This year’s divertissement at the Nobel Prize banquet on 10 December was inspired by Stockholm City Hall’s centenary celebrations and by all the music that has echoed between the walls of its Blue Hall over the past century. There will also be several other occasions during the Nobel Week to enjoy music, such as at the award ceremony, the concert and this year’s light festival.
“During the Nobel Week, the laureates are honoured in many ways, not least through music,” says Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation. “This year we are being offered an interesting mix, with everything from a girls’ choir from Västerås and an orchestra featuring young people from the Gothenburg area to international classical music and funk artists.”
This year’s Nobel Prize banquet coincides with the centenary of Stockholm City Hall. This has inspired the evening’s divertissement, which is based on the theme of echo. It is about the physical echo of sound waves bouncing between the building’s high walls, but also about the echo of history that reaches us in our era and the echo that this year’s festivities will pass on to the future. Linus Fellbom, together with Magnus Lindgren, has served as artistic director of the divertissement that will be presented during the banquet.
“The banquet is a fairytale event and the function of the divertissements is, as always, to help enhance this breathtaking experience,” says Linus Fellbom. “We mix genres and eras, but what is new this year is that we dive into what in musical terms is called groove or rhythm, partly through the participation of Blacknuss. Standing up and dancing during the banquet itself may not be entirely in keeping with the regulations. According to tradition, guests are invited to dance in the Golden Hall after their banquet meal is over. But in this year’s divertissement, we will try to make the guests feel like dancing while still seated at their tables.”
Participants include 14 musicians from the Västerås Sinfonietta, 35 singers from the girls’ choir of Västerås Music Classes at Fryxellska skolan; three musicians from Blacknuss, one of the foremost bands in Sweden’s funk music scene; and opera singer Elisabeth Meyer − all under the direction of Magnus Lindgren, who is also responsible for musical arrangements and will play the flute and saxophone.
The Nobel Prize award ceremony at Konserthuset Stockholm
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Hanson, will provide the music at the Nobel Prize award ceremony at the concert hall on 10 December. Soprano Julia Sporsén will be the vocal soloist at the award ceremony. The programme will include music by Valentin Silvestrov, Hector Berlioz and Edvard Grieg.
The Nobel Prize Concert
This year’s Nobel Prize Concert will bring together the world-renowned conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and acclaimed violinist Julia Fischer, accompanied by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. On 8 December, music by Boccherini, Brahms and Ravel will be performed on the Konserthuset stage. The audience will also be able to hear a work by the exciting young composer Gabriella Smith.
Nobel Week Lights
On 9 December, the Chamber Choir of Adolf Fredrik Church invites you to a magical musical experience. The backdrop will consist of the artwork Firefly Field by Studio Toer, a Netherlands-based design studio, which is one of seventeen artistic light installations on display in Stockholm during the Nobel Week Lights festival. Winter songs about light and darkness will resound among the artwork’s hundreds of fireflies hovering in the December darkness. The event takes place at Skeppsholmen where the artwork is located.
The Nobel Week Dialogue
During this year’s Nobel Week Dialogue, a conference that will take place in Gothenburg on 9 December, the Dream Orchestra will perform. The orchestra was formed in 2016 and currently consists of 184 children from 18 countries. Many of them arrived in Sweden during the autumn of 2015, while others have lived in the country all their lives. Musician Diva Cruz will also perform.