Jonathan Swensen og Aarhus Chamber Orchestra

Look forward to the ultimate Cello Marathon in Musikhuset. Jonathan Swensen presents no less than three solo concerts for cello and orchestra in collaboration with Aarhus Chamber Orchestra, and as if that wasn't enough, he also plays the fiery first movement from Schubert's Death and the Girl with strings.

Jonathan Swensen has been described by BBC Music Magazine as 'a musician of charisma and thrilling physicality', and these personality traits will be particularly evident in tonight's concert: Driven by an intense passion for the transformative nature of music, the concert programme takes Jonathan Swensen through every technical and expressive corner of the repertoire for his instrument, pushing the usual limits of a soloist's mental and physical endurance.

Young orchestral collective

Joining him on stage is the Aarhus Chamber Orchestra, a musical orchestral collective consisting of the city's leading professional young musicians, led by conductor Magnus Plejdrup. The orchestra's concerts have recently been described as putting the audience in a 'particularly magical, pleasant and uplifting mood', and the orchestra's vision as 'The City's Young Ambassadors for Classical Music' is to soften the otherwise somewhat rigid framework and labels that often surround classical concerts.

Internationally recognised

Jonathan Swensen has won numerous awards. Most recently 1st prize at The Naumburg International Cello Competition and previously the Khachaturian International Cello Competition in 2018 and the Danish String Competition in 2016. He has been awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant 2022 as well as the Music Critics' Circle Artist Award in 2020 and the Leonie Sonning Music Foundation Talent Award 2017.

Programme

J. Haydn: Cello Concerto no. 1, C major

G. Sollima: Fecit Neap 17th, for solo cello and orchestra

Intermission

F. Schubert (arr. G. Mahler): Death and the Maiden, 1st movement: Allegro, for string orchestra

E. Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85