The January concert with the participation of the esteemed conductor Gary Graden will be a journey towards the vocal music of the North. Under the leadership of the artist who is music director at Storkyrkan Cathedral in Stockholm, the NFM Choir will perform mainly works by Swedish composers, which fit into the Romantic movement or draw on the achievements of twentieth-century modernism.

The motet is one of the oldest and most enduring vocal forms. The origins of this genre date back to the 12th century and despite various stylistic transformations that it has undergone over the centuries, or thanks to them, it is still popular today. The concert will feature three such works from different periods in the history of music – from the Baroque concertante motet Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf  by Johann Sebastian Bach, through the late Romantic Jordens oro viker by Ludvig Norman, to Komm, Jesu, komm by Sven-David Sandström from 2006, which refers to the work of Bach.

The artists will also present works of contemporary vocal literature by leading Swedish composers: Agneta Sköld and Anders Hillborg. The work of Sköld, born in 1947, is characterised by extraordinary aesthetic coherence, especially in the field of sacred music. An example of this is Let Your Light Come, created five years ago – a work whose radiant sounds emphasise the words contained in Psalm 42, expressing the gnawing longing for God. It will be preceded by a performance of a composition by Anders Hillborg, an artist who likes to use less conventional creative means. Mouyayoum is one of his most famous works, drawing on the technique of overtone singing. Completely devoid of text, it focuses solely on drawing the desired timbre from the singers. During the concert, echoes of Scandinavian folklore will also be heard, as we will listen to an improvisation on the Swedish song Den blomstertid nu kommer, meant for performance during the summer. The evening will be crowned by the traditional Afro-American religious song My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord in a gospel arrangement by the American conductor and pianist Moses Hogan.