Cultural Encounters: Sweden and the Netherlands

In cooperation with the Faculty of Humanities (UvA), the Swedish Embassy in the Hague and swe400nl.com

Event

As part of the 400 years jubilee of diplomatic relations between Sweden and the Netherlands, we turn to Swedish-Dutch cultural encounters. How do Swedish artists experience working in a Dutch environment? Composer Klas Torstensson, dance instructor/filmmaker Nicola Balhuizen Hepp and screenwriter Lotta Magnusson are all Swedes working and living in the Netherlands. They will speak about their latest work and reflect on Swedish-Dutch encounters.

First on will be Swedish Composer Klas Torstensson, who has been living and working in the Netherlands since 1973. He will discuss the background of his composition on the fatal Swedish Andrée expedition to the North Pole. Taking off from Svalbard, the balloon of these adventurers stranded after a few days in the air and left the three expedition members to a long heavy trail across the ice to the island of Kvitøya, where they perished. Their remains were not found until 1930, and their end has been surrounded by mystery ever since, fueled by the outstanding photography and the diaries of the expedition members found on site. How and why does Klas Torstensson, as a composer firmly rooted in his Dutch network and with strong ties to the modern Dutch musical tradition, return to themes from his Swedish cultural background? How did he transpose these themes to classical music? What inspired him and why is he so fascinated by the Northern nature and explorers of that time?

The second half of the evening will also be dedicated to cultural connections between the two countries. Swedish filmmaker Nicola Balhuizen Hepp received a Danish public prize for her short Dancefilm “Echo”. She will show the film in its entirety and elaborate on the Swedish-Dutch elements in it. How does it reflect both her cultural and personal heritage? What exactly is identity, what does it mean to us and how can we express it through art and dance? Swedish screenwriter Lotta Magnusson will join Balhuizen Hepp for a talk about their new shared film project. How does Magnusson experience her work as an international screenwriter with a Swedish background?

A roundtable on cultural encounters will conclude the evening. Moderator: Dr. Astrid Surmatz (UvA).

About the speakers

Klas Torstensson studied composition at Ingesunds Musikhögskola, musicology at University of Gothenburg and electronic music at the Institute of Sonology, Utrecht. Torstensson’s compositions are performed worldwide and on major European new music festivals. Torstensson’s opera “The Expedition” was a nominee for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2006. The Intermezzo from the opera received a recommendation by the International Rostrum of Composers 1999. For the orchestra work “Polarhavet” (The Polar Sea), Torstensson received the Swedish Music Publishers Award 2009, orchestra works “Fastlandet” and “Polarhavet” were nominees for the Dutch Toonzetters. New projects include 'Himmelen' in Stockholm Concert Hall (commissioned by Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra), 21 mars 2015 choir work 'Arcadia 1689' in Concertgebouw Amsterdam (commissioned by ZaterdagMatinee).

Nicola Balhuizen Hepp is a Swedish dance instructor and lecturer at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten/Amsterdam Higher Education of Art. She offers dance classes at CREA, the creative center for UvA/HvA students. She graduated from Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten with a bachelor in Dance and a master in Choreography and New Media. Her short intercultural dancefilm "Echo" was awarded the audience award in Copenhagen at the 60seconddance competition in 2014 and was shown at dance and short film festivals in the Netherlands, Scotland, South Africa and Turkey.

Lotta Magnusson took a Master in Economics at Uppsala University and in International Marketing at Copenhagen Business School. After a career in accountancy and project management financial communications, she went to the ScriptSchool in Scriptwriting (drama film&TV) in 2008, after which she joined the Dutch screenwriter group DramaQueens in 2010. After several projects, a larger youth film premiered in 2014:Johnny Bakru (VPRO) which was nominated as best youth television programme 2014 (Cinekid Kinderkast). Currently in production development is 'We Noemen Haar Isa', in the series Duivelse Dilemma's by HUMAN.

Published by  Spui25