WELCOME TO HJORTED ART AND MUSIC

Photography: Rebecca Olarescu

Why Hjorted Art and Music Festival?

I believe we are all made up of the people, experiences and art we encounter, this shapes who we are and who we are constantly becoming. Therefore, it is a pleasure to present this festival where the focus is on the connections between these things. I also hope this festival can be a small contribution in emphasising art and music’s value in society, how it makes us who we are, how it lets us open our minds and how it can help us understand the world in new ways.

For this first year we are looking forward to bringing you a varied, exciting and different programme with artists from four different countries and a programme including five Swedish premiers and two world premiers. 

Amongst the items on offer is the Swedish premier of the piece ‘SCHPOL’, written by the 22 year old Ukrainian composer Alisa Zaika and performed by Julia Isaksson, a piece that vividly encapsulates the reality of the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is paired with an exciting world premier written and performed by Joel Janson and Alicia Reyes where Hjorted Church is turned into a living, singing being and we are invited to listen closely and deeply to the sounds it creates. Combine this with an energetic programme on the 14th with Duo Julia & Theo, Josef Alin and Raymond Brien and an immersive concert experience with dance and unusual sounds with the London based dancer Bun Kobayashi and internationally celebrated soloists on the 15th and you have yourself an artistic feast. 

All of this wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing sponsors and some fantastic people in Hjorted. Therefore, I want to take a moment to thank Södra Tjusts Pastorat, Uruppförandeklubben, The Anglo-Swedish Society, Showcase Creative Studios and Västerviks Express for their support. I also want to thank Matilda Helg, Susanne Israel, Ulrika Robertsson, Jenny Larsson, Anna Linder and Caroline Petterson for their trust and help in making this happen.

I want to conclude with something the composer Joel Jansson wrote to me before the festival describing why he works with sound. He says that for him sound is a place where ‘the questions asked become increasingly unanswered the more you engage with it. In this way, it is also a refuge, a place to go when needed and a place to keep searching when everything else comes to a halt’.

This is also what I hope this festival can be to you.

WELCOME - Zacharias Wolfe - Artistic Director

OUR MISSION

  • Interdisciplinary

    To unite artists from different disciplines in an effort to turn the concert format upside down and present musical works in a new way that engages all senses and an audience in new meaningful ways.

  • Cultural advocate

    To take an active role as a cultural advocate for high quality contemporary music in Sweden and fostering a cultural community within both the region of Småland and Sweden at large.

  • Local community

    To be of benefit to the local community in Hjorted, Totebo, Ankarsrum and Västervik. Both in the presentation of high quality music but also in providing workshops and classes for young people to enable music making in group on their own terms, lead by experienced musicians.

  • Inclusive and innovative

    We will strive to have a premiere of a new work or a new way of presenting an existing work each concert as well as a diverse representation of composers, musicians and artists in our programmes to represent the diverse society we live in.