Djuro Živković: Citadel of Love Norrbotten NEO & Fredrik Burstedt

• Djuro Zivkovic (b. 1975): Citadel of Love:
• 1 Zivkovic: Citadel of Love - Invocation. Fluid, with watchfulness 07:23
• 2 Zivkovic: Citadel of Love - De profundis. With peace 07:46
• 3 Zivkovic: Citadel of Love - Rejoice, o Michael! Toccatoso 04:14
• 4 Zivkovic: Citadel of Love - Peace, Bring Unto All 09:58
• I Shall Contemplate... II:
• 5 Zivkovic: I Shall Contemplate... II 11:58
• Night Music:
• 6 Zivkovic: Night Music - I. Poème languide 01:15
• 7 Zivkovic: Night Music - II. Danse languide 01:14
• 8 Zivkovic: Night Music - III. Nuances 01:30
• 9 Zivkovic: Night Music - IV. Feuillet d'album no 1 01:18
• 10 Zivkovic: Night Music - V. Feuillet d'album no 2 02:05
• 11 Zivkovic: Night Music - VI. Poème 02:35
• Total Runtime 51:16

Info for Djuro Živković: Citadel of Love

Citadel of Love is a highly personal ensemble work which manages to create a mystical aural experience. The narrative voice of the piano together with the other six instruments, subtly adding voices as well as percussion instruments, carries the listener from beginning to end through an inner drama of intensity and fullness of soundscapes. I Shall Contemplate… II is an intimate chamber piece for viola and small ensemble, stylistically similar to a sacred cantata, in which improvisatory techniques contribute to the free and unencumbered compositional process. Here, Živković’s use of ancient scales creates an archaic, echoing space. The text, spoken by the soloist, comes from old Byzantine mystical books. Finally, Night Music is a fascinating crossover work in which piano works by Alexander Scriabin are mixed with newly composed musical layers, thus adding to the Russian composer an absurd fantasy, estranged passion and exotic illusions.

Serbian-Swedish Djuro Živković has quickly established himself as one of Europe’s leading young composers. His musical style is strongly marked by Byzantine Orthodox music – spiritual, mystical and characterized by fantastic narration, virtuosic instrumentation and a stylistic, highly profiled sound. Živković’s music presents a profound and abstract space to reflect on the subject matter of mystery, ecstasy and transcendence.

Norrbotten NEO
Fredrik Burstedt, conductor

Norrbotten NEO
was formed in 2007 with the mission to promote contemporary chamber music. The seven permanent members of the ensemble play the flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello – a complement that, in various combinations, makes it possible to perform a broad spectrum of works from the past hundred years, and which can be expanded with other instruments when necessary. The players are also section principals in the Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra and take part in the productions staged by Piteå Chamber Opera. Norrbotten NEO regularly commissions new works and has premièred music by international as well as Swedish composers, including Chaya Czernowin, Kaija Saariaho, Francisco Coll García, Per Mårtensson, Fredrik Hedelin and Andrea Tarrodi. Collaboration with composer training schemes is also an important part of the ensemble’s work, with current partners being the School of Music in Piteå, the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Gotland School of Music Composition and the University of Gothenburg. Since its inception Norrbotten NEO has premièred more than 150 works and has developed into a vibrant platform for a wide variety of musical ideas. For this, the ensemble was rewarded with the Swedish Society of Composers’ Interpreters’ Prize in 2012, and the ensemble’s sterling reputation has led to invitations from many of Sweden’s regional music organizations and concert halls.

Fredrik Burstedt
Following extensive experience as a concertmaster and violin soloist, Fredrik Burstedt is in increasing demand to lead orchestras and opera productions as a conductor.

Fredrik has worked with all the professional orchestras in Sweden and many more across the Nordic region, including the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra and Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in addition to the Staatskapelle Weimar, Nürnberg Sinfoniker and I Pomeriggi musicali.

In the opera house, Fredrik has conducted Janaçeck's The Cunning Little Vixen at the Gothenburg Opera, Bizet's Carmen and Martinů’s The Greek Passion at Värmland Opera, Lehar's The Merry Widow and Rossini's La Cenerentola at the Royal Swedish Opera and Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe at Norrlandsoperan. He has presided over premiere performance including Jonas Bolin's Tristessa at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, which was named one of the 5 most important operaruc events in the world, as well as The Silver Bird by Mats Larsson-Gothe, The War of Love by Paula by Malmborg-Ward and The Norrmalmstorg Drama by Albert Schnelzer.

Fredrik began his conducting studies with Jorma Panula and received additional tuition from Daniel Harding, Stefan Solyom and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. He was awarded the Royal Swedish Opera’s Sixten Ehrling Prize for Young Conductors and the prestigious Herbert Blomstedt Scholarship of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 2017, Fredrik was awarded a Grammy for his portrait album of the composer Mats Larsson Gothe, in which he conducted the Västerås Sinfonietta and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.

Booklet for Djuro Živković: Citadel of Love