In this category we mention upcoming music events and review some of the ones we attend. Sønderborg has some great venues with Sønderborghus, Alsion and Mølleparken to name a few.
This Sunday is the last in this season series of ProMusica concerts at Alsion with members of the Symphony Orchestra of South Denmark.
The concert series is ending on an ambitious note with colourful works by Bach, Mozart, Berio, Christer Danielsson, Chopin, Offenbach, Massenet and Jacob Gade. Here are some samples of what you can hear.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita for solo flute, BWV 1013 and Luciano Berio’s Sequenza for solo flute will be played by Jorunn Solløs, who has previously written a guest post here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGt4P4ltO3U
A solo tuba and four French horns will play a tune by the Swedish Christer Danielsson. It sounds quite a lot like film music.
The last tune will be Tango Jalousi by Jacob Gade, which I’m pretty sure you have heard before.
The concert is this Sunday November 11th at 3pm at the Alsion Concert Hall. Entrance is free and the Cafe at Alsion is open before and during breaks for refreshments.
It’s time again for the annual, cross-border, electronic Define Festival and this year they have a really interesting lineup. From partyman Bjørn Svin to a full on symphony orchestra there should be some great music and beats in store for people. And it’s cheap – about 50DKK per session.
2 days, 3 locations, lots of music
The interesting thing about this festival is that it is not confined to one location but takes place in a number of locations. You can go to one location, or you can travel around to the venues. The other years there was a cheap bus taking people from Sonderborg to Flensburg but I can’t find it mentioned this year.
First Run Time Error @ Alsion a site-specific performance for joystick-controlled video. Second an ouvertures for the classical Chinese instrument ghuzeng, samples and orchestra. Both creations by Simon Steen-Andersen, a Danish composer who is getting a lot of international attention lately.
Fuzzy & Bjørn Svin @ 8.30pm Saturday Alsion, Sonderborg
Fuzzy (Jens Vilhelm Pedersen) has a wide range from jazz to film music to experimental electronic music. He has music for cartoons and avant garde exhibits.
Bjørn Svin (Bjørn Christiansen) is a self taught composer and producer who has been active on the electronic stage for many years.
Traditionally the abode of kings, and nowadays the site of the area’s museum, Sonderborg Castle also hosts a number of musical events throughout the year. This might be an unlikely music venue, however, having served as a location for royal entertainment for centuries, it has the locations to satisfy modern expectations as well.
Queen Dorothea’s Chapel
During the summer, the chapel plays host to a number of concerts, mainly revolving around the chapel’s organ. The organ, which was reconstructed in 1996 in accordance with 16th century traditions, was built in 1570 by the organ builder Hermann Raphaelis. The programme of organ concerts in the chapel can be found on the castle’s website under arrangementer.
The Great Hall (Riddersal)
The great hall used to be the reception room for guests to the castle, and the scene for many parties and dances. Nowadays, it is used for both one-off concerts as well as for concerts of the Sonderborg music union. From here you also have the added bonus of a marvelous view of the harbour.
Concerts
Our first experience of music events at the castle was during our visit to Sonderborg in September last year before we moved here. This was a vocal and organ concert in the chapel, and was excellent proof that we can find good quality music in the area should we move here.
Recently we then attended an excellent brass concert following the annual Danish-German Brass Academy in Gråsten. The quality of the performances and the enthusiasm of the performers belied the fact that they had only been working on these pieces for a week! Ending the concert with Brahms lullaby as the castle’s clock was chiming the time was a fitting coincidence to this excellent concert.
ProMusica will host it’s last concert of the 2011/2012 season at Alsion concert hall this Sunday. We asked Jorunn Solløs for a short introduction of the concept and the concert.
Hi everyone,
My name is Jorunn and I am Norwegian girl, working as a flutist in Sønderjylland Symfony Orchestra. I want to write a little about our own chamber music series that we do just for fun :).
A job in a symphony orchestra is a full time job, but 6 Sundays a year, me and 3 of my colleagues arrange free concerts and all the musicians plays for free :). We get some financial support from Sønderborg kommune to be able to advertise in the newspapers and so on. I would say that it is a win-win situation; The musicians get to play great chamber music together (which we do not do so much as orchestra musicians) and the audience gets to listen to great music for free.
The next Pro musica concert in Alsion is on the 3rd of June (this Sunday). As a special thing this time we have invited Kolding Kammerkor to perform a piece with us. One of my ensembles, Kirin Winds just went on a small tour with Kolding Kammerkor to 5 different churches in Jutland and we really enjoyed to work with them so we invited them to come and perform with us again in Alsion.
So, if you want to get a free cultural experience in Sønderborg on Sunday this week, just come to Alsion at 3.00 pm.
The program for this concert will be:
W. A. Mozart: Quartet for flute, violin, viola and cello
H. Dutilleux: Sarabande et Cortege for bassoon and piano
M. Bojesen: “Kærestefolket i nye klæder” for choir and wind quintet.
Hope to see you there to a great musical experience in our beautiful concert hall 🙂
Best regards from Jorunn
Ann and I have been to a ProMusica concert before and it was really amazing. So find shelter from the rain this Sunday and join us at Alsion
On Sunday we attended a concert at Sct Marie Kirke by the church’s own motetchoir with two of our friends. We didn’t know what a motetchoir is (in case you are wondering, a motet refers to choral musical compositions), but we thought it would be a good way of ending a long weekend.
The concert started with Egil Hovland‘s Jubilate followed by John Rutter‘s The peace of God, both of which were sung in the church’s nave. At this point the choir moved to either side of the aisles, singing Heinrich Schutz‘s Jauchzet dem Herren alle Welt as a double choir (half on each side of the aisle). The choir then got a rest for an organ sonata by Josef G. Rheinberger, before they got to the main focus of the concert, Mozart‘s Missa Brevis in F major.
I thought the choir was very accomplished, especially considering that they are a church choir rather than a professional one. I particularly appreciated the way they moved around the church, since I felt that the different locations actually did give something special to the songs being sung in them, rather than being just an added frill to the concert. The musicians also nicely accompanied the choir (although I could have done without the organ solo).
All in all a concert I wasn’t expecting much out of and which I left pleasantly surprised. The choir will be repeating this concert on Saturday, so if you are at a loss for what to do I would eagerly recommend it (am trying to obtain further details on location and time and will post them here when I do).
Danfoss Orkestret, though not an orchestra technically, is a 38-man brass band that is quite well-known in this area. Towards the end of March we had written with information on how to get tickets to the Danfoss Orchestra Spring Concert. Did you check that out? I really hope you did.
The music selected for the spring concert was mainly British, with some famous ones such as Yellow Submarine and When the Saints Go Marching In, to some unknown songs to us. There was also one Danish song, keeping everyone feeling involved.
But on to the exciting stuff. During the concert we had a congo line brass band making its way onto the stage, a ‘disorganised’ abandonment of the stage and, last but not least, a conductor in a kilt. And, yes, he confirmed that the rumours about kilts is true! We even had a bagpipe and drum group join and close the show with the orchestra.
I did not know what I was expecting, but I was certainly not expecting this. What was missing in quality (and that was not much), was more than made up for in enthusiasm, fun and just sheer joy of the players (and the audience). I now know exactly why tickets are said to be grabbed within hours of being made available to the public. The standing ovation the orchestra received at the end was more than well-deserved.
Danfoss Orkestret is a 38-man brass band linked to Danfoss. Despite the amateur status it is known for the high-quality, and entertaining, concerts it puts on.
One of the highlights of the Danfoss Orchestra season is its spring concert. This year the concert will be held at Alsion on the 17th of April at 20:00. Another important thing about this concert is that it is free!
Tickets can be picked up at Sonderborg Tourist Office tomorrow (Friday 30th March) at 3pm. You might think that this means that it is easy to get tickets. Unfortunately not! Since it is a very sought-after concert, we are told that people often queue for hours to get tickets. So if you want those tickets don’t leave it too late!
With Alsion boasting a world-class hall, as well as being the home of the South Jutland symphony orchestra, one may indulge in numerous excellent concerts throughout the year. However, if money might be a bit tight at the moment, fear not! Alsion also offers a series of free concerts throughout the year – and you don’t even need to compromise on quality!
ProMusica is side-project of some members of the South Jutland symphony orchestra that gives the orchestra players the opportunity to perform chamber music. On the day we attended they performed a variety of pieces, from solos to sextets, and in different styles. There was a pleasant variety and it seems that the pieces are selected to also please a general audience rather than solely experience listeners. Concerts are always on Sundays at 15:00 in the Alsion concert hall. The remaining concerts this season are on the 4th of March, the 22nd of April and the 3rd of June.
Solisterier is a series of concerts of Danish popular music. The cafe area is all decked out with chairs and tables and a podium is set-up at the far end. We attended the first concert earlier this year and were surprised to see a full house, even though I was by far the youngest member! If you like Danish popular music from years past you will probably love this concert. Otherwise? I’m not sure it will be your thing! The 2nd concert in the series is on the 24th of March at 13:00.
Another series of free concerts in the cafe, this time organised by Sonderborg’s music council. We haven’t been along to this one as yet, but the upcoming concerts are on the 3rd of March, 31st of March and 28th of March between 12:00 and 13:00.
Back in 1953 when blues and jazz were all the rave every town in Denmark had a jazz club. Sonderborg was no exception and a group of friends started what would later become Sonderborg jazzclub. As one of the few in our region the club still exists. It is one of the oldest in Denmark and organises at least one concert a month.
The jazz club aims to focus on the growth layer in the Danish jazz scene and tomorrow’s stars. While they do have traditional 50s swing jazz they more often present something more edgy and contemporary.
It was my first time at Sønderborghus when Magnus Thuelund Melody Project Quintet played on a very clear, cold Sunday. There were only about twenty people in the theater hall which made it feel quite empty. However, there was a nice atmosphere, the jazz club people were very friendly and once the band started playing it was really enjoyable.
The jazz concerts are usually held at Sønderborghus on Sundays at 15 and tickets are 100DKK or 80DKK for club members. Membership of the jazz club is 200DKK per term which comes with free entrance to one concert for you and a friend.
Sønderborghus just released an English version of their website. Even the description of bands are now available in English. To see this click the UK flag in the top right corner of their website.
A Spanish friend who has lived in Denmark for a couple of years mentioned that Surfact were coming to play in Sonderborg. We had not heard of them before but figured it would be fun to go check them out so we walked down to Sønderborghus and met up with Aitor and Mathias.
Arriving at Sonderborghus it looks empty as you have to walk through the doors, go upstairs and through another door to get to the concert room. We found our way but were surprised to see so few people there. There was no warm up act so Surfact took the stage and went at it.
By now there were probably no more than 40 people (including staff and the band) at the show and most of us were standing at the back. The band invited people to come closer and after a song or two the audience was really getting in the mood, singing along and head banging. It seemed like we were some of the few who did not know the lyrics.
Even though Sonderborg didn’t exactly come out in droves, the band seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage and kept us happy on the ground. Surfact played for about an hour from their more polished, current album to their older, harder songs.
After the show the band came out to the merchandise table where people could get stuff autographed and Aitor got a t-shirt with the bands signatures.
