Cello Concerto
The cello concerto was composed for a few months at the end of 2018 and was completed in February 2019. The concerto is in three movements, of which the first two are played in direct connection after a solo cadence. The concert can be likened to a journey where the traveler - the solo cello - walks through varying environments and moods.
Current and tragic events had a direct impact on the concert. In December 2018, two murdered Scandinavian women were found in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco, who had fallen victim to Islamistic terror. At the same time, the Swedish Radio channel P2, who commissioned the concert, had a flash on social media with the soloist Amalie Stalheim where she played the hymn ¨Härlig är Jorden¨ which in Norway is a Christmas hymn. These two disparate events led to the concerto's second movement becoming a mourning music for these two women, Maren Ueland and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and all other victims of terrorism, where the hymn is quoted in a minor key - as an expression of the powerlessness felt in the face of terrorism that harms innocent peoples life.
The concert's concluding movement is a rondo with an almost aggressive ritornell theme that is replaced by lyrical parts and a concluding solo cadence.
The cello concert was premiered on 13 February 2020 in Malmö with Amalie Stalheim, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, dir. Patrik Ringborg.
In November 2021, the cello concert received the Swedish Music Publishers' Association's award for ¨ Art Music Work of the Year for orchestra / opera¨ for the year 2020.
See and listen to the Cello Concerto from the performance Oct. 6th at the Stockholm Concert Hall, with Amalie Stalheim, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Stockholm, conducted by Patrik Ringborg.