Today, Wednesday April 23rd, you have a unique (and gratis) opportunity to hear the streaming concert “Nordic Nightingales: Songs by Swedish and Norwegian Women” performed by soprano Laura Loge, with Jonathan Spatola-Knoll, piano, and Amy Dodds, violin. The program features music by 12 women, including Elfrida Andrée and Laura Netzel (of Sweden), and Agathe Backer Grøndahl (Norway). These three women were all born in the first half of the 19th c and lived into the 20th century. Loge, the founder and president of the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society, has two acclaimed CDs of Nordic music, with a third to be released this year.
The concert takes place at Whitman College (in Walla Walla WA) at 7 PM Pacific time, which is 10 PM eastern time. It will stream on Vimeo here. While the concert stream may be available later, that is not guaranteed at this time.
A related concert on April 28th features the Western Hemisphere premiere of Elfrida Andrée’s Suffrage Cantata of 1911, with Laura Loge as soprano soloist. Titled “Music of Empowerment”, that event will also be streamed from Whitman College. We will report more on that concert soon.
Liane Curtis (Ph.D., Musicology) is President of Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy and The Rebecca Clarke Society, Inc. Her website is here.
Just to mention that the video of the Nordic Nightingales recital is still available, here https://vimeo.com/event/5080187/ebd430ac90
It is an excellent recital, Laura Loge is compelling and nuanced performer, and the repertoire ranges from the grand, moving and profound, to small little gems — every song has its own character and mood, and most are worth hearing again. The performers introduce the composers and the music, and the translations are projected on the screen at the back of the stage (which is usually but not always visible ….)
Comment by Dr. Liane Curtis — April 26, 2025 at 7:19 pm