VOCAL ENSEMBLE
CONDUCTOR ERIK WESTBERG
19.00 Backen Church, Umeå
Jesus, think of me – Music in Passiontide
During this tour in passiontide, the Vocal Ensemble performs works by Sven-Erik Bäck, J. S. Bach, Björn Andor Drage and Wilhelm Stenhammar. The Vocal Ensemble is joined by renowned accordion player David Wahlén.
Hortlax Church
Papillon
This programme includes works by Swedish composers such as Hugo Alfvén, Agneta Sköld, Alvin Vikman and David Wikander. We also have the pleasure of perfoming the commissioned work ”Possibilities” (2024) by Britta Byström, one of Sweden’s most highly esteemed composers. Renowned accordion player David Wahlén joins the tour as a soloist.
THE VOCAL ENSEMBLE
The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble was formed in 1993 and consists of 16–20 singers. The members of the Ensemble work as soloists, church musicians and music teachers and come from northern Sweden and Finland. The Ensemble has commissioned and premiered about 60 works by composers such as Gunnar Eriksson, Paula af Malmborg Ward, Tebogo Monnakgotla, Jan Sandström, Sven-David Sandström, Carl Unander Scharin and Arvo Pärt.
In 1996, the Ensemble’s first CD Musica Sacra was released on the Opus3 label. The Ensemble has had a good 15 CDs and phonograms issued by the record companies Opus3, Studio Acusticum Records and Naxos. Vita Nuova, featuring Swedish choral music, was rated ”world class” by the music magazine OPUS.
The Ensemble has undertaken over 30 international tours to Europe, North and South America, Asia and Oceania. A particularly notable engagement was the project Choral Singing for Peace and Justice with a tour to Tonga and Samoa at the turn of the millennium, seen by more than 500 million TV viewers worldwide.
