Föreningen Kammarmusik NU

Föreningen Kammarmusik NU (Swedish Association for Contemporary Chamber Music) was founded in 2009 to develop and (co-)produce large-scale contemporary music projects and stage productions. Recent highlights have included: the evening-length production Saiyah by the composer Benjamin Staern and visual artist Yoko Seyama; the music-video installation Nox Boralis by Kaija Saariaho and visual artist Jean-Baptiste Barriere; as well as the interdisciplinary and educational production Voices based on Hans Werner Henze’s masterwork, presented in Stockholm and Gothenburg in partnership with Amnesty International, Teskedsorden, Raoul Wallenberg2012|Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Forum for Living History.
For the 2014 Umeå Culture Capital of Europe the organisation presented a major residency at the Norrland Opera. Strong ties and working relationships exist with many of Sweden’s leading concert podia, festivals, national radio, ensembles and institutions including the Sound of Stockholm Festival (incl. a 3-concert residency in 2012), Musik i Syd, Norrland Opera, Länsmusiken i Stockholm, Kultur i Väst, Västmanlandsmusiken, Stockholm’s KammarensembleN, Norrbotten NEO and Båstad Chamber Music Festival. International partnerships include ASKO|Schönberg (NL), Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Gaudeamus Festival, BIT20 Ensemble, Njord Biennale and New European Ensemble.
The organisation is an active and a keen commissioner of new work. Major recent works commissioned include Kate Moore’s critically-acclaimed Cello Concerto in 2014, Benjamin Staern’s full evening-length Saiyah in 2014 (together with the Norrland Opera), Anders Hillborg’s Scream Sing Whisper (with the Swedish Radio and ASKO|Schönberg, premiered at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam) and the Grawemeyer award-winning composer Djuro Zivkovic’s Ascetic Discourse in 2012. Chamber works include commissions to Mirjam Tally (EST), Ezequiel Menalled (NL), Henrik Strindberg and most recently Benjamin Staern’s guitar concerto Air-Spiral-Light, premiered at the Båstad Chamber Music Festival in 2016 (with live broadcast on Swedish Radio).
Current commissions include a new major work (60’) by Djuro Zivkovic, a new work for ensemble and flying drones by Pär Frid (in partnership with IRCAM), a new work by Pete Harden as well as the new major work by Francisco Coll for the Norrbotten NEO Ensemble. Other future projects include new works by Magnus Lindberg and Tansy Davies.