January through March 2008 [2008-04-24]

We all gathered in Sweden for a relaxing and time in the darkness of the final December days but no snow was in sight. The global warming becomes gloomy warming in the north where we depend on the snow and the chill of the air to add light to the long darker days. We had to make our own lights so there candles everywhere, the glow of the fireplace and lights in the trees outside. I had a month free before heading back to Italy, Cantazaro in Calabria for the first concert of 2008. Magnus Lindgren and the members of the quartet and I walked on the beach and ate unforgettable Italian ice cream on the day of the concert and enjoyed the warmth and light of the southern sun.

The concert was good, we are still doing the Blues and Billie Holiday program and it is really evolving. It is always good to have some time off and to return to with fresh ears and eyes.

Nantes La Folles Journée- Schubert

What a treat to return to some of my favorite Schubert Lieder at my favorite theme festival. For those of you who do not know this festival lasts five days from Wednesday to Sunday with 45-minute concerts given in 6 different halls, ranging from 2000 seats to 80 seats. There are orchestras, choirs and tons of great chamber music From Friday, the concerts begin at 9:00 and end at midnight. It is really crazy days. I enjoy most of all being able to hear other concerts although I did not have so much time this year since I sang every day from Wednesday to Friday. I had to leave after my Friday concert to go to Paris for a full recital that I had in a town outside Paris called Taverny on Saturday February 1. I did get to hear on Thursday a wonderful recital of Schubert and Mendelssohn with my pianist Love Derwinger, and immediately after my last concert on Friday with Love, I received a special treat when I sat down to hear the Chinese pianist Zhu Xiao Mei. I signed some records and ran to hear her. I had no time to get a program; the first piece was a beautifully played Impromptu. What a delightful surprise for me when she began the second piece and I heard the first chords of my favourite Schubert Piano sonata in Bflat. What a gift. I left Nantes with this beautiful music resonating in my whole being.

After a week in Switzerland with my son I took the train to Basel and then on to Mulhouse for another full recital program with Love in the exquisite Theatre.

I began to follow more seriously the primary season in USA, the preparation for the election in November and was pleased that the Democratic crowd was all interesting and intelligent. I did a test on a Dutch website and it turned out that I agreed mostly with John Edwards so until he dropped out he was my preferred candidate.

ARTE VERUM - Release of mini-CD of five Schubert songs for the festival with songs Mignon Lieder and Ave Maria

February

Martin Fröst, the Swedish clarinettist and I have worked together since he was a teenager and I was very happy to participate in his own festival, Vinterfest in the picturesque region of Dalarna in Sweden.

The lakes were frozen and many skaters were out during this cold and sunny weekend. I sang two concerts, one jazz evening with Magnus and the rest of the quartet and on Sunday evening in Mora church, a Mozart aria and the orchestral version of Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with Martin.

Next stop, Spain more Billie and the Blues.

We were in Gijon, Seville and Barcelona. We love to be Spain and enjoy the food. We had very mild weather so I was able to walk around Barcelona and enjoy the atmosphere of this wonderful city. We had a day off in Barcelona and I went to a jazz club to hear Magnus, Fredric and Jonas minus Mattias who was suffering from a stomach flu. It was great fun but the club is small enough to escape the smoking ban so I could only stay a short time before my eyes started to burn and my throat started to hurt. The concerts went well and I was very happy to be back at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona.

More primaries in February and there is only Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama left. I was at this point happy about both of the candidates, the first woman or Afro-American who are both intelligent and would be a good leader. As I started to get to know Barack Obama I was becoming more and more impressed and inspired by him. Unfortunately at the same time Hillary Clinton, her husband Bill and her whole campaign became shockingly negative, mean and down right racist. She began to use the same right wing fear tactics that the Republicans have used against Democratic opponents. She has been quite divisive. How sad this has made me because I want to choose the best candidate based on their qualities and not their gender or race. But Hillary actions have made this impossible. As I looked closer to Hillary I realised that her gender was her most attractive quality but the substance underneath that has come to light was not enough to make me support her. So now my candidate is Barack Obama.

I must say that I cannot vote in USA as I have been a Swedish citizen since 1994 but I am still an American and the President of the USA is important for the entire planet. Look at the state of this world since the stolen election of 2000.

March

Magnus, Mattias and I came to Marrakech for International Women’s Day and performed on a television programming celebrating out, standing women in Morocco.

We gave a full concert the following day. We had a nice day of and profited from the 22-degree weather and a walk in the medina.

We met an old friend that had come to the concert and ate a lunch with her the following day on the terrace of a lovely small hotel in the medina run by a Swedish –Moroccan couple. We met the rest of the quartet in Brussels for a concert at Palais des Beaux Arts.

The Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble and I went to France for something entirely different: Handel, Purcell at the Theatre des Champs Elysée. I am used to enthusiastic audiences but I was taken aback to receive the fantastic response for such an intimate program. We added Pergolesi to our program at sacred music festival in Montpellier. The cathedral was very cold but the response and the hearts were very warm. I sang a spiritual with the choir of the cathedral as an encore.

Tibetan demonstrators defied the Chinese authorities in several places in China just a half-year before the Olympics.

I will be following with great interest how this will play out between now and August and what effect this will have on the Tibetan cause and the Dalai Lama who has called on the Chinese government “to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people”

Food for thought:
More than 26,000,000 persons are refugees or internally displaced caused by conflicts, climate change or hunger.

Best regards
BH