Three recitals by the Hasselby Motet Choir, Sweden

After it’s highly successful collaboration with the Rotondo Choir from Poznan, Poland, for the highly acclaimed premiere of Mark Agius’ Messa Da Requiem at St John’s Co-Cathedral last March, the Medina Foundation of Music will be presenting three recitals by the Hassebly Motet Choir from Sweden.

One of the aims of the Medina Foundation for Music is to promote cultural awareness, working towards promoting Malta’s vision as a hub of cultural and educational activity for all regions of the world and in particular for the Euro-Mediterranean region. The choir will be presenting two recitals for the general public, the first being on Friday, 11 May at St Publius Church in Floriana at 7pm and the second on Saturday, 12 May at the Xaghra Basilica in Gozo at 8pm. Entrance is free but proceeds will go in aid of Id-Dar tal-Providenza. There is no doubt that these performances will not only be entertaining but also of great educational and cultural significance.

The Medina Foundation of Music also strives to make music of the highest calibre accessible to the younger generation as well as to those who, for a variety of reasons, would otherwise have very limited opportunities, if at all, to attend such performances. It is with pleasure that the choir will also be presenting a third recital for students of Guardian Angel Resource Centre and San Gorg Preca College on 10 May.

Hässelby Motet Choir is a parish choir in Hässelby, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden. The choir consists of about 50 singers and gives concerts and sings at services throughout the year. Swedish choir music forms the basis of their reper- toire but it also includes choral works by other great international composers. The choir frequently performs concerts together with orchestra and soloists, such as Requiems by W. A. Mozart, G. Fauré, J. Rutter, J. Brahms and K. Jenkins. Recent programmes have included St Johns Passion by J.S. Bach and Messiah by G. F. Handel. In the spring of 2016 they performed, the very first performance ever in Stockholm, The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins.

Over the years the choir has had the opportunity to work with several well-known Swedish musicians such as Bengt Hallberg, Arne Domnérus and Monica Dominique. In 1999 their first CD, in collaboration with Swedish musicians Georg Riedel and Stefan Nilsson, was released. During 2013 Hässelby Motet Choir was part of a project where composer Sven-David Sandström wrote one piece of church music for every Sunday of the year. It was mostly choir music and the choir’s second CD recording is a selection of this contemporary music.

The choir’s first international tour was to Hungary in 1986. After that the choir visited Ireland, Czechia, Scotland, Wales, Poland, Spain, Croatia and Lithuania. It is envisaged that a complement of 43 choristers will be travelling to Malta for this tour.

Since 1991 the choir is led by musical director Mona Ehntorp. She graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1977 and has also studied Musicology at Stockholm University.