Hearding call “kulning” in the ski slope!

In January Johanna Bölja and Emma Härdelin did some Hearding Calls, “kulning”, in the ski slope in Järvsö, Sweden, to celebrate the year of Cultural Heritage in Sweden 2018. The echo was all over the village! You can see a video here! It was great fun to go skiing in folk costume! The video was made by The Beard Bringer.

 

Bölja/Härdelin at the Cultural Heritage of 2018 in Järvsö, Sweden

Philharmonia Orchestra, Marie Axelsson, Johanna Bölja Hertzberg and Peter Tilling in Royal Festival Hall

Here is a review from a concert in Royal Festival Hall on the 27th of february:

Never stop being curious … or the music of Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist might pass you by. She was the latest subject of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Music of Today series – free and informal, just turn up.

Finally, Quem chama? Who’s that calling? This 13-minute “happening” for two voices, one and a pair of trumpets placed behind the platform, the other and two trombones at the rear of the audience. The vocalists offer Swedish herding cries, primeval in effect. On the platform the sinewy writing exploits low registers. It’s a physical and naturalistic piece – Canteloube meets Xenakis, to quote an irresistible comment shared with me afterwards, and with an apotheosis that, strangely, recalled the close of Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. The two singers carried to all corners (with no need of amplification) and Peter Tilling had the measure of perspectives and directions.


You can read the whole review here!

Songs about death

During 2013 Johanna has been working with Bölja/Hallberg/Härdelin/Ståbi and their project titled Songs about death. They have been going through historic music archives in search of new material for the project, arranging music and making plans to bring the music to the stage. You will se the result in spring 2014, when they are ready to go on tour.