Johan Hammarsrtöm, Swedish Radio Choir & Kaspars Putniņš
Biographie Johan Hammarsrtöm, Swedish Radio Choir & Kaspars Putniņš
Johan Hammarström
began his studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1997, graduating with both a master’s degree in church music and postgraduate diploma in organ. His teachers included Torvald Torén and Erik Boström for organ studies, and Stefan Parkman, Per Andersberg and Anders Eby for conducting.
Since the autumn of 2003, Hammarström has worked at Västerås Cathedral where in 2014 he was appointed director of music. He is responsible for the cathedral’s extensive music department and conducts the Cathedral’s Motet Choir. He is also president of the annual Västerås Organ Festival, which he initiated in 2009. An important element in Västerås Cathedral’s music life is commissioning new music, a project that Hammarström established in 2006, and has subsequently been a driving force in developing. So far, it has resulted in 35 commissions by both Swedish and international composers.
Between 2009 and 2012 he held a position as lecturer in choral conducting at the School of Music, Theatre and Art at Örebro University. Since 2013 he has served as a lecturer at the Academy of Music and Opera at Mälardalen University.
Kaspars Putniņš
One of today’s most exciting choral conductors, Kaspars Putniņš is permanent conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir since 1994 and was appointed as artistic director and chief conductor of Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in 2014. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading international choirs such as the BBC Singers, RIAS Kammerchor, Berliner Rundfunkchor, Netherlands Radio Choir and Collegium Vocale Gent.
Whilst Kaspars Putniņš’s work encompasses a wide range of choral repertoire from Renaissance polyphony to works of the Romantic period, his foremost aim has always been to
promote new and outstanding choral music. He has also initiated projects which involve the participation of his choirs in collaboration with visual and dramatic artists. A wide-ranging discography includes recordings for BIS of Pēteris Vasks’ Mate Saule and Rachmaninov’s Vespers. Kaspars Putniņš is the recipient of the Latvian Music Grand Prix and the Latvian Council of Ministers Award for Achievements in Culture and Science.
Swedish Radio Choir (Radiokören)
For more than 90 years, the Swedish Radio Choir has contributed to the development of the Swedish a cappella tradition. Under the leadership of legendary conductor Eric Ericson, the choir earned great international renown. It is still hailed as one of the best choirs in the world. The choir members’ ability to switch between powerful solo performances and seamlessly integrating themselves in the ensemble creates a unique and dynamic instrument praised by critics and music lovers alike, as well as by the many guest conductors who explore and challenge the choir’s possibilities.
Permanent home of the Swedish Radio Choir since 1979 is Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio’s concert hall. In addition to the seated audience, the choir reaches millions of listeners on the radio and the web through Klassiska konserten i P2. Several concerts are also broadcast and streamed on Berwaldhallen Play, offering the audience more opportunities to come as close as possible to one of the world’s top choirs.
With the 2020–2021 season, Kaspars Putniņš begins his tenure as the tenth Music Director of the Swedish Radio Choir. Since January 2019, Marc Korovitch is the choirmaster of the Swedish Radio Choir with responsibility for the ensemble’s continued artistic development. Two of the orchestra’s former Music Directors, Tõnu Kaljuste and Peter Dijkstra, were appointed Conductors Laureate in November 2019.
The Swedish Radio Choir was founded the same year as the Swedish Radio Service began its broadcasts and the choir had its first concert in May 1925. Right from the start, the choir had high ambitions with a conscious aim to perform contemporary music.
