The Swedish Wind Ensemble

The name of Aaron Copland (1900–1990) – the son of emigrants from the Russian Empire – is associated not with light genres but with such works as the symphonic suite Appalachian Spring, Symphony for Organ, the cowboy ballet Rodeo or the opera The Tender Land. Starting in the 1930s Copland emerged as America’s leading composer of classical music. He worked in different styles, including dodecaphony, but when he wanted to underline the national character of his works he turned, as a rule, to jazz.

Friedrich Gulda (1930–2000) was an Austrian musician, acclaimed both as a pianist and as a composer. Friedrich Gulda and two other brilliant pianists of his generation – Jörg Demus and Paul Badura-Skoda – became known as “the Viennese troika”. Having earned a reputation in classical music, for many years Gulda took an interest in jazz and rock music and, in 1955, he opened a jazz club. Gulda’s best-known and most vivid works include his Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra.

George Gershwin (1898–1937) embodies the American national style that is based on jazz. Like almost every musician on Broadway, he was the son of Russian émigré Jews. Coming to professional music as a pianist and accompanist and the composer of songs for one-day shows, he attained great heights in lighter as well as serious genres with amazing alacrity. His masterpieces include Rhapsody in Blue and the opera Porgy and Bess, but Gershwin’s ascent to fame began from songs, when Swanee (1919) brought him $10, 000 in just one year.

Fredrik Österling (1966) is a Swedish composer of stage, orchestral, chamber, choral and vocal works that have been successfully performed throughout Europe. Österling’s works deal with the correspondence between music, language and rhetoric. In 2006 Österling was appointed Organisational Manager of the Swedish Union of Musicians. This work on cultural and political issues has always been carried out in parallel to composing. In March 2007 the Folkoperan in Stockholm presented the premiere of Österling’s most recent opera, Shit också! (Oh, Shit!). Österling’s Songs of Ecstasy were composed especially for a concert by the Swedish Wind Ensemble.