Category: News

  • The Wild Baby has grown up

    The Wild Baby has grown up

    The ever-curious and virtuoso musicians of the ensemble Gageego! look back on 30 years of successful exploration.

    This is a translation from Swedish of an article in Podiet No 3, 2024–2025.

    The ensemble was founded in Gothenburg in 1995 and has since then worked for contemporary music with tireless dedication and passion. The name itself is an uninhibited exclamation – it is said to come from a legend about a lone wanderer who uttered the very first human word: “GAGEEGO!” In the same story, the answer was not long in coming: “-Huh???” The wanderer had an audience.

    Anders JonhÀll, flutist, thinks that the legend puts the finger on how far the ensemble is prepared to go to expand listening and challenge and enchant its audience. Together with Johanna Persson, viola, and Daniel Norberg, percussion, Anders JonhÀll has been with the group since its inception in Gothenburg in 1995.

    – We have always played what we think is fun. Otherwise it wouldn’t work. It is the curiosity about interesting music that drives us, says Anders JonhĂ€ll.

    A number of contemporary pieces by Swedish and foreign composers have been premiered and specially written for Gageego! over the years. Many works only reach their final form when the musicians add their own artistry at the highest level.

    – Composers always have wishes and it is up to us to express them. The fun is meeting them and being challenged! says Anders JonhĂ€ll.

    For the audience, the concerts always involve something unexpected: atonal sounds, electronic effects, movement exercises, speech and improvisation. No one is safe.

    – As an audience, you don’t know at all what harmonies you’re going to hear. Part of the experience is not knowing what’s going to happen, says Anders JonhĂ€ll.

    And there are loyal fans who have followed the experimental group over the years. “With Gageego! I feel like I can let go of the need to understand
 Music always gives rise to new thoughts!” Aina Nordqvist said in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra general program a few years ago.

    Among the exciting names the audience met were composers such as Stuart Saunders Smith, Djuro Zivkovic, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Madeleine Isaksson and not least the conductor Peter Eötvös. One of Anders JonhĂ€ll’s favorite memories is the theater music Pour une forĂȘt de symboles by Vinko Globokar from 2006. Anders himself served champagne on stage and spoke into a megaphone.

    – MĂ„rten Landström had a seagull. Johan Stern painted MĂ„rten’s face. It really was a whole forest of symbols!

    The 30-year-old ensemble Gageego! is now old enough to get married and active in a number of projects and constellations. An upcoming performance is a newly written opera by Maria Lithell Flyg with the Gothenburg Company Man Must Sing at Cinnober Teater.

    The anniversary in Stenhammarsalen will be celebrated with a cavalcade of works that have been played over the years. The composers have all been part of shaping the ensemble. There will also be an introduction before the concert where there will be a chance to meet some of the evening’s musicians and composers.

    Text: Jenny Svensson
    Photo: Anna Hult

  • ArrĂȘts de ligne

    ArrĂȘts de ligne

    Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal

    Reissue of Joakim Sandgren’s commisioned work for Gageego!, originally performed during the aptly named concert For the first time.

  • Video: New Music Journeys

    Video: New Music Journeys

    Earlier this year, Gageego! showcased ten Swedish composers in Glasgow during Nordic Music Journey, presented by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in collaboration with Swedish Society of Composers/FST – Föreningen Svenska TonsĂ€ttare and supported by Swedish Performing Rights Society, STIM.

    Below you can experience the works that Gageego! performed during the concert at The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s New Auditorium on 13 January 2024. Before each piece, we are treated to introductions by the composers.

    Ylva Fred – Motor Music

    Sune Mattias Emanuelsson – And When the Words Evade Me I Wander in the Ruins from All Along the Ages

    Mika Pelo – Abandoned

    Lars Bröndum – Times Arrow

    Marie Samuelsson – Lejonet (The Lion)

    Henrik Denerin – collide

    Benjamin Staern – Hilma Scenes

    Mirjam Tally – Apparitions

    Alfred Jimenez – with Voice

    Madeleine Isaksson – Capsuled time

    See the whole concert at the YouTube-channel of FST.

  • Gageego! at the Kalv Festival

    Gageego! at the Kalv Festival

    The Kalv Festival in early August 2024 will feature no less than four Gageego! performances.

    It begins with the opening night’s premiere of the concert-long work Kaihogyo by Klaus Lang and ends with Sunday’s grand finale concert together with ensemble mosaic, Klaus Lang, Jonas Olsson, Chris Du Preez and the Kalv Choir under the direction of Mark Tatlow.

    In between, Ragnar Arnberg on bass clarinet performs Emil Nilsson’s newly written work Dromo late Friday evening. On Saturday afternoon, flutist Anders JonhĂ€ll participates as interpreter of Marcus Lundberg’s Snö, sken, minne.

    Times and places

    Thursday August 8, 20.30 church of Kalv
    Friday August 9, 23.00 church of Kalv
    Saturday August 10, 13.30 Kalv school house
    Sunday August 11, 12.00 church of Kalv

  • Gageego! records new material

    Gageego! records new material

    Right after the release of Infiltrations, an album featuringthe music of with Madeleine Isaksson, Gageego! enters the recording studio again. This time, a recomposed trio by the composer Joakim Sandgren is on the music stand.

    The work is written for three musicians and computer and is called “Ainsi formĂ©es”. A previous version of it was originally performed by Gageego! in December 2021. Sandgren has now rewritten the work, which after recording and mixing will be released on digital platforms later this year.

    The recording takes place June 8-9 in Studio Element at Brew House in Gothenburg, with the composer himself as technician and producer.

  • Gageego! in Glasgow

    Gageego! in Glasgow

    Gageego! just returned from a most successful tour, the NordicMusicJourneys to Glasgow in a collaboration between Hebrides Ensemble, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and FST – Föreningen Svenska TonsĂ€ttare.

    We loved our stay in Glasgow performing important chamber music works by these prominent Swedish composers. Enjoy these wonderful concert photos by photographer Anna Cokorilo.

  • High marks for Swedish music in Scotland

    High marks for Swedish music in Scotland

    “The virtuoso players of Gageego! demonstrated their familiarity with extended techniques on their instruments” writes The Herald, reviewing two recent concerts by Gageego!.

    Read the whole article here: www.heraldscotland.com

  • Update your autumn swag

    Update your autumn swag

    You know that you can decorate yourself and your surroundings with Gageego! merch, don’t you?

    Sweaters, bags and the occasional headgear in organic materials. What are you waiting for?