PROGRAM

Their shared roots reach back to an age when emotions can flow unhindered. Their connections are deep, their enjoyment unlimited, and their inner strength grows wrapped in tenderness. Sjaella is the soul of the women who appear together on stage and have not lost a child-like experience of the world. There is movement, language, noise and sound; the discovery of space; shared breath and individual expression. It is all this that Sjaella experiences and seeks to share with the audience.

The voyage of discovery began for these artists in 2005, and it has now taken them around the world. For years now the sextet Sjaella has been a fixture on the international vocal music scene, with concerts at renowned festivals: Rheingau Music Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Early Music Festival Utrecht, Ruhrfestspiele, Festival van Vlaanderen, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Musikfest ION and many more. The group has also won numerous first prizes in international competitions, including the festival Tampereen Sävel in Finland.

The ensemble has been on concert tours to Australia, Mexico, Jordan, Hungary, South Africa, Belgium, Spain, Norway, Turkey and the USA, and performed at famed concert halls such as the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Wiener Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, Flagey Brussels, the Palace of Arts (Müpa) in Budapest, and the Melbourne Recital Centre.

Sjaella has a multi-faceted repertoire thanks to its vocal combination, which is underrepresented in the musical world. To brighten the scene with their rich tone and to expand the range of works available for women’s choirs, the singers have been working closely with composers for many years. They combine new works with early music and devote their attention to languages and folk tunes from different cultures, while also always looking to expand their sound spectrum. The ensemble’s diverse musical stations are reflected in its albums: Preisung, Meridiane – NORD and Origins were nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award, and Meridiane – NORD and Origins won the American CARA Award. The album Origins (2021, Outhere Music label), which brings together contemporary minimalist compositions and baroque music, was also highly praised by the French newspaper Le Monde.

In recent years, scenic and interdisciplinary work has become a mainstay and unique selling point of the group. During the 2023/24 season, Sjaella was an integral part of the ballet production Giselle at the Leipzig Opera, in close collaboration with ballet director Mario Schröder and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In summer 2024, the singers stood in front of the camera for Dutch composer and multimedia artist Michel van der Aa. His VR opera From Dust for six female voices and electronics was premiered in Rotterdam later that year and went on to win the Immersive Competition category at the Cannes Film Festival.

Their own production Meridians – a music-theatrical concert has already been performed at the Schönberger Musiksommer, the Festival Lunalia in Belgium and the Festival of Voices in Australia.

Most recently, Sjaella focused on the internationally cast chamber opera Primero Sueño, composed by Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera, about the Mexican nun and poet Sor JuanaInés de la Cruz. The opera was commissioned by the Met Museum and premiered at the Met Cloisters in New York in January 2025.