High class and classical music at the School of Music's Midwinter Festival

The Midwinter Festival is an annual music event in which the School of Music in Piteå at Luleå University of Technology invites the public to free concerts over several days. This year they were offered, among others, Aleksander Scriabin, Jean Sibelius and the composer students' own works performed on the organ by the students of church music.

Martin Lejonklou played pieces by Aleksander Scriabin (1872-1915) and Johan Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

“Scriabin is one of my favorite composers. I like the way Scriabin and other composers from the late Romantic period work with harmony”, explains Martin Lejonklou.

The piece by Scriabin was a nocturne – music for the night, slow and romantic and usually quite short. The nocturne genre is usually relatively reliant on notation. But Scriabin invites to a freer approach. Therein lies the difficulty of the piece, according to Martin Lejonclou.

“It sounds like you can improvise everything. You can be free. The question is just how free can you really be?”

Discovered the violin in a children's program

Leonora Nordfors performed Valse triste by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) in an arrangement for viola and piano. Together with pianist Annemari Vartija, she will hold a concert in Luleå Cathedral with a Finnish theme later this spring. It was not easy to find a good arrangement because the viola is an unusual solo instrument, but she finally found one online that she liked.

The viola is the violin's slightly larger relative. She started playing the violin as a child, but didn't really like the sound of the E string. She discovered the violin in a Danish children's program and it has been her instrument ever since.

“Valse triste is not technically difficult. But it is actually written for a full orchestra. It's difficult to get the same intensity from just two people,” says Leonora Nordfors.

This is her third year at the Academy of Music. She appreciates that everything is so nearby. She lives just ten minutes from the school and in a fifteen-minute walk you are downtown. There are always free practice rooms, so you can decide quite freely about your everyday life. But most of all she appreciates the teachers. She highlights Petter Sundkvist, professor of orchestral conducting, and Anastasia Shugaeva, professor and teacher of viola.

“Anastasia is fantastic! I have developed a lot technically, which makes me much more confident in concert situations. I like her both as a teacher and as a person. She can be critical but at the same time she points to a solution.”

Organ is a cool instrument

Felix Nadworny's piece is called ‘Wheredom’.

“I wanted to find a name that means something, but not something exactly defined, that is a bit mysterious and vague,” he explains.

He was excited to explore the organ with the organist who performed the piece. His goal was to find sounds that are not usually played on the organ. At the beginning of the piece, you hear a sound reminiscent of a mixture of wind and sea waves and, in the upper register, what sounds most like birdsong.

“It was fun to explore such a cool instrument!”

Aaron Sunstein, senior lecturer and teacher of church music, also appreciates the collaboration.

“My students have been able to practice sounds that are rarely heard in the older organ repertoire.”

Two people who had come to the School of Music to listen to music were Monica Björklund and Elisabet Vikström. This is not the first time they have visited the Midwinter Festival.

Proud of the School of Music

“It's great with all the young and talented people and I'm so happy for them, that they get to be here and do what they love. As a inhabitant in Piteå, I'm proud that we have the School of Music,” says Monica Björklund.

The producer of the Midwinter Festival, for the second year in a row, was Andrew Neil Pantelidis-Hernon, who is also a student at the School of Music.

“Once again, Midvinterfestivalen displayed the many different talents here at Musikhögskolan i Piteå. Each concert had many people helping to make them successful, and I thank them all. As Producer, the highlight of this year's festival was the numerous premieres of new compositions. I am proud and honoured to have organised quality concerts for the students to engage with the community of Piteå.”

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