Photos: Mads-Peter Eusebius Jakobsen, Stine Vejen
It’s always an interesting moment. When Danish composers complete their composition studies – after years of training at esteemed conservatories – it is tradition that they present a selection of their works at a so-called debut concert.
This year Mette Nielsen and Allan Gravgaard Madsen will complete their studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. And although their debut concerts will of course take place in Aarhus, they will also be a part of this year’s KLANG Festival in Copenhagen. So both composers will make their debuts twice.
Down memory lane
Mette Nielsen’s debut concert will unfold as an integrated series of newly composed pieces, all of which are performed for the first time. “One way or another, all of them are about memories and childhood,” Nielsen says.
“Traditionally, debut concerts present a look back on the years spent at the conservatory,” she continues. “I wanted to look back even farther. So I went back to when I wrote small songs as a child.”
The concert features the Århus Sinfonietta and the women’s choir Usmifka as well as four music school students.
Full disclosure
Allan Gravgaard Madsen’s debut concert will consist of a newly composed, one-hour long work titled DEBUT, featuring both new and previously written compositions. And Gravgaard Madsen promises the concert will show new sides of him:
“I have always been a very introvert person,” he says, “but with DEBUT I’m letting people in on some of my secrets, both personally and musically speaking. For example, one of the pieces performed was composed as a love letter to someone who did not feel the same way about me.”
The concert features the JACK Quartet (US), clarinetist Mathias Kjøller – and the composer as performer.
Prior to his debut concert, Gravgaard Madsen has been interviewed by the Danish newspapers Jyllands-Posten and Politiken and the classical music magazine Klassisk. You can find the interviews at the bottom of this page.
Debut concert | Allan Gravgaard Madsen, 26-27 May
26 May, 19.30: Musikhuset Aarhus, Lille sal
Thomas Jensens Allé, Aarhus
Free entrance
27 May, 20.00: KoncertKirken
Blågårds Plads 6, Copenhagen
Tickets: 100/70 DKK
Debut concert | Mette Nielsen, 4 & 24 June
4 June, 17.00: KU.BE, Zen
Dirch Passers Allé 4, Frederiksberg
Tickets: 100/70 DKK
24 June, 17.00: Musikhuset Aarhus, Rytmisk sal
Thomas Jensens Allé, Aarhus
Free entrance