Orchestra Trip to Åland, 2004
One of the first tasks I set myself upon arrival in Stockholm was the hunting of an orchestra. While in Cambridge, I'd thoroughly enjoyed playing with the University of Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra, better known as UCPO. I was lucky, and found two - one at Stockholm University and the other at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (hereafter KTH). It was KTH Akademiska Kappell (or KTHAK) that gave me the opportunity to unleash my camera on Åland.
We were to play the Ålänskt Requiem in Jomala Kyrka. To bolster numbers, Gunnar Julin (our conductor) brought along his other orchestra from S:t Matteus Kyrka too. The choir was supplied from local sources. So it was, we found ourselves assembling at Cityterminalen one Friday afternoon in April. Getting sixty musicians and associated instruments onto the Stockholms Lokaltrafik (aka SL) busses wasn't an entirely trivial task. However, the orchestra was the biggest single group there, so we had no trouble obtaining seats. We drove to Kapellskär (passing, rather annoyingly, within a stone's throw of my flat in Täby), and boarded the ferry.
Since most of the visitors to this page are likely to be Swedes, I should perhaps choose my language accordingly. Unfortunately, my Swedish is somewhat basic - and I prefer to write at a lower pH.
Per usual, all these pictures were taken using my Minolta X-700 with Fuji Provia 100F film. Who knows... maybe I'll have a Velvia loaded someday.
The ship's restaurant had a smorgasbord available, and a fair portion of the orchestra went along to indulge. We were kept quite busy eating (and drinking) for most of the crossing. Emerging two hours later, I was in need of some fresh air. I went out on deck, and attempted to photograph this passing ferry. Unfortunately, being night, it was a bit dark outside....
As this photo proves, I wasn't the only violin player in need of some fresh air. Or the only one who'd been enjoying the free refills of wine from the restaurant. You can even see evidence of a trip to the Duty Free shop too...
We arrived around midnight local time, and were loaded onto a bus to go to Lemböte, where we were staying. I'd been a bit concerned about the accommodation arrangements. We had been given a fairly detailed timetable, and this included a description of where we were to stay. According to my dictionary, a potential translation was "ramshackle and cramped." My expectations fell further when Gunnar explained that, to save us space, he was (very generously) going to stay at someone's house.
Fortunately, the chalet in which we stayed was actually quite pleasant. It was warm, and was fully equipped with running water. I had my sleeping bag in the room on the far right. Here's a photo I took the following morning (into the Sun, unfortunately).
Another photo taken on the first morning. As you can see, Lemböte is on a lake (or at least, I think it's a lake, rather than an inlet), and generally in pleasant surroundings.
For our rehearsal on Saturday, we were bussed over to Strandnäs Skola. This is a brand new building, with its own orchestra room. Here's a view as we were just getting sorted into our places.
The Maestro patiently waits for us to settle down.
One of the nice things about choral music is that the string section usually gets to rest sometimes, while the rest of the orchestra does a bit of work for a change (I just wish that Sullivan had heard of this tradition). This gave me the opportunity to take photos during pieces.
Here we have Gunnar in full flow.
Unfortunately, the whole day rehearsal was all too much for some.
Since Sweden is located in the far wilds of the north, the evenings are quite bright - even in April. This is a picture of a jetty on the lake at Lemböte. Rather shamefully, I didn't spot this shot myself - I had to have it pointed out to me.
I did manage to realise that this made rather a good shot myself. If the silhouettes wish to identify themselves, I'll credit them.
On the Saturday evening, we were fed and had a party too. Now, UCPO has given me certain expectations for orchestral parties I attend. After seven months in Sweden, I had been getting rather concerned - I wasn't quite expecting Nick's excesses to be repeated or events like this, but I had not been expecting music making in Sweden to be such a sober affair.
This party restored my faith in Sweden. Now, it was a pre-concert party, so there were certain considerations. But things went well - there was a duty free shop on the boat, and some of us had even thought to visit System Bolaget in advance. This is the pre-meal warm up session, held in the chalet's common room.
The meal was buffet service. In accordance with tradition, I returned for seconds. In a break with tradition, I wasn't first to do this.
A view of my table. A game of 'Sardines' is being played with the wine bottle. By the end of the evening, it contained a lot of corks.
There was a confirmation class staying at Lemböte as well - and we had strict instructions that we weren't to corrupt them. So, I would like to emphasise that absolutely no dangerous activities - such as playing with fire - took place.
And finally, we come to the concert venue - Jomala Kyrka. I was running low on film by this point, so I only have this shot of the outside.
On the way to Jomala, the bus driver had been showing us all the tourist sights of Åland. These included:
- The most expensive garage
- The fire station
- The telephone exchange
- The local taxi firm
Since I neglected to take more than one film, that's all the photos I have from Åland. I won't be making that mistake again.
