Sofia Vokalensemble


Sofia Vokalensemble is a mixed chamber choir based in the Sofia Church in the Sofia parish in Stockholm, Sweden. The choir in its present form was founded in 1995 by conductor Bengt Ollén who still leads the artistic work.
In 2012 Sofia Vokalensemble won the 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Maribor, Slovenia, competing in the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions. In 2015 Sveriges Radio, the Swedish public-broadcasting system that frequently records and broadcasts Sofia Vokalensemble's performances, appointed the choir as Sweden's representative in Let the Peoples Sing, an international choir competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union.

The choir

Organization

Sofia Vokalensemble performs both within the framework of the parish's work and in collaboration with external partners. The choir is a non-profit organization with bi-annual General Meetings and a Board of Directors. Most of the 32 singers started singing in choirs before the age of 10 and are now between 20 and 40 years old; many have received their choral and music training at Adolf Fredrik's School of Music, Stockholms Musikgymnasium, Södra Latin and/or other music institutions in the Stockholm region.

Repertoire

The repertoire consists of both new and old choral music, such as works by Bach, Mahler, Poulenc, Pärt och Schnittke. The choir has performed world premieres by the established Swedish composers Fredrik Sixten, Stefan Klaverdal and Karin Rehnqvist, Swedish soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson, Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo and Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, as well as "rising stars" such as Jacob Mühlrad and some of the choir's own members.

Choral work

The working style is collaborative. The choir members all help out with the choice of repertoire, musical scores, food and drink, marketing och stage costumes. Rehearsals are usually one evening per week and the choir meets for a weekend retreat at an external location about twice per year. Sometimes massage is included in the warmup for practice. During rehearsals, Bengt Ollén works actively with the voices and challenges the choir members to sing without the score. To foster security and trust between choir members they practice singing in small groups, eye to eye, ear to ear or with varying temperamental expressions and improvisations.
For each new concert or tour, a project leader is appointed, drawn from the members of the choir. During tours each new hotel means new roommates. "Secret buddies" are drawn by lottery so that each choir member must take extra care of the person whose name appears on the lottery ticket. Says one choir member: "Above all we try to be kind to each other".
Over the years Sofia Vokalensemble has often been invited to present their working method at international workshops, and the choir is host to visiting foreign choir leaders who wish to follow the rehearsal work. Says Ollén: "The vision is to create music beyond the score. The music performed by the choir should not be just beautiful tones and neat musical interpretation. The music must also affect the listener. Therefore each singer is an important part of the musical work".

International tours and competitions

Sofia Vokalensemble has toured extensively both in Sweden and abroad. The following is a list of the choir's international tours:
YearCountryDescriptionCompetition result / notes
1996Tour with concerts in western Russia
1998Tour
1999International Competition of Sacred Music in PrevezaReceived gold medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Mixed Voices, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Women Section, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Male Section, special prize for "Best Performance of Orthodox Chant”.
1999Tour on SicilyReceived Special International Award of the Jury,
2000Cork International Choral Festival in CorkFleischmann International Trophy Competition: 3rd with 90.9 points, 0.8 points behind the winner
2000Tour
2000Tour on Sicily
2001Tour on Sicily
2003Tour
20043rd Choir Olympics in BremenGold medals and best European Choir in the classes Mixed Chamber Choirs, Musica Sacra a capella and Musica Contemporanea.
2006II International Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition in HelsinkiShared podium with the Hungarian Victoria Chamber Choir
2007Tour
200847th International Choral Competition "C.A. Seghizzi" in GoriziaWinner of two categories, 2nd prize in the Grand Prix final
2009Grieg International Choir Festival in BergenGrand Prix winner and elected the best choir of the competition; 1st prize in the category Contemporary music
2010Szczecin Choir Festival
201111th International Choral Competition in MariborWinner of the Grand Prix, 1st prize in both the compulsory and in the free program, qualified for the final of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in April 2012; conductor Bengt Ollén also took home two special awards for the conductor of the best performance of a composition by Jacobus Handl Gallus and the best performance of the contemporary compulsory Slovenian composition
201224th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in MariborWinner of the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions
2012La Fabbrica del Canto in Legnano
2013Czech Choir Festival in Hradec Kralove
201410th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul; also separate concerts in Seoul and Busan
2015Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in ProvenceTour received as a price for winning the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2012
2016Opera festival in Aix-en-ProvenceLadies only
2016Consert in the Royal Festival Hall, LondonLadies only
2016
Tour to Riga and VilniusMen only
2018Festival Birštonas Cantat 2018 in Vilnius

Other noteworthy events

Sofia Vokalensemble has recorded the following CDs:
As of mid-2015 the choir had participated in three television and 63 radio broadcasts that are on file at the Swedish Media Database, a search service for the audiovisual collections at the National Library of Sweden. The files include live radio broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.