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International Composer Festival with Klas Torstensson
This year’s International Composer Festival is dedicated to the Swedish-Dutch composer Klas Torstensson.
Klas Torstensson’s music is powerful, with volcanic eruptions and, at times, a kind of hammering energy. But ever since his 1999 opera Expeditionen, a more lyrical, almost bleeding emotionality has begun to emerge. Torstensson’s music moves between extremes.
Born in Sweden in 1951, Klas Torstensson has lived in the Netherlands for more than fifty years – he moved there in 1973. An internationally acclaimed composer, the festival focuses primarily on his output from the past two decades, though music from the early 1970s is also featured. The result is a broad retrospective.
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra opens the festival, and, as is tradition, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra also makes a guest appearance. Besides his own works, Torstensson has chosen to include music by Johann Sebastian Bach/Anton Webern and by Charles Ives – works that meant a great deal to him as a young man dreaming of becoming a composer.
Read the interview with Klas Torstensson in the magazine Lyssna.
Concerts
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal music
An adventurous operatic expedition and a new work by Klas Torstensson.
Thursday 6 November 2025 19.00
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening Concert
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening ConcertKlas Torstensson. Photo: Roger Cremers
Charlotte Riedijk
Ulf Norberg
Clemens Schuldt. Photo: Marco Borggreve
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal musicComposer Festival – Opening Concert
An adventurous operatic expedition and a new work by Klas Torstensson.
Thursday 6 November 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening Concert
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening ConcertThe link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/composer-festival-opening-concert/20251106-1900/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.
His magnificent opera The Expedition tells the story of Andrée’s ill-fated Arctic journey – a subject that has fascinated Torstensson since his early teens. We hear Intermezzo and Epilogue from the opera – two sections that vividly reflect the contrasts in his music. The beautiful epilogue, a kind of aria based on letters and diary entries, comes strikingly close to Puccini in its lyrical depth.
The work City Imprints was composed for the 400th anniversary of the city of Gothenburg, and its soundscape includes the bustling life of the harbour and shipyards, the painful farewells at the quay, and the roar of stone masonry. The newly written work for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is connected to A Cycle of the North, which includes the orchestral pieces The Mainland, The Polar Sea and The Heaven. “I consider this a stand-alone continuation of that trilogy.”
At the start of the programme, Torstensson has also included music by Johann Sebastian Bach/Anton Webern – works that were deeply important to him in his youth when he first dreamt of becoming a composer.
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Clemens Schuldt, Chief Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. The soprano solo in the excerpts from The Expedition is performed by Charlotte Riedijk, who also took part in the concertante world premiere of the opera at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1999, as well as in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s 2001 performance under the baton of Alan Gilbert.
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Book before the tickets are released!
This concert is included in our series Torsdag Stor. You can secure your place by purchasing a subscription right now – with 25 percent off the ticket price.
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The music
Approximate times -
Johann Sebastian Bach Ricercare à 6 from Musikalisches Opfer, version for organ9 min
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Johann Sebastian Bach Ricercare à 6 from Musikalisches Opfer arr Anton Webern9 min
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Anton Webern Five Pieces for Orchestra op 105 min
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Klas Torstensson Intermezzo and Epilogue from The Expedition22 min
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Intermission25 min
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Klas Torstensson New Work (World Premiere)20 min
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Klas Torstensson City Imprints32 min
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Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Clemens Schuldt conductor
- Charlotte Riedijk soprano
- Ulf Norberg organ
Thursday 6 November 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening Concert
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Opening ConcertPrice:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Orchestral performance
The poetry of nature as the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra performs music by Klas Torstensson.
Friday 7 November 2025 19.00
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Heaven
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The HeavenKlas Torstensson. Photo: Erik van Gurp
Fredrik Burstedt. Photo: Nikolaj Lund
Genre: Orchestral performanceComposer Festival – The Heaven
The poetry of nature as the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra performs music by Klas Torstensson.
Friday 7 November 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Heaven
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The HeavenThe link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/composer-festival-the-heaven/20251107-1900/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.The second concert in the Composer Festival dedicated to Klas Torstensson features two works from the trilogy A Cycle of the North, which consists of the orchestral pieces The Mainland, The Polar Sea, and The Heaven. “A child’s feet on a sun-warmed path; a solitary man (perhaps the polar explorer, engineer Andrée from my opera The Expedition?) on an endless frozen sea; a steep road upward – perhaps to the sky.”
Of The Polar Sea, Klas Torstensson has said: “As we all know, the Arctic ice is melting. The summer of 2008 was the first in more than a hundred thousand years without a continuous ice sheet. So, although that was not the original intent, my piece The Polar Sea became a memorial to a vanished time.”
Himmelen – The Heaven – was co-commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered at Konserthuset in 2015, conducted by Sakari Oramo. The work is inspired by three visual artworks from different eras: Anselm Kiefer’s monumental Am Anfang, Gustave Doré’s Jacob’s Ladder – illustrating the dream of Jacob from Genesis 28 – and William Blake’s Jacob’s Ladder. Could the final music box-like passage suggest a glimpse of heavenly peace?
Between The Polar Sea and The Heaven, we hear the festival’s earliest work, also rich with references to nature. und eine Springflut... (“and a spring tide…”) from 1974 was composed by a 23-year-old Torstensson. The title comes from the text of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire: “And a spring tide flooded the quiet horizon…” There are passages in the music, Torstensson says, that overflow with notes – like a spring tide.
The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra appears as guest under the baton of Fredrik Burstedt. The concert opens with Charles Ives’s evocative The Unanswered Question – a piece that fascinated the young Klas Torstensson.
Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.
***
Book before the tickets are released!
This concert is included in our series Onsdag Stor. You can secure your place by purchasing a subscription right now – with 25 percent off the ticket price.
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The music
Approximate times -
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question6 min
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Klas Torstensson The Polar Sea from A Cycle of the North21 min
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Klas Torstensson und eine Springflut... for string ensemble15 min
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Intermission25 min
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Klas Torstensson The Heaven from A Cycle of the North24 min
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Participants
- Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
- Fredrik Burstedt conductor
Friday 7 November 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Heaven
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The HeavenPrice:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal music
An adventurous operatic journey and a new work by Klas Torstensson.
Saturday 8 November 2025 15.00
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Expedition
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The ExpeditionKlas Torstensson. Photo: Erik van Gurp
Charlotte Riedijk
Ulf Norberg
Clemens Schuldt. Photo: Marco Borggreve
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal musicComposer Festival – The Expedition
An adventurous operatic journey and a new work by Klas Torstensson.
Saturday 8 November 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Expedition
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The ExpeditionThe link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/composer-festival-the-expedition/20251108-1500/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Klas Torstensson’s magnificent opera The Expedition tells the story of Andrée’s ill-fated Arctic journey – a subject that has fascinated Torstensson since his early teens. We hear Intermezzo and Epilogue from the opera – two sections that vividly reflect the contrasts in his music. The beautiful epilogue, a kind of aria based on letters and diary entries, comes strikingly close to Puccini in its lyrical depth.
The work City Imprints was composed for the 400th anniversary of the city of Gothenburg, and its soundscape includes the bustling life of the harbour and shipyards, the painful farewells at the quay, and the roar of stone masonry. The newly written work for the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is connected to A Cycle of the North, which includes the orchestral pieces The Mainland, The Polar Sea and The Heaven. “I consider this a stand-alone continuation of that trilogy.”
At the start of the programme, Torstensson has also included music by Johann Sebastian Bach/Anton Webern – works that were deeply important to him in his youth when he first dreamt of becoming a composer.
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Clemens Schuldt, Chief Conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. The soprano solo in the excerpts from The Expedition is performed by Charlotte Riedijk, who also took part in the concertante world premiere of the opera at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1999, as well as in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic’s 2001 performance under the baton of Alan Gilbert.
Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.
***
Book before the tickets are released!
This concert is included in our series Lördag Stor. You can secure your place by purchasing a subscription right now – with 25 percent off the ticket price.
-
The music
Approximate times -
Johann Sebastian Bach Ricercare à 6 from Musikalisches Opfer, version for organ9 min
-
Johann Sebastian Bach Ricercare à 6 from Musikalisches Opfer arr Anton Webern9 min
-
Anton Webern Five Pieces for Orchestra op 105 min
-
Klas Torstensson Intermezzo and Epilogue from The Expedition22 min
-
Intermission25 min
-
Klas Torstensson New Work (World Premiere)20 min
-
Klas Torstensson City Imprints32 min
-
Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Clemens Schuldt conductor
- Charlotte Riedijk soprano
- Ulf Norberg organ
Saturday 8 November 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The Expedition
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – The ExpeditionPrice:
160-490 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Chamber music, Vocal music
Pocket-sized yet powerful: the festival finale with music by Klas Torstensson.
Sunday 9 November 2025 15.00
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and Longing
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and LongingCharlotte Riedijk
Joseph Puglia. Photo: Martina Simkovicova
Jörgen Pettersson
Christian Karlsen
Genre: Chamber music, Vocal musicComposer Festival – Hope and Longing
Pocket-sized yet powerful: the festival finale with music by Klas Torstensson.
Sunday 9 November 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
230 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Grünewald Hall has capacity for up to 460 people, spread across the stalls and gallery. Both floors can be accessed by lift and the stairs. The hall has two wheelchair places.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and Longing
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and LongingThe link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/composer-festival-hope-and-longing/20251109-1500/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Final concert of the Composer Festival featuring music by Klas Torstensson. It opens with an exploration of the inner workings of the bass saxophone. Yes – the inside of the instrument, rather than traditionally blown notes, is the main focus here. It puffs, mutters and groans, as if saxophonist Jörgen Pettersson were trying to get a great machine up and running.
American-born violinist Joe Puglia has long been based in the Netherlands, like Torstensson himself. Puglia is the soloist in Pocket Size Violin Concerto – a miniature version of the violin concerto Torstensson composed in 2010. Here, he draws on influences such as Swedish folk music and American fiddling tradition.
After the interval, we hear two songs from the award-winning cycle In grosser Sehnsucht, in which each piece is a portrait of a historical woman: Camille Claudel, Frida Kahlo, Queen Christina of Sweden, Rosa Luxemburg and Louise Michel. The texts are based on diary entries, letters and poems. Featured here are Árbol de la Esperanza (Frida Kahlo) and Océaniennes (Louise Michel, anarchist and leading figure in the 1871 Paris Commune).
Sieben mal NEO (“Seven times NEO”) was composed for Norrbotten NEO and is a more compact version of Sieben mal Sieben, originally written for the Dutch New European Ensemble. The commission called for a sibling piece to Arnold Schoenberg’s Serenade from 1924 – including touches of Viennese light music. The work is a suite in seven movements for seven musicians. Members of KammarensembleN perform under the direction of conductor Christian Karlsen.
Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.
-
The music
Approximate times -
Klas Torstensson Solo for bass saxophone10 min
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Klas Torstensson Pocket Size Violin Concerto14 min
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Intermission25 min
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Klas Torstensson Àrbol de la Esperanza from In grosser Sehnsucht9 min
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Klas Torstensson Océaniennes from In grosser Sehnsucht10 min
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Klas Torstensson Sieben mal NEO25 min
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Participants
- Musicians from KammarensembleN
- Christian Karlsen conductor
- Charlotte Riedijk soprano
- Joseph Puglia violin
- Jörgen Pettersson bass saxophone
Sunday 9 November 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.
Tickets go on sale 21 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and Longing
Presale for subscribers from 19 August 11.00 to Composer Festival – Hope and LongingPrice:
230 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students and pensioners. 15% discount for subscribers.The Grünewald Hall has capacity for up to 460 people, spread across the stalls and gallery. Both floors can be accessed by lift and the stairs. The hall has two wheelchair places.
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