Tyst är det rum – Opening concert for Copenhagen Light Festival

Once again this year, Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir hosts the opening concert at the Copenhagen Light Festival on the occasion of Midwinter, February 2, also known as Candlemas after the Latin term for Candle Mass, Missa Candelarum.

Light is also the focal point for the evening’s premiere, “Light, oh light,” by the Swedish composer Per Gunnar Petersson, with lyrics by the Indian Nobel laureate and mystic Tagore.

Music by the Swedish composer Per Gunnar Petersson has frequently appeared on the Chamber Choir’s programs in recent years, leading to a closer collaboration. He has been appointed the choir’s new Composer in Residence, and this work for choir and organ is his first in this capacity.

From 2014 until his death in 2019, the also Swedish Sven-David Sandström served as the Composer in Residence for the Chamber Choir, composing several significant works for them. One of these, the choral suite “Hvor er så dejligt som din klode” (Where is as lovely as your globe), will also be performed during the concert.

The concert features another premiere: a new piece for clarinet, harmonica, and choir by the Danish harmonica player and composer Mathias Heise.

The concert begins with a small evocative piece of contemporary Swedish choral music by Gabriella Gullin, “Tyst är det rum” (Silent is the room).

These contemporary works are juxtaposed with two older choral pieces from the Renaissance by Claudio Monteverdi and Cristóbal de Morales, and additionally, music by Stravinsky: “Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet,” performed by Jonas Frølund.