Reviews

Sincerity in Piteå

“Christofer Elgh’s gripping and sometimes touching primal screaming reaction around Norma Jeane Baker, alias Marilyn Monroe. Against a background of fiery red light shaped into something that can bring to mind both roses and blood-flowing brain twists, based on Baker / Monroe’s disillusioned text about the difficulty of being sincere and true in a world of lies, her in many ways tragic fate. Musically, we move from a slow introduction with crisp bells, strings over percussion and buzzing blows straight into an air-conditioned nightmare of hot-pitched sounds and sudden silences, sharp as gunshots.”

– Anders Lundqvist, Norrbottenskuriren

Sincerity
 (poem by Norma Jeane Baker)
Alexandra Büchel soprano, B Tommy Andersson conductor, Norrbotten Neo


Valeries Voice, Malmö

“This Opera is the tip of the iceberg of the new international wave of politically conscious art music that we have seen little of to date on the large Swedish concert stages, but which is finding alternative spaces such as Bastionen in Malmö.”

– Hanna Höglund, Expressen


Valeries Voice, Stockholm

“Elgh has also allowed the musical form a freedom that in theory means that the parts can be reordered in almost any way with the help of a pedal. The hourlong show is both refreshing and uncomfortable, but there is also space for reflection and doubt. Atmospheric, dreamily beautiful sections where one can rest in between the sludgy satiric parts in a mess of juice and blood red lingon jam. ”Cutting up,” as Stridsberg points out in the foreword to her Swedish translation of the Manifesto, also means to criticise, to question. The strength of ”Valerie’s voice” is that it does not simply dole out verbal kicks to the groin, but also dares to scrutinise its own text.”

– Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter


Alice i underlandet-tebjudningen Taberg mine Jönköping

“Christofer Elgh’s newly written music is both playful and powerful and it gives a lot of space”

“The performance highlights the bizarre and humorous sides of Alice in Wonderland, not least through the fantastic costumes and scenography”

“Likewise, the performance highlights the philosophical sides of Lewis Carolls Reality is turned upside down, upside down, magnified and diminished – nothing is ever as you think. We hear bells ticking and going without anyone really catching up ”

” All artistic expressions complement each other and contribute to a unity – a work of art – and an experience beyond the ordinary ”

Johan Fingal JP