FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Verne Moberg
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 212-854-4015
 
 
COMING IN SPRING 2005 TO DEUTSCHES HAUS,
420 West 116th Street, New York City

STOCKHOLM TRAVEL, NORWEGIAN DRAMA, AND NORDIC
MUSIC AT COLUMBIA’S DEUTSCHES HAUS THIS SPRING
 
 
Stockholm travel tips, Norwegian drama, and Scandinavian songs will be offered in three special events presented by the Columbia University Swedish Program this spring. All will be held at Deutsches Haus, located at 420 W. 116th Street (between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Dr.), N.Y.C. The public is invited, admission is free, and reservations are not required.

The first program, entitled “Stockholm, A Moveable SmˆrgÂsbord: Tips for Travelers to Sweden’s Capital City,” is an illustrated talk in English by Karin Seastone Stern, scheduled for Tuesday, February 15, at 7 p.m. at Deutsches Haus. The speaker recently published a travel book entitled Stockholm SmˆrgÂsbord and brings to the subject the special appreciation of a devoted first-generation Swedish American.

According to Marie Carlson in a review of Stockholm SmˆrgÂsbord in the Vasa Star (Sept.-Oct. 2004): “Stockholm SmˆrgÂsbord. . . is a cultural feast over what Stockholm has to offer for people planning to visit this city, and also. . . for Swedes themselves. [Stern] offers an enormous menu of everything from history, architecture, literature, music, drama, famous Swedes, etc., etc., all the way to helping you organize your very own personalized shopping list. . . . She knows not only about Swedish history but has also managed to capture Sweden and the Swedes of today. . . . “
 
A Norwegian Drama by Amalie Skram
To mark the centennial anniversary of the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in1905, the Swedish Program will present a reading of a new translation of a drama by one of Norway’s leading writers from the 19th century: the three-act drama Agnete, by the Naturalist author Amalie Skram (1846-1905). Set in bohemian circles in Copenhagen in the late 1800s, the play tells the story of the title character, who discovers that life after divorce in those times was not easy, “even” among artists. Translated from the Norwegian by Verne Moberg and directed by Robert Greer, Agnete will be performed on Friday, March 4, at 7 p.m. at Deutsches Haus,

 
Songs from the North by Malin Serner
The final event on the spring agenda will be a musical evening with Swedish mezzo soprano Malin Serner entitled “Twilight Is the Loveliest: Songs from the North” and held on Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m. After her warmly welcomed Columbia concert of November 2003, Malin Serner is returning with an evening of Scandinavian songs from past centuries, including classical art songs but also more traditional tunes.

Ms. Serner started her music studied in Stockholm, where she performed with the Royal Dramatic Opera and Adolf Fredrik Opera. She has sung in operas with the Des Moines (Iowa) Metro Opera and the Natchez (Mississippi) Opera. In New York City she appeared with the Dicapo Opera, the Opera Orchestra, the Swedish Church, Brooklyn College Opera Theatre, and Opera on the Go. Originally from Stockholm, she now lives in New York City. She will be accompanied by pianist Mikael Engstrˆm, who performs with Stockholm’s Folk Opera, the Swedish Radio Choir, and Eric Ericson’s Chamber Choir.

This program will be sponsored by the Swedish Program with the assistance of the Institute for the Study of Europe at Columbia University, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, and the New York chapter of the Swedish Women’s Educational Association.
 
For information: telephone: 212-854-4015; E-mail: [email protected]
 
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