Athelas performs the music for the Stieg Larsson films at the opening concert of the Stockholm Culture Festival.
Tuesday the 10th of August – 9:00pm
The central stage on Gustaf Adolfs Torg, Stockholm
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen
Anne Marie Granau – conductor
Misen Groth, vocal
Free admission
The novels by Stieg Larsson. Stieg Larsson was the man behind one of the biggest successes in Swedish literature. He wrote three novels of crime fiction before his sudden and dramatic death in November 2004, and this trilogy about Lisbet Salander and Mikael Blomkvist has been printed in large numbers. In Sweden sales are reaching 1.9 million copies, and in Denmark the number of copies bears comparison with the Harry Potter books. Larssons books have been issued in 40 countries and up til now more than 26 million copies have been sold internationally.
Larsson created an effective thriller universe, but beneath the action and crime plots of the books there is another and far more serious theme: Violence against women and abuse of women, committed by men. Regrettably Stieg Larsson did not live to see the success of his books. He died at the early age of 50 from a heart attack, even before the publication of the first book.
The Stieg Larsson films. The film versions of Stieg Larsson’s books are commercially in the same league as major productions like “The Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter”. The adaptations of Larsson’s trilogy of novels about the journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the mysterious Lisbet Salander, has been seen by 7,500,000 cinema goers. In the Nordic countries, 2.8 million people has seen “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, in Spain the number is 1.5 million and in France 1.2 million. In Norway and Denmark, it is the film seen by the largest number of people ever. The films are directed by Niels Arden and Daniel Alfredsson, and produced by Søren Stæremose.
The music. Jacob Groth is the most celebrated film composer in Denmark right now. He is known especially for his music for films and television, and through the years he has collaborated closely with a number of Denmark’s leading directors. Jacob Groth composed the music for a number of tv series, among them ”Taxa”, ”Rejseholdet” (“The Flying Squad”), ”Ørnen” (“The Eagle”), ”Krøniken” (The Chronicle”) and ”Livvagterne” (“The Bodyguards”). He also wrote the music for a number of movies, among them ”Headhunter”, ”To verdener” (”Two Worlds”), ”Drømmen” (“The Dream”), and ”Drengene fra Sct. Petri” (“The Boys from Skt. Petri)”. The music for Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium” trilogy was an international breakthrough for Groth.
Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen and Jacob Groth first entered into a collaboration when the ensemble together with the singer Misen Groth performed the score for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” live in Cannes in connection with the Cannes Film Festival 2009. Together, the composer and the performers created an atmospheric opening of the film festival.
With ”The Millennium Project – A Musical Journey”, Groth and Athelas will be creating a whole new concert format, combining images and sound. In this sensuous universe, an inner film is set in motion in the listener’s mind, as he hears the musical elements from the Millenium films, and on the musical journey through the sound world of Jacob Groth, the listener will also come across a number of Groth’s tuneful creations – among them then amazing title song “Forgiveness” from the Emmy Award-winning tv-series “The Eagle” – music which will be performed live for the first time.
The project is groundbreaking in several ways. The audience will experience some of the foremost performers within classical and popular music. The music of Jacob Groth incorporates new shapes and elements into the aesthetic universe – and this in turn calls for musicians representing very different musical styles and backgrounds. A multi-faceted range of colourful and very individual musicians will take the stage, and take the audience on a musical journey through time and space.
The guiding principles that lie behind the form and content of the project are quality, skill and courage to go against the preconceived notions of how music should be composed and performed. The project is governed by an overriding ethical aspect, because like Groth’s original scores for the films, the music for this project is dedicated to women all over the world who are the victims of suppression and violence from men. Profits from the concerts will go to an organisation (in the country where the performance takes place) that works for the benefit of the cause which is the overall purpose of the project.
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Programme:
Jacob Groth (b. 1951)
Music for the films based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire" and "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" - and other film music gems