Nystroem, Gösta - Concerto for Strings 1 & 2 - Musica Vitae
Musica Vitae (Chamber Orchestra)
Because the underlying idea of Musica Vitae is to promote both music of the past and contemporary repertoire in the broadest sense of the terms, it is part of our ambition to expand the repertoire for the string orchestra. Today, new pieces are continually being composed for Musica Vitae. At the time of writing (2001) and over the course of the past fifteen years, the Musica Vitae ensemble has performed more than 75 new pieces.
The Musica Vitae ensemble is also in the process of taking stock of the music of the past, in pursuit of "new" pieces. In this context, it is important to broaden the concept of classical string orchestra repertoire, with a view to making more available to audiences than simply the "sure magnets" written in a fairly short period of the history of western music. Thus it is a conscious aim of the repertoire policy of the Musica Vitae ensemble to highlight important, valuable pieces of music that are seldom performed on the concert stage. There are, for example, beautiful versions of painstakingly adapted string quartets, quintets and sextets. Edvard Grieg's string quartet in G minor, opus 27, is an excellent example of one such piece. It has been lovingly selected for its ability not only to offer audiences the intimacy of a chamber music piece, but also the voluminous sound of the full sections of the string orchestra. Musica Vitae has it's base in Växjö, south of Sweden. Musica Vitae works very consciously to promote Sweden's music life. The orchestra has given numerous first performances of commissions by Swedish composers. For more information about Musica Vitae activities visit: www.musicavitae.com
Michael Bartosch, Conductor
In recent seasons, Swedish conductor Michael Bartosch has become a name on the Scandinavian music scene, increasingly in demand both as opera and orchestral conductor with leading orchestras and companies. Mr Bartosch was born in 1965 and received his musical education (violin and conducting) at the Conservatories in his native Malmö, and in Stockholm. In 1996 he was awarded second prize in a conducting competition organised by the Royal Opera in Stockholm. He has conducted at the Gothenburg Opera, the Malmö Opera, the Norrlandsoperan. At the Folkoperan (Stockholm) Mr Bartosch has conducted Verdi's Othello and Mozart's Don Giovanni.
He is equally a frequent guest conductor with many symphony orchestras, such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, a.o.