Christina Åstrand is an extraordinary versatile violinist and her repertoire as soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster of Danish National Symphony Orchestra shows a wide range of repertoire, from the classical master pieces to contemporary music. She is currently one of the most highly profiled violinists in Scandinavia.
About Christina Åstrand
Throughout her career Christina Åstrand has been a passionate performer of contemporary music. She has performed numerous works by composers of today from all over the world and several highly estimated Danish composers have dedicated works to her. In her quest for finding new forgotten music she is a frequent visitor in The Royal Library in Copenhagen where she has discovered undetected musical treasures by great Danish composers of the past like Kuhlau, Gade, Lange-Müller and Langgaard. Christina Åstrand is continuously making a big effort to further the appreciation of Danish music abroad and for this she was nominated for Nordic Council´s Music Prize, 2019.
Repertoire
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelsohn, Chausson, Tjajkovskij, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Ravel, Stravinskij, Weill, Ligeti, Gubaidulina.
DANISH VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Gade, Malling, Lange-Müller, Hartmann, Nielsen, Langgaard, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Nørgård, Rosing-Schou, Ruders, Koppel, Gravgaard-Madsen.
Current
Christina Åstrand will be both soloist and leader in a concert with fantastic Musica Vitae in Sweden. She calls the concert “Nordic Light” and features composers from Scandinavia. Signe Lykke, Eirik Buene, Elfrieda Andreé, Rautavara, Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.
CD release with music by Else Marie Pade. Never previously performed works composed in the fifties. Exciting experiments with sound in a groundbreaking new way. The violin concerto is played by Christina Åstrand, Michael Frank Møller plays the trumpet concerto. Malmö Opera Orchestra and conductor Joachim Gustafsson, Dacapo Recordings.
CRUX is a composition for violin and strings which is in transformation. Christina Åstrand and the composer, Signe Lykke, is collaborating with four young Nordic string orchestras in a large scale project - key words being immersion, curiosity, courage and co-creation
Recordings
Danish
Romances
Gravgaard Madsen
Nachtmusik
Romantic
Violin concertosChamber music
Chamber music plays an important part of Christina Åstrand’s repertoire; since 1996 she has formed a duo with pianist Per Salo under the name Duo Salo/Åstrand. They has given numerous concerts and have released several highly praised and award-winning cds. Over the years the duo has made a special effort of broadening the knowledge of Danish music abroad; hence you can find recordings of music by Danish composers like Carl Nielsen, N W Gade and Friedrich Kuhlau but even by international composers like Maurice Ravel, Leos Janacek and György Ligeti.
Christina Åstrand talks about what inspired her to record the cd with Danish Romances / Recorded at the time of the cd launch in 2020
Christina Åstrand plays with her heart and all the way to the tip of the arc, and you miss nothing in her interpretations, which go with the music and take the composers at their word. It is exemplary
If her combination of delicacy and love can not persuade you to love these pieces, then nothing can
All three concertos are beautifully executed by Christina Åstrand who shows off the upper register of her instrument with a lovely purity of both tone and intonation