Stockholm 2017 An International Voice Teachers’ Congress
Pristinely and picturesquely situated on the outer arc of Europe’s cultural capitals, and smack in the centre of Scandinavia, lies the ‘Venice of the North’: Stockholm. Stereotypes of seafaring Vikings and their Sagas from millennia past may sell the city to tourists, but for opera cognoscenti, Stockholm and Swedens’ contributions are more associated with operatic history.
Sweden has given birth to the likes of opera legends like Jenny Lind, Birgit Nilsson, Anne Sofie von Otter, Elisabeth Söderström, Astrid Varnay, Jussi Björling and Nicolai Gedda. In choral music, conductor Eric Ericsson is a giant. And if Sweden had not given us the iconic song writing team of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA); composer Max Martin (whose songs brought Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys fame and fortune) and Marie Fredriksson (of the band Roxette), the last 40 years of pop music would have been robbed of many of its most memorable tunes.
icvt: an international gathering of vocal specialists
In Aug. 2017, Stockholm hosted the 9 International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT). Distinguished pedagogues, coaches and performing artists from five continents converged to further crack the codes that lead us to our best singing; knowledge that can be invaluable to our students— some of whom
