Exclusive Svanholm Singers & Sofia Söderberg

• Sofia Söderberg (b. 1972):
• 1 Badhusintro 03:35
• Traditional, Sofia Söderberg:
• 2 Limu, limu, lima (Arr. S. Söderberg) 04:32
• 3 Hårgalåten (Arr. S. Söderberg) 04:09
• Kosaku Yamada (1886 - 1965), John Newton (1725 - 1807), Sofia Söderberg:
• 4 Amazing Grace - Akatonbo (Arr. S. Söderberg) 04:15
• Sofia Söderberg:
• 5 Serenade (After J.A. Josephson) 03:22
• Peter Bruun:
• 6 Peace 07:20
• Christian Engquist:
• 7 It Is So Peaceful Here Now 10:25
• Henrik Dahlgren:
• 8 Son to Mother 06:50
• Emil Fredberg:
• 9 Close to Home 04:25
• Sofia Söderberg:
• 10 Kyrie 03:17
• 11 Ave Maria 03:29
• Knut Nystedt:
• 12 Salve Regina, Op. 156a 06:12
• Traditional:
• 13 Härlig är jorden 04:38
• Total Runtime 01:06:29

Info zu Exclusive

Footprint Records is proud to present an album from one of Sweden’s most remarkable vocal ensembles. Twenty years after its founding in the University town of Lund, the Svanholm Singers has become known inside Sweden and beyond for its unique sound: refined, joyous, razor-sharp and ultra-flexible. In Exclusive, conductor Sofia Soderberg and her 20 male singers present the fruits of their quest to expand the male voice choir repertoire with a selection of works written especially for the ensemble. Among them are original works and arrangements by Soderberg herself and by leading composers from Sweden and beyond. This highly engaging, atmospheric collection takes its inspiration from choral foundation stones, including traditional Swedish folk song and Gregorian chant. But everything we hear is new, literally and expressively- direct, accessible and delivered in the choir’s uniquely charismatic style. Included are encounters with the supernatural, a letter from a son to a mother, a traditional American hymn with a Japanese twist, songs of protest and warning, and frolicking dances full of rhythmic zest. The Svanholm Singers’s distinctive combination of passion and precision is captured in high-definition on this album, released on the occasion of the ensemble’s 20th anniversary year. It is a snapshot of a choir that sounds like none other through music that wouldn’t exist without it.

”In the mid- to late 1800s, there was a golden age for men’s choirs in Sweden by way of our universities, which means that most of our country’s repertoire originated during that period. It is certainly an interesting challenge for artistic directors to establish a repertoire that is timely, moving, and that deals with issues that are important to us today. Over the years, I’ve composed a great deal of our material, but we’ve also had commissioned pieces. This disc includes a selection of these works created with our choir in mind, the Svanholm Singers Exclusive.” (Sofia Söderberg)

Svanholm Singers
Söderberg-Eberhard, conductor

Svanholm Singers
conducted by Sofia Söderberg, is an extraordinary male voice chamber choir. Since its formation in 1998, the ensemble has established itself as one of the foremost actors on the Swedish choral scene; striving constantly to refine the artistic and musical expression.

During numerous tours and awards the ensemble has gained a reputation for performances characterized by captivating intensity, musical quality and originality, while making unique interpretations of classical music. The young voices and exact intonation of the singers in combination with the expressive conducting of Sofia Söderberg has become the trademark of Svanholm Singers.

The core of the repertoire consists of music from the Scandinavian and Baltic choir tradition, but at the same time the choir is striving to expand and develop the male choir repertoire. Therefore, Svanholm Singers, constantly commission and perform new music and they have worked with a great number of composers around the world, for example Tobias Broström, Christian Engquist and Daniel Hjort from Sweden, Knut Nystedt from Norway, Peter Bruun from Denmark, Blake Morgan (Voces8) from Great Britain, John Milne from USA and Arturo Salinas from Mexico. In addition to this, Sofia Söderberg and also the singers, write unique arrangements and compositions for the choir. Among the choir’s favourite composers is the deceased Estonian composer, Veljo Tormis, with whom the choir had a unique collaboration. This resulted in several joint tours and a recording where Tormis himself participates - Tormis: Works for Men’s Voices.

The list of successes grows long and includes prizes, awards and victories in several competitions, for example the Tolosa Choral Contest 2016 in Spain where the choir won both their categories. Svanholm Singers is constantly touring internationally and has done as many as 5 tours to Japan as well as a prestigious tour to Taiwan and China during the summer of 2017.

Sofia Söderberg
studied singing, piano, organ and choral conducting at the Malmö Academy of Music and baroque cello at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Sofia has established herself as a distinguished Choral Conductor. She has been awarded numerous prizes for her conducting and her interpretations has been recognized with a number of honors all over the world.

Sofia has been working as Chorus Master at Malmö Opera, and as soloist and conductor at Skånes Dansteater, Teater Insite and Operaverkstan Malmö. Since 2001 Sofia is conductor and artistic director of the international known ensemble Svanholm Singers and in 2010 she was selected artist of the year at Lund Choral International Festival. In 2015 Sofia founded and conducted Malmö Live Vocal Ensemble and the same year she conducted Malmö Symphony Orchestra for the first time. In may 2017 she made her debut together with the Swedish Radio Choir conducting two concerts at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm and since april 2018 she is conductor and artistic director of the Danish Chamber Choir Camerata in Copenhagen.

Sofia is frequently writing music and arrangements for her choirs and her music has been published by Gehrmans and Bo Ejeby in Sweden and by Walton Music in USA. Among her cd-productions Tormis: Works for Men´s Voices is worth mentioning though it was appointed ”album of the year” by the prestigious magazine Gramophone.

Booklet für Exclusive