Sofia Vokalensemble

Sofia Vokalensemble (often abbreviated as SOVE) is a mixed chamber choir based in the Sofia Church in the Sofia parish in Stockholm, Sweden. The choir in its present form was founded in 1995 by conductor Bengt Ollén who still leads the artistic work.[lower-alpha 1]

Sofia Vokalensemble in 2014
Sofia Church in Stockholm, Sweden, where Sofia Vokalensemble is based

In 2012 Sofia Vokalensemble won the 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Maribor, Slovenia, competing in the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions.[1] In 2015 Sveriges Radio, the Swedish public-broadcasting system that frequently records and broadcasts Sofia Vokalensemble's performances, appointed the choir as Sweden's representative in Let the Peoples Sing (LTPS), an international choir competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).[lower-alpha 2]

The choir

Organization

Sofia Vokalensemble performs both within the framework of the parish's work and in collaboration with external partners. The choir is a non-profit organization with bi-annual General Meetings and a Board of Directors. Most of the 32 singers started singing in choirs before the age of 10 and are now between 20 and 40 years old; many have received their choral and music training at Adolf Fredrik's School of Music, Stockholms Musikgymnasium, Södra Latin and/or other music institutions in the Stockholm region.

Repertoire

The repertoire consists of both new and old choral music, such as works by Bach, Mahler, Poulenc, Pärt och Schnittke. The choir has performed world premieres by the established Swedish composers Fredrik Sixten, Stefan Klaverdal and Karin Rehnqvist, Swedish soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson, Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo and Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, as well as "rising stars" such as Jacob Mühlrad and some of the choir's own members.[lower-alpha 1]

Choral work
Sofia Vokalensemble's conductor Bengt Ollén in 2013

The working style is collaborative. The choir members all help out with the choice of repertoire, musical scores, food and drink, marketing och stage costumes.[lower-alpha 3] Rehearsals are usually one evening per week and the choir meets for a weekend retreat at an external location about twice per year. Sometimes massage is included in the warmup for practice. During rehearsals, Bengt Ollén works actively with the voices and challenges the choir members to sing without the score. To foster security and trust between choir members they practice singing in small groups, eye to eye, ear to ear or with varying temperamental expressions and improvisations.

For each new concert or tour, a project leader is appointed, drawn from the members of the choir. During tours each new hotel means new roommates. "Secret buddies" are drawn by lottery so that each choir member must take extra care of the person whose name appears on the lottery ticket. Says one choir member: "Above all we try to be kind to each other".[lower-alpha 3]

Over the years Sofia Vokalensemble has often been invited to present their working method at international workshops, and the choir is host to visiting foreign choir leaders who wish to follow the rehearsal work. Says Ollén: "The vision is to create music beyond the score. The music performed by the choir should not be just beautiful tones and neat musical interpretation. The music must also affect the listener. Therefore each singer is an important part of the musical work".[lower-alpha 3]

International tours and competitions

Sofia Vokalensemble has toured extensively both in Sweden and abroad. The following is a list of the choir's international tours:[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5]

Year Country Description Competition result / notes
1996  Russia Tour with concerts in western Russia
1998  Venezuela Tour
1999  Greece International Competition of Sacred Music in Preveza Received gold medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Mixed Voices, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Women Section, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Male Section, special prize for "Best Performance of Orthodox Chant”.
1999  Italy Tour on Sicily Received Special International Award of the Jury,
2000  Ireland Cork International Choral Festival in Cork Fleischmann International Trophy Competition: 3rd with 90.9 points, 0.8 points behind the winner
2000  Hong Kong Tour
2000  Italy Tour on Sicily
2001  Italy Tour on Sicily
2003  Slovenia Tour
2004  Germany 3rd Choir Olympics in Bremen Gold medals and best European Choir in the classes Mixed Chamber Choirs, Musica Sacra a capella and Musica Contemporanea.
2006  Finland II International Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition in Helsinki Shared podium with the Hungarian Victoria Chamber Choir
2007  South Africa Tour
2008  Italy 47th International Choral Competition "C.A. Seghizzi" in Gorizia Winner of two categories, 2nd prize in the Grand Prix final
2009  Norway Grieg International Choir Festival in Bergen Grand Prix winner and elected the best choir of the competition; 1st prize in the category Contemporary music
2010  Poland Szczecin Choir Festival
2011  Slovenia 11th International Choral Competition in Maribor Winner of the Grand Prix, 1st prize in both the compulsory and in the free program, qualified for the final of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in April 2012; conductor Bengt Ollén also took home two special awards for the conductor of the best performance of a composition by Jacobus Handl Gallus and the best performance of the contemporary compulsory Slovenian composition
2012  Slovenia 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Maribor Winner of the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions
2012  Italy La Fabbrica del Canto in Legnano
2013  Czech Republic Czech Choir Festival in Hradec Kralove
2014  South Korea 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul; also separate concerts in Seoul and Busan
2015  France Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in Provence[2] Tour received as a price for winning the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2012
2016  France Opera festival in Aix-en-Provence Ladies only
2016  United Kingdom Consert in the Royal Festival Hall, London Ladies only
2016  Latvia

 Lithuania

 Tour to Riga and Vilnius Men only
2018  Lithuania Festival Birštonas Cantat 2018 in Vilnius

Other noteworthy events

Discography and broadcasts

Sofia Vokalensemble has recorded the following CDs:

  • 2003: Black against white sky with music by i.a. Frank Martin and Eric Whitacre, Skivbolaget Silas Bäckström Produktion, BEF - 4806.
  • 2009: The Darkness is No Darkness has a focus on contemporary American and British choral music, including four of James MacMillan's Strathclyde motets and Herbert Howells' Requiem, Footprint Records, FRCD047
  • 2011: A Spotless Rose - Nordic Christmas contains Christmas music by Norwegian and Swedish composers with a mix of classical tunes and more contemporary works, Footprint Records, FRCD060
  • 2012: Ett Svenskt Juloratorium (English: A Swedish Christmas Oratorio] where Sofia Vokalensemble has recorded a new oratorio by the Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten, Footprint Records, FRCD069
  • 2014: Förvårskväll - One early spring evening contains Swedish and Nordic music where Swedish classical choral lyrics are mixed with modern compositions, Convivium Records, CR017 – includes the folk song Trilo[5]

As of mid-2015 the choir had participated in three television and 63 radio broadcasts that are on file at the Swedish Media Database, a search service for the audiovisual collections at the National Library of Sweden.[6] The files include live radio broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.

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References
  1. "RESULTS - 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (GPE)" (in Slovenian). Astrum. 22 April 2012. Archived from the original on 2016-05-13. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  2. "Programme 2015" (in French). Festival des Chœurs Lauréats. Archived from the original on 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  3. "Sofia Vokalensemble får representera Sverige i Let the Peoples Sing 2011" (in Swedish). Svenska Kyrkan (English: Church of Sweden). 1 November 2010. Archived from the original on 2015-06-16.
  4. "Auszeichnung für den Aarhus Pigekor" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. 11 November 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  5. "Förvårskväll (One early spring evening)". Convivium Records. Spotify. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  6. "Sofia Vokalensemble" (in Swedish). Swedish Media Database. Archived from the original on 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2016-05-13.

Notes
  1. "The Choir". Sofia Vokalensemble. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  2. "We're in the final!". Sofia Vokalensemble. 26 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-04-05. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  3. Information drawn from the program for the choir's 20-year jubilee concert in Sofia Church on May 24, 2015
  4. "Travels and Tours". Sofia Vokalensemble. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16.
  5. "Awards". Sofia Vokalensemble. Archived from the original on 2014-09-16.
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