Witt and seen as soloist in ten of her works with feminist signatures, most recently as Karin Boye in "Karins krig" 2007. Together with Witt she has also performed in China and Mexico. Anna has worked at the scene Atalante in Göteborg, a.o. with the coreographers Gun Lund and Eva Ingemarsson as well as the musician Niklas RydŽn. She has also been connected to Regionteater Väst in Borås (form. Älvsborgsteatern) and toured with child and youth performances in the region, most recently in the performance "Vilket ben", directed by Lars Melin to texts by Lina Ekdahl. Present collaborations involve a.o. Skogspunk, together with the artist and dancer Lisa L Petersson, focusing on dance with strong imagery, costumes and masks, often presented in odd environments. Anna Westberg is also, together with double bass player Nina de Heney, in an improvisation duo which in 2007 was awarded with the Sten A Olsson Stiftelse scholarship.