Photo & © Maria Nehro
I was sitting on “pins and needles” at my job class on Friday afternoon. Shortly before 4.00 PM, I noticed how the teacher began to get towards the end, and then I managed to sneak away with the pretext that I had an important meeting. A moment later, I met some of Helen’s most loyal fans at Hötorget, where a large and beautiful bouquet was bought, after big discussions back and forth. Then we went to one of the Gallerian cafes, where also Maria from Italy joined us, after having wandered around, searching for us along Hamngatan for a while. At last we hurried to Skeppsholmen, whose beautiful old church on the hill was shining on us from afar. The church is now converted into a concert hall and goes by the name Eric Ericsson Hall. We were first in line, apart from Rachel’s parents, who arrived just before us. It became a chilly, but nice, waiting for the inlet, and the entire front of the queue was full of familiar faces!
We sat down on the right side of the aisle, on the second bench. In the first row of seats some seats were reserved. The concert started strikingly, with the 180-year jubilee Lund Student Singers, led by conductor Michael Bojesen, singing and seemingly disorganized coming in from different directions, and then taking place on the podium. There were shivers down my spine, so charming they sang! We had to wait quite a while before Helen entered, but it felt like no big sacrifice when the choir in front of us sang one piece more beautiful than the other. On the piano, we enjoyed Janåke Larson and Helen’s faithful companion Martin Östergren. Below you can see the evening’s program:
Tre madrigaler
Thomas Morley
Op. 26
Niels W Gade
Det är därför vi lever
Bo Holten
Så tag mit hjerte
Michael Bojesen
Horgalåten
Trad
Sverige
Joakim Berg
O klang och jubeltid
Benny Andersson
En sång som handlar om sig själv
Schubert / Alfredson
The Ballad Of Little Musgrave And Lady Barnar
Benjamin Britten
PAUS
Lux Aurumque
Eric Whitacre
Ubi caritas
Ola Gjeilo
Gesang der Geister über dem Wasser
Franz Schubert
Mittagsruh
Richard Strauss
Gabriellas sång
Stefan Nilsson
Du är min man
Benny Andersson
It was the most beautiful and evocative concert, and the finale was, like the introduction, extra powerful! Then Helen broke the quite serious program for the happy, swingin ”Du är min man” (You Are My Man). Although it´s normally not one of my favorites, I thought it was perfect as the evening’s encore, and a great contrast with other songs during the evening. Helen was dressed in black tights and a black and gold patterned dress. After the concert, I said goodbye to my friends and went home, because I hade to wake up early the next morning. Undeniably it felt a little bit sad, not knowing when the next time to enjoy Helen’s beautiful voice will be!