Choir News
The Minster Choir abroad

A choral scholar’s journal of the visit by Southwell Minster Choir to Sweden and Denmark in May 2006

Tuesday 30th May

Our group of 11 choristers, 10 men, 3 organists and a number of chorister parent helpers assembled in Southwell in the morning to begin our journey to Sweden. We were all keen to get going, wondering how the next few days would unfold. After a full day’s travel—by coach to Stanstead and then by air to Malmö in Sweden where we were met by our host families—we arrived in Lund late in the evening. Our host families were all very hospitable and, without exception, spoke impeccable English.

Wednesday 31st May

Relaxing outside the Domkyrke

Lund cathedral

Exploring Lund

Choristers taking a break

Our first day on Swedish soil began very early—so early that some of the gentlemen slept in and missed the first rehearsal! On first impressions, Lund Domkyrke (the Cathedral) is remarkably similar to Southwell’s own Minster, with a Roman nave and twin ‘pepperpots’ at the west end. The only main difference we noticed was on the south wall, which was very interesting—not for the carvings, but for the row of beautiful girls lolling on the benches taking the sun. While the gentlemen remained behind to appreciate this view, the boys were ushered inside, and became far more interested in Lund’s fascinating mechanical clock, and the tombs and effigies in the crypt.

Lund is a large city of around 100,000 inhabitants. It is centred around an old large university, and has a very similar atmosphere to Cambridge. It is a place full of life and vitality. Everyone cycles everywhere, as it is flat and the roads are narrow.

Performing in Lars Erik Larsson college

In the afternoon, we gave our first concert of the tour in a small but enchanting hall, in Lars Erik Larsson College (a Music and Natural Sciences College for 16-19 year olds). Despite the short length of the concert, the students’ reaction was very enthusiastic and many asked for CDs of the choir. Unfortunately we had neglected to bring any—a mistake that would haunt us after every concert. After encouragement from Rector Chori Paul Hale, the students asked questions and while they learned about the English choral tradition, it let us see where the differences lay. We spent the remainder of the day at our hosts’ houses and had our first real taste of Swedish cuisine, which seemed to consist mostly of meatballs and cheese!

Thursday 1st June

Beginning with another early rehearsal, we went to Genarp, a rural town a few miles outside Lund. This town fitted much better into our notion of what a stereotypical Swedish town should look like: timber houses and reindeer. The people welcomed us with unexpected vigour; the bells were pealing out to signify our arrival and many people flocked to the church to hear our first proper concert, a programme giving our audience an overall view of the diversity of English choral music. We performed well, and received not only a standing ovation, but roses from the women!

In the late evening the choir gentlemen went to a large pub near the Domkyrke and joined some of our hosts in the pub quiz, which contained many questions on English culture. We came second despite doing it all in translation. While revelling in our success, we became acutely aware of the incredibly high price of alcohol in Sweden, considerably more expensive than in Britain.

Øresund bridge

All the fun of the fair

Friday 2nd June

On the third day we left early (again!) to take the train to København, travelling across the spectacular Øresund bridge that links Sweden to Denmark. When we arrived the first thing we did was go to the Tivoli Gardens, a large amusement park. Tivoli contained many rollercoasters and restaurants, but also a large wax museum, an aquarium and extended gardens. Some of us were brave enough to go on the highest ride, which takes you up over 200 feet and suspends you there before pushing you quickly back to the ground. The view of the entire city was incredible! Just as we exhausted all the rides and had seen all the sights, we were taken to Helsingør (Elsinore), a city with a large castle made famous by Shakespeare as the setting for Hamlet.

We wandered round and round the city looking for the Cathedral as every large building seemed to have a spire! Eventually we found it, and were then given time to explore the city further before rehearsing for the evening concert. It became apparent that the main source of income for street vendors was alcohol: every shop without exception was either a wine merchant, or sold speciality wines along with other produce.

The Cathedral had a great acoustic, and again we gave another big concert, which with hindsight was probably our best of the tour. The concert ended quite late and we had to rush off to the train station to catch the train to take us all the way back to Lund. This was unfortunate as we didn’t get any time to socialise with our audience after the concert, something we had enjoyed at each concert so far.

Pre-concert rehearsal in Helsingør cathedral