The Swedish Chamber Choir presents Daniel Fjellström’s opera Det går an, based on Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s celebrated 1839 novel. This concert-style opera puts choir, piano trio and vocal soloists at the centre, while direction, movement and lighting help bring the story to life. All singing is in Swedish.
We meet Sara, an independent woman who runs her family’s glassworks, and Albert, a non-commissioned officer who takes an interest in her. Sara is in Stockholm to purchase diamonds used for cutting glass. On her journey home, travelling by steamboat along the Göta Canal, she meets Albert, and they continue the journey together – from Stockholm towards Lidköping. It is on board the boat and along the canal that their relationship develops, taking us on a journey where love, expectations and choices about life are brought into sharp focus.
When Jonas Love Almqvist wrote the novel Det går an in 1839, it attracted considerable attention. Here was a male author giving a woman the right to love without having to give up her independence, her work or her own life. The question was highly controversial at the time – and still feels relevant today.
Daniel Fjellström’s music gives the story rhythmic energy, melodic charm and warmth, while The Swedish Chamber Choir makes the choir an essential part of the drama. In this semi-staged production, there is no need for elaborate scenery – music, light, movement and imagination are enough to take us aboard the boat and accompany Sara and Albert on their journey.
Now the novel is brought to new life in Svenska Kammarkören’s intimate and concentrated semi-staged version. An immersive opera experience where music, storytelling and imagination create the world of the stage. Welcome aboard a journey through Sweden, love and time – and discover why Det går an still has something to say to us today.
