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American premiere scheduled for work by IU School of
Music composition professor
Oct. 29, 2001
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The American premiere of a work by composer Sven-David
Sandstrom of the Indiana University School of Music faculty is scheduled for
Nov. 14.
The High Mass will be performed by the IU Concert Orchestra and
Concert Choir, with John Poole directing, at 8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center.
The program is part of the "Concert in the MAC" series and will be open to the
public free of charge.
Sandstrom, a professor of composition, is internationally acclaimed in his
field. His catalog of published and performed compositions includes more than 90
works. Sandstrom is considered an artistic rebel in his native Sweden who
surprised his musical contemporaries when he composed The High Mass in
1993. Because of his strict non-conformist Protestant background, it was a
surprise to his colleagues that he was drawn to the Catholic liturgy in writing
the piece, which has been compared to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and
the mass settings of Bruckner.
The High Mass was recorded live in a performance at the Berwald Hall
in Stockholm in 1994 with Leif Segerstam, who recently appeared at IU during
this year's Summer Music Festival, leading the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
and Radio Choir. The recording was later released on the Caprice label.
Before Sandstrom came to IU in 1999, his background included 10 years as a
composition professor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he
studied with Ingavar Lidholm. His composing breakthrough came in 1972 with
Through and Through, a work which received international acclaim when
performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He was a member of the
Hagersten Motet Choir for 20 years and has written numerous works for the stage,
including several ballets. Sandstrom has studied with Gyorgy Liget and Per
Norgard, and he has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Christ
Johnson Prize and Major Award, the Nordic Council Award and the Buxtehude Award.
Poole is a visiting professor of choral conducting at IU. He is from Great
Britain and has served as conductor of the BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers.
He has been a guest conductor for major choirs and orchestras in Europe, New
Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The "Concert in the MAC" series is sponsored by Hirons and Company, T.I.S.
Music Shop, the IDS, WFIU and Insight Communications.
(Laura Baich, 812-855-9846, lbaich@indiana.edu or Richard Doty, 812-855-0084, rgdoty@indiana.edu )