Boston University School of Music will examine and perform works by Elfrida Andrée, a pioneering Swedish composer whose music remains largely underperformed, the university reported. The programming includes a free interdisciplinary panel and a concert featuring multiple U.S., East Coast, and world premieres, culminating in Andrée’s Suffrage Cantata from 1911.
Boston University reported that its Symphony Orchestra and Treble Choirs will perform the concert, led by conductor Sarah Ioannides and joined by Swedish-American soprano Kristine Nowlain. The event is free and open to all, and a meet-and-greet reception precedes the panel discussion.
The project places Boston University students at the center of rediscovering overlooked repertoire. According to the university, Ioannides said the orchestra and choir students are not simply studying this history but discovering the music, bringing it to life at the highest level, and becoming the reference recording for these works.
The university reported that the performance will be followed by a world premiere professional recording with GRAMMY-winning label PARMA Recordings. Many of the works will be world premieres of new editions, none of which have been professionally recorded before. The recording session is not open to the public.
Andrée was the first woman in Sweden to graduate as an organist from the Kungl Musikaliska Akademien in 1860 and served as organist of Gothenburg Cathedral for 62 years. Boston University reported that the project aims to give voice to a composer whose music has been undervalued and to challenge longstanding misconceptions about women composers of her era.
For more information, visit bu.edu.