The Fearless

Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1

Joan Tower (b. 1938) is a leading contemporary American composer and in 1990 was the first woman to win the prestigious Grawemeyer prize, for a work called Silver Ladders. Her Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman belongs to a set of six overtures and is the work by her most often performed. She wrote it for the Houston Symphony Orchestra on the 150th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the state of Texas from Mexico. Her primary source of inspiration was Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and is a tribute to him. It is scored for the same instruments as his Fanfare and the themes are closely related, but instead of being patriotic, its message is feminist. It is dedicated to women who take risks and are adventurous, and to one such woman in particular, Marin Alsop the conductor.

Sven-David Sandström: Cello Concerto

Sven-David Sandström (1942–2019), composer and teacher, was a major figure in Swedish music. He wrote nine solo concertos in all, of which that for cello is maybe the most melodic. It clearly pays homage to the 19th-century ideals of harmony and timbre. According to tonight’s soloist Torleif Thedéen, for whom it was composed, the cello concerto is in no way a manifesto to be admired from afar; on the contrary, it reaches out to its audience, longing to communicate. Cast in an unconventional mould, it makes extreme demands of the soloist. Instead of being divided into movements, it consists of 13 interconnected scenes, each contrasting with the one before in both timbre and the techniques required: from a swiftly flowing elegy to a tongue-in-cheek scherzo, a pensive recitative to a fragmentary march, suspension in space to virtuoso runs and nonchalant pizzicatos. The journey through the world of styles ends with a tender cantilena that floats peacefully up into the heights.

Torleif Thedéen

Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen (born 1962) has performed as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; the Dresden, London, Netherlands, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; the Hallé Orchestra; and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He is familiar with the prestigious stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Thedéen has collaborated with distinctive conductors, including Paavo Berglund, Kirill Petrenko, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Mario Venzago, Osmo Vänskä, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Thedéen is a first prize winner of international cello competitions, and his numerous recordings have received acclaimed awards and recognitions. He is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London and a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen (born 1962) has performed as a recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; the Dresden, London, Netherlands, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; the Hallé Orchestra; and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He is familiar with the prestigious stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Thedéen has collaborated with distinctive conductors, including Paavo Berglund, Kirill Petrenko, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Mario Venzago, Osmo Vänskä, and Franz Welser-Möst.

Thedéen is a first prize winner of international cello competitions, and his numerous recordings have received acclaimed awards and recognitions. He is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London and a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Simon Crawford-Phillips

Simon Crawford-Phillips (born 1976) leads a wide-ranging career as a conductor, pianist, and chamber musician, with a passion for contemporary music. Settled in Sweden, he has been appointed Artistic Adviser and Chief Conductor of the Västerås Sinfonietta from 2017 to 2026.

Crawford-Phillips performs as a guest conductor and pianist both domestically and internationally, now debuting with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also collaborated with the Swedish Radio Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; the English, the Scottish, the Swedish, and the Zurich Chamber Orchestras; and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. In addition to being a director of multiple festivals, he appears at premier events and concert halls across Europe, including Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Edinburgh, and the Wigmore Hall.

Simon Crawford-Phillips teaches at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama, as well as giving masterclasses. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2010.