Frontside International Chamber Music Festival, inspired by Gothenburg’s maritime heritage and global connections, creates an enchanting experience that transcends time and space. With the theme “Beyond the Horizon,” the festival explores the alluring mysteries of the sea and tells stories of journeys, hope, and dreams. Through a diversity of musical genres and styles, from baroque to contemporary, we take the audience on a journey through the auditory landscapes of history and the present.
KRONHUSET
9-12 januari 2025
The Frontside Festival continues to explore new places and contexts for chamber music while welcoming artists from Gothenburg and around the world. With its unique combination of tradition and innovation, the festival is a tribute to the port city of Gothenburg and its ever-evolving international history.
Rosali Grankull, a pioneering voice in experimental music, creates a unique experience with her work “Music for Strings & Silk”, where silk strings are woven together with the sound of instruments, and the audience participates in a collective creative process. The festival also collaborates with Sveriges Radio to bring Jonatan Sersam’s new work to life and offer concerts by prominent students from the Academy of Music and Drama.
The story of a city, a tribute to Gothenburg’s cultural heritage, returns as a family concert as well as in the form of school concerts that aims to reach all parts of the city. With engaging stories and music from The Gothenburg Combo and Ayla Kabaca, a magical experience is created for children and families.
The program is under construction. Tickets will be available soon. Keep an eye out for updates.
Kronhuset, Gothenburg
After the success in 2023, The Story of a City returns. For those who missed it, or those who want to see it again!
A personally created performance where the history of Gothenburg is described through text and music from various eras.
The well-known Ayla Kabaca (Bolibompa, etc.) vividly tells the story of the people who have built, influenced, or impacted the city of Gothenburg: Dutch, Scots, English, West Goths, Turks, Bohuslänners, Chinese, Norwegians – yes, people from near and far, children and the elderly, women and men, short and tall, happy and angry. Gothenburg Combo enhances all impressions with music that tells of the city’s diverse history: Dutch 17th-century music by the flutist Jacob van Eyck, Scottish songs from the 1700s in the Italian version of Barsanti, music by Elfrida André, Bedrich Smetana, Carl Michael Bellman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Dietrich Buxtehude, Isaac Albéniz, Evert Taube, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Giacchino Rossini, and Håkan Hellström, American folk music and Steve Reich with connections to the great American ships, traditional Chinese music that the East Indiamen may have heard on their journeys in the 1700s, and Spanish music they heard during their stopover in Cadiz, where they traded for silver.
Café Kronhuset, Gothenburg
Get to know the award-winning composer Jonatan Sersam, who talks about his new work Rain, Heart, Hammer for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, which will be premiered at the final concert. A commissioned work by Sveriges Radio.
Kronhuset, Gothenburg
Benjamin Britten (*1913 †1976) Folk songs for tenor and piano
Jonatan Sersam (*1986)
Rain – Heart – Hammer for clarinet, violin, viola, cello
Premiere performance
Commissioned by Swedish Radio
Jean Sibelius (*1865 †1957) Four Pieces for violin and piano Op. 115
Benjamin Britten (*1913 †1976) Lyrics: Edith Sitwell (*1887 †1964)
Canticle III: Still falls the rain Op.55 for tenor, horn, piano
Ludwig van Beethoven (*1770 †1827) Septet E flat major op 20 for clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello, double bass
Kronhuset, Gothenburg
Rosali Grankull (*1984) Music for strings & silk
Silk as a material requires patience as its properties are both strong and fragile and the participants will get to know the silk through the workshop and get to physically experience what happens when the threads are connected with stringed instruments. The collective work is part of the core of the work: co-operation and listening. Once the installation is complete, the workshop moves into the next phase where the participants and Rosali work on collective improvisation using the installation and a few sound objects placed in the room. The workshop wants to engage the participants and open doors to experiment with a few materials.
Kronhuset, Gothenburg
Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (*1665 †1729) Sonata II
Antonio Vivald (*1678 †1741) Concerto in G minor, RV 157
Isabella Leonarda (*1620 †1704) Sonata I
Jean-Féry Rebel (*1666 †1747) Les caractères de la danse
John Dowland (*1563 †1626) Flow my tears
Georg Friedrich Händel (*1685 †1759), Un momento, from the opera seria Alcina
Kronhuset, Gothenburg
Olivier Messiaen (*1908 †1992) **Appel interstellaire from Des Canyons aux Etoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) for solo horn
Massimiliano Matesic (*1969) Il silenzio delle sirene for Bassoon and Piano
Carl Nielsen (*1865 †1931) In vano for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Cello, Double Bass
Franz Schubert (*1797 †1828) Trout Quintet in A Major, Op 114
** “From the canyons to the stars… This means rising from the depths of the canyons up to the stars – and even higher up to the resurrected of paradise – to praise God and the fullness of his creations: the beauties of the earth (its rocks, its birdsongs), the beauties of the visible sky, the beauties of the spiritual sky.”
– Olivier Messiaen: Preface to the score of Des Canyons aux étoiles …
Frontside Chamber Music Association has existed since 2019 and is largely driven by volunteer efforts, but we are highly dependent on additional financial sponsors and fundings. All contributions are used to engage fantastic musicians, rents of venues and all other things that make the festival a magical experience.
If you are interested in chamber music that goes beyond the ordinary, you should become a member! As a member, you are invited to the association’s annual meeting and participate in electing the board. You can also suggest activities for the association, thereby influencing future festivals and other events we organize. You also have the opportunity to volunteer during the festival, allowing you to enjoy wonderful chamber music without paying an entrance fee.
How do I become a member and support Frontside? Submit your information in the form below and pay the membership fee, and we will register you as a member immediately. Please also indicate which chamber music you love the most. Together with your personal information, this helps us better understand who our members are. How we handle your information can be read under the GDPR section.
You renew your membership every fall term – we’ll remind you! Alternatively, you can purchase a lifetime membership and thus become a permanent member with a one-time fee.
If you join as a new member in the spring, your payment also covers the following year’s membership.
How do I do it and what does it cost? You can pay the membership fee to Bankgiro 5318-7969 or via Swish 123 356 63 95. Always include your name and, if paying via bankgiro, your mobile number.
Welcome as a member!
For requests, feedback, and additional information, fill in your message in the form at the bottom or send an email to info@frontside-festival.se
The General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, came into force within the EU on May 25, 2018.
How does Frontside handle its membership register? In our membership register, we store your name, address details, email address, phone number, and birth year. If you leave the association, we will retain your information for a maximum of seven (7) years before deleting it.
Who has access to my information? We register your details digitally in our membership register. Only you (first party) and individuals with trusted roles in the association (second party) have access to your information. No information is shared with third parties.
You can request to see what information we have collected about you at any time.
Validity? By becoming a member of the association, you enter into an agreement regarding which information about you can be stored with us and who has access to this information, as described above. This agreement is valid indefinitely, as long as you are a member of the Frontside Chamber Music Association.
Do I have the right to have my information deleted? According to GDPR, you have the right to have your information deleted, but you will also lose your membership in the association. To request this, send an email to info@frontside-festival.se and ask for your stored information to be deleted.