Scandinavian/Nordic Fest

Genesis of the Project
Schedule of Events
About Robert Winter

Genesis of the Project

During the month of February 2007, the Maia Quartet will be coordinating a month long festival at The University of Iowa celebrating Scandinavian and Nordic composers, authors and other luminaries. This project has been almost two years in the making and has been a wonderful musical and cultural journey for the Maia Quartet.

The genesis of this project came from a conversation between Tricia Park and myself when we learned that 2005 was the bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen’s birth. As some of you may know, the Maia Quartet’s name was taken from the Andersen fairy tale “Thumbelina” (where Thumbelina is renamed Maia at the end of the story) and we thought it was wonderful opportunity to celebrate our connection to Mr. Andersen.

We began to research Danish composers and learned that 2006 was the 75th anniversary of the Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s death. More research led to more discoveries and we soon learned that a remarkable number of anniversaries of significant figures in Scandinavian and Nordic history would be taking place over the next few years. Some of the dates that caught our attention were:

  • Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) – Author - 2005 was the bicentennial of his birth
  • Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) – Composer - 2006 is the 75th anniversary of his death
  • Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) – Composer – 2007 is the 100th anniversary of his death
  • Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) – Composer – 2007 is the 50th anniversary of his death
  • Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) – Playwright - 2006 is the 100th anniversary of his death
  • Niels Bohr (1885-1962) – Physicist - 2006 is the 100th anniversary of his winning the gold medal from the Denmark Science Academy
  • Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) – Philosopher – 2005 was the 150th anniversary of his death
  • Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) – Author of Pipi Longstocking– 2007 is the 100th anniversary of her birth
  • August Strindberg (1849-1912) – Playwright – 2007 is the 100th anniversary of his chamber plays (inspired by the chamber music of Beethoven)
  • Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) – Composer – 2007 is the 80th anniversary of his death

This seemed like cause for great celebration and exploration. Thus, Scandinavian/Nordic Fest was born.

We feel that this Festival celebrates some of the best that a university can offer its community. During Scandinavian/Nordic Fest there will be many University of Iowa events, including chamber music recitals, a lecture series, a Ignmar Bergman film series with live music, a collaboration with the Maia Quartet and the University of Iowa’s Dance Department and many other events (including a collaborative production of Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata with University of Iowa’s Theatre Arts Department and the Maia Quartet in April).

Through generous funding by Chamber Music America, the Iowa Arts Council, UI Arts Share, the UI School of Music, and Humanities Iowa, many of these programs will be taken on the road to rural areas rich in Scandinavian heritage but with less access to the arts. It is proving to be a truly interdisciplinary and thrilling endeavor.

We would like to thank so many members of the University community for helping to make this project possible. There is no way this could have happened without backing from the The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Music. Linda Maxson and Kristin Thelander have lent both moral and financial support for various projects. We have also received support from University of Iowa’s International Programs, the Ida Cordelia Beam Visiting Professorship Program and the Department of Dance, Theatre Arts and the School of Art and Art History. A debt of gratitude is owed to Sue Orhon for wonderful design of all the publicity, to the Iowa City Public Library for hosting two events and especially to Arthur Canter for his wonderful gift of program notes. Many thanks to Lisa Keely for designing the wonderful Bergman posters and to Annette Niebuhr for sorting out what seemed to be endless details associated with these events. I would also like to thank my friend Jon Winet for his insight and his brilliant idea of adding the film aspect to this project. We so appreciate the willingness of so many members of the UI faculty to jump on the bandwagon as far a programming. We would like to dedicate these events to our wonderful community of supporters here in Iowa. You have given us a fabulous home in which to work and grow and we are so grateful.

- Elizabeth Oakes

Hans Christian Andersen's talent for making paper cuts, which he gave to his friends and their children, is well-known. This cut from Holger Laage-Petersen's H.C. Andersen Collection in the Danish Collection shows motifs from the fairy tales. At the top Andersen wrote a verse: "Fra H.C. Andersens Sax / Sprang et Eventyr strax / Du Klipningen fik / Du er den milde Kritik!" (From H.C. Andersen's shears / A fairy tale quick appears / The cutting's for you / You judge kindly too!)

Downloaded from the web-site of the Royal Library, Copenhagen www.kb.dk, January 22, 2007.

 

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Last updated 21-feb-07