PRIZES AND AWARDS FROM STOCKHOLM AND VÄRMLAND IN 2024
During 2024 Albert Schnelzer received awards from both Värmländska Sällskapet (Kulturpriset 2024) and Musikföreningen i Stockholm. The latter is an annual prize for choir and orchestra and Albert was awarded for his oratorio ”SALT”.
ALBERT SCHNELZER RECEIVES SWEDISH MPA AWARD 2023
Albert Schnelzer has been awarded the Swedish MPA Award (Musikförläggarnas Pris) in the category ”Classical Music Award of the Year – large orchestra/opera” for his oratorio ”SALT” which was commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for the 400-year anniversary of the city of Gothenburg. This was the third time Schnelzer received this award.
NEW CD ON BIS RECORDS – A FREAK IN BURBANK – VIOLIN CONCERTO
Albert Schnelzer’s second portrait CD has just been released by BIS Records. This SACD contains the world premiere recording of his most performed orchestral work A Freak in Burbank as well as Burn My Letters and his Violin Concerto. Performed by Västerås Sinfonietta, violinist Ilya Gringolts and conductor Simon Crawford-Phillips. Interspersed with these are three chamber works – Dance with the Devil, Apollonian Dances and Frozen Landscape – performed by some of Sweden’s foremost instrumentalists. The CD is available for order at the BIS website and is also available as high-quality digital download from eClassical.com, iTunes, Spotify and other digital platforms.
”the works […] are united by a great intensity and energy with a strong rhythmic and motoric component. ”
piccicato.lu – Top Score 5/5
NEW COMMISSIONS FOR THE SWEDISH RADIO CHOIR
Albert Schnelzer is currently writing two new works for choir a capella for the world renowned Swedish Radio Choir. The work ”Glittrande kall” with text by Karin Boye (1900-1941) will be premiered on 3 December 2022 in Berwaldhallen conducted by artistic director & chief conductor Kaspars Putniņš. The other work will be premiered at a later date. The text set to music for this work is ”After the Winter” by the Jamaican poet Claude McKay (1889-1948).
NEW ORCHESTRAL WORK 40-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ALTE OPER FRANKFURT
Albert Schnelzer will be writing a new orchestral work for the 40 year anniversary of the Alte Oper Frankfurt this fall. The concert hall was built in 1880 but partly destroyed during world war II and reopened 1981 after many years of fundraising (by musicians such as Herbert von Karajan and others). Alberts work will be the opening piece at the big anniversary concert 28 August alongside works by Ravel, Schumann and Hindemith in the Grosser Sal. Frankfurt Radio Symphony (Hr-Sinfonieorchester) will be conducted by their new Music Director Alain Altinoglu. The concert will be broadcasted by Hessischer Rundfunk.
NEW ORATORIO FOR THE GOTHENBURG SYMPHONY APRIL 2023
Albert Schnelzer is currently writing a large orchestral work for the 400-year anniversary of the city of Gothenburg. World premiere 20 & 23 April 2023 with the Gothenburg Symphony, Gothenburg Symphonic Choir, Joana Carneiro – conductor. The title of the oratorio is ”SALT” and the texts are by Swedish poets such as Karin Boye, Edith Södergran, Dan Andersson and others.
COMMISSION FOR THE LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, RTÉ NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, LAHTI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & GÄVLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Albert Schnelzer’s new orchestral work ”Burn My Letters”, inspired by the legacy of Clara Schumann, is a co-commission by the LA Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Gävle Symphony Orchestra. The world premiere will take place in Gävle on November 29, 2019 , the Irish premiere on December 6, 2019 and the U.S. premiere with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in February 7, 8 & 9, 2020.
NEW CD ON BIS RECORDS
Albert Schnelzer’s first portrait CD is now released by BIS Records. The three works on the CD are his Cello Concerto – Crazy Diamond, Tales from Suburbia and Brain Damage – Concerto for Orchestra. Performed by Göteborgs Symfoniker, solo cellist Claes Gunnarsson and conductor Benjamin Shwartz. The CD is available for order at the BIS website and is also available as high-quality digital download from eClassical.com, iTunes, Spotify and other digital platforms.
”Throughout, Schnelzer is revealed as an expert orchestrator with a thoughtful and appealing mindset.”
Grammophone
”An outstanding release!”
classicalcdreview.com
CLICK HERE TO ORDER AND BUY YOUR CD ON THE BIS WEBSITE.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AND BUY YOUR CD ON E.CLASSICAL.
NEW OPERA – NORRMALMSTORGSDRAMAT (THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME)
The Summer 2018 will see the premiere of Albert Schnelzer’s first opera. It is based on the hostage drama that took place at Norrmalmstorg, Kreditbanken in Stockholm in 1973, an event which also gave rise to the term ”The Stockholm Syndrome”. The opera will be staged at Vattnäs Konsertlada, a summer opera house ran by alto Anna Larsson and her husband Göran Eliasson. The libretto is written by director Patrik Sörling. Watch the video about this project filmed by Swedish Television: SVT.
Dates: Friday 13 July 2018 – Sunday 22 July 2018
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE (BESTÄLL BILJETTER HÄR): BUY TICKETS
COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE WITH VÄSTERÅS SINFONIETTA 18/19
Albert Schnelzer will be Composer-in-residence with the Västerås Sinfonietta during the season 18/19. His orchestral music will be performed in the Västerås Concert Hall on five concerts during this season.
15 Nov – A Freak in Burbank, Simon Crawford-Phillips – conductor
21 Feb – Emperor Akbar (new vers. for chamber orchestra), Anja Bihlmaier – conductor (Västerås Sinfonietta Commission and world premiere)
23 Feb – Emperor Akbar, Anja Bihlmaier – conductor
16 March – Piano Concerto, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Conrad Tao – piano, Thomas Søndergaard – conductor
9 May – Magical Allusions, Simon Crawford-Phillips – conductor, Verity Gunning-Olsson – oboe
HUGE SUCCESS FOR ALBERT SCHNELZER FESTIVAL
The Composer Weekend Festival at the Stockholm Concert Hall took place 6-9 April 2017 and was a huge success with rave reviews from all leading newspapers. Dagens Nyheter gave the opening concert highest possible rating (5/5) and Svenska Dagbladet was equally enthusiastic. Read the reviews here: DN (Opening Concert), SvD (Opening Concert) and DN (Chamber Music Concert).
ALBERT SCHNELZER RECEIVES SWEDISH MPA AWARD 2016
Albert Schnelzer has been awarded the Swedish MPA Award in the category ”Classical Music Award of the Year – orchestra/opera” for his Clarinet Concerto ”But Your Angels On Holiday”. Albert received the award from the Swedish Cultural Minister at a prize gala at Berns Salonger in Stockholm on 11 November 2016. Albert Schnelzer was also listed by the Music Magazine OPUS as one of 20 people ”who made the music life better” this year.
LA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, ROYAL LIVERPOOL PHIL AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS 2016/2017
Acknowledged as ”America’s finest chamber orchestra”, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard will perform A Freak in Burbank in two concerts at Alex Theatre and Royce Hall (LA) on 29 & 30 October 2016. Albert Schnelzer’s Oboe Concerto will be performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and oboist Francois Leleux, conducted by Jaime Martin at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 26 January 2017. Swedish chamber ensemble Gageego! will perform Wolfgang is Dancing! at the Gothenburg Concert Hall on 5 February 2017. The piano piece Dance with the Devil will be performed by Per Tengstrand at the Morgan in New York on 16 March 2017. Albert Schnelzer will be featured composer at the Composer Weekend Festival 2017 at The Stockholm Concert Hall 6-9 April (see text below) and Record Label BIS will record two portrait CDs during coming seasons.
ALBERT SCHNELZER AWARDED THE STOCKHOLM CITY CULTURAL GRANT 2016
Albert Schnelzer has been awarded the Stockholm City Cultural Grant 2016 and received the grant at a prize ceremony at the Stockholm City Hall on August 19.
COMPOSER WEEKEND FESTIVAL 2017 AT THE STOCKHOLM CONCERT HALL
Albert Schnelzer will be featured composer at the Composer Weekend Festival 2017 at The Stockholm Concert Hall. Dates are 6-9 April and will include performances by The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Evan Rogister, Gerard Korsten, Francois Leleux, Jakob Koranyi, Susanna Andersson, Svante Henrysson, Mats Bergström, Henrik Måwe, Marie Wilhelmsson-Macleod, Patrik Swedrup, Stenhammarkvartetten and many more. The music will include several of his biggest orchestral works (including a world premiere), his Cello Concerto – Crazy Diamond, his Oboe Concerto – The Enchanter, and lots of his chamber music. For the complete festival programme, click on ”concerts” above.
COMMISSION FOR H.M. KING CARL XVI GUSTAF, KING OF SWEDEN, FOR HIS 70TH BIRTHDAY
Albert Schnelzer has been chosen to compose a piece for H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, for his 70th birthday. The piece is called Aqua Songs (Vattensånger) and was commissioned by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien) and will be premiered at a ceremony with H.M. present at the Royal Opera on 29 April 2016.
TALES FROM SUBURBIA WITH BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & SWEDISH RADIO SO
Tales from Suburbia, a 15 minute concert opener for large orchestra, commissioned by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will be premiered by the BBC SO and conductor Kirill Karabits in Barbican Centre, London on 13 March 2015. The Swedish Premiere with the SRSO and conductor Daniel Harding will be on 25 & 28 March 2015, in Uppsala Concert Hall and Berwaldhallen, Stockholm. Harding and the SRSO will also bring this piece on tour and perform it at the Dresden Music Festival on 15 May 2015.
BRAIN DAMAGE – CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA – FOR THE ROYAL STHLM PHILHARMONIC AND GOTHENBURG SYMPHONY
Brain Damage is a 25 min Concerto for Orchestra co-commissioned by The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. This work was premiered by GSO and conductor Alain Altinoglu in Gothenburg Concert Hall on 10 & 11 Sept 2014 and will receive its Stockholm Premiere with RSPO and conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali on 24 & 26 Sept 2015. Watch an excerpt from the world premiere here!
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE, UTAH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS 2013/2014
Acknowledged as ”the finest chamber orchestra in the world” (BBC Two Television, 2011), the Chamber Orchestra of Europe will perform A Freak in Burbank by Albert Schnelzer at the Opera de Dijon, France on 17 January 2014. This piece will also be performed by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 24 October 2013, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto (Italy) 10 January 2014, Lahti Symphony Orchestra (Finland) 20 February 2014, Utah Symphony Orchestra(USA) 28 February and 1 March 2014 and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia) 1 & 2 May 2014. Albert Schnelzer’s Oboe Concerto – The Enchanter will be peformed by the Gävle Symphony Orchestra and soloist Francois Leleux on 15 November 2013. Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra will give the World Premiere of Animal Songs for soprano and orchestra (texts by Margaret Atwood) on 12 January 2014 together with Swedish star soprano Susanna Andersson. Conductors during the 13/14 season will include Mark Wigglesworth, Thomas Dausgaard, Stefan Solyom, Jaime Martin and Clemens Schuldt.
RAVE REVIEWS FOR A FREAK IN BURBANK AT BBC PROMS 2010!
Albert Schnelzer’s successful concert opener A Freak in Burbank was performed at a Proms Concert on 23 August in Royal Albert Hall and has been given rave reviews from several recognized UK magazines and newspapers.
According to the Financial Times: ”The Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer is little known in the UK, but A Freak in Burbank may change that. […] the restlessly busy, witty, lightly-scored music lives in an imaginative world of its own.”
The Proms concert was followed by a sold-out composer’s portrait at the Royal College of Music on 24 August presenting Albert Schnelzer’s chamber works. The concert featured among others the Tippett Quartet and the percussion duo Oduo. More information: Composer Portrait RCM
HUGE SUCCESS FOR SCHNELZER’S OBOE CONCERTO IN SWEDEN AND SCOTLAND
Albert Schnelzer’s oboe concerto The Enchanter, written for world renowned French oboe player Francois Leleux, was given rave reviews by a number of UK newspapers and Herald Scotland wrote: ”What a ravishing piece, both in its intoxicating and bewitching slow music, which was at once tranquil and mesmerising, with those endless notes during which Leleux appeared not to require oxygen, and in its contrasting, impish, staccato, chattering music that sounded like an excited chorus of disciples drawn to the searing, soaring song of the enchanter.”
The Enchanter was premiered by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Lionel Bringuier in Örebro on and followed by the UK premiere with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra/John Storgårds in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
NIKOLAJ ZNAIDER CONDUCTS CELLO CONCERTO WITH GOTHENBURG SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
World renowned violinist and conductor Nikolaj Znaider will conduct the world premiere of Albert Schnelzer’s Cello Concerto with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and swedish cellist Claes Gunnarsson. Claes Gunnarsson is considered as one of the leading cellists in Scandinavia and has appeared as a soloist in most of the European countries, New Zealand and China. He has also been guest solo cellist in the London Symphony Orchestra. The cello concerto will be premiered 1 December 2011 in Gothenburg Concert Hall with additional concerts on the 2nd and 3rd December.
A FREAK IN BERLINER PHILHARMONIE, COPENHAGEN AND CANADA
The Swedish Chamber Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard will bring A Freak in Burbank on their German Tour in 2011, stopping at Kölner Philharmonie (2 March), Stadthalle Wuppertal (3 March), Berliner Philharmonie (4 March) and NDR Rundfunkhaus Hannover (5 March). The coming season Dausgaard will also conduct the work with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, during the Nordic Music Days in Copenhagen this September, and with the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, in May 2011.
A Freak in Burbank was inspired by a biography on American film director Tim Burton. It was premiered in 2008 and has since been performed more than 20 times by nine different orchestras.
SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION WITH THE BRODSKY QUARTET
In 2009 Albert Schnelzer received a commission from the Nordland Music Festival in Norway to write a string quartet for the renowned Brodsky Quartet. The world premiere took place during the festival in Bodø on 6 August 2009 and the UK premiere in Cadogan Hall in London on 15 October 2009. Hillary Finch from The Times wrote: ”a new work destined for London: the String Quartet No 2 by the young Swedish composer Albert Schnelzer. He celebrates the spectres of Shostakovich, Berg, Ravel — yet speaks with a confident and passionately lyrical voice all his own. ”
PREDATORY DANCES VOTED BEST CD OF THE YEAR
Albert Schnelzer’s new portrait CD ”Predatory Dances” was voted ”Best CD of the Year” by Dagens Nyheter and was also chosen as ”Highlights of the Year” in CD revyn SR P2. It has previously been given top reviews by all leading newspapers in Sweden including DN, Svenska Dagbladet, Musikrevyn i SR P2 etc. Read the review from SvD here. The CD was also awarded ”Debut CD of the Year” by Helsingborgs Dagblad.
Albert Schnelzer’s music is available on iTunes and the CD can also be ordered from some of the following sites:www.amazon.co.uk, www.hmv.com, www.cdon.eu & www.naxosdirect.se.
GEHRMANS MUSIKFÖRLAG
Albert Schnelzer is published and represented by Gehrmans Musikförlag AB. International agencies for Gehrmans outside the Nordic contries is Boosey & Hawkes and Breitkopf & Härtel.