Starting on Saturday, November 25th our Kaffestugan will be serving up seasonal Lucia treats like julmust and lussekatter through the holiday season! Come on by and have a fika every Saturday!
Join the Birka Lodge of the Vasa Order of America for their annual Swedish Yule Market. There will be a Lucia procession, Scandinavian and American holiday music, crafts and gifts, open faced sandwiches, coffee, breads and pastries, and glögg!
Saturday, November 25th
Hamilton/Wenham Community House (Bay Road Route 1-A) in Hamilton, MA
9am-2:30pm
Lucia Procession at 12pm
Free Admission
The Scandinavian Cultural Center is proud to once again partner with Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival group to present the new Tom of Finland film as a part of the Bright Lights Series.
Touko Laaksonen, a decorated officer, returns home after a harrowing and heroic experience serving his country in World War II, but life in Finland during peacetime proves equally distressing. He finds peace-time Helsinki rampant with persecution of the homosexual and men around him even being pressured to marry women and have children. Touko finds refuge in his liberating art, specializing in homoerotic drawings of muscular men, free of inhibitions. His work made famous by his signature ‘Tom of Finland’ – became the emblem of a generation of men and fanned the flames of a gay revolution. Discussion led by faculty member and The New York Times Magazine Writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis to follow.
Directed by Dome Karukoski, 115 minutes, Finland, 2017
Thursday, December 7th at 7pm, Free Admission
This event will be hosted at The Paramount Center at Emerson College in downtown Boston and not in our Nordic Hall.
With deep roots in the Swedish and Finnish folk music traditions, this new duo performs both traditional music from the two countries as well as their original music. Having met at the New England Conservatory, Sara Pajunen and Sunniva Brynnel found an instant musical kinship.
The violin and accordion are sometimes playing like one voice and at other times complementing each other in sympathetic, melodious, and playful ways. Singing in Finnish, Swedish and English, the duo brings to the stage their musical backgrounds and passions. See examples of their work here.
Saturday, November 11th | 1pm
Admission $15; Free for SCC Members
Join us for our second Chamber Music Exchange between Harvard and Uppsala Universities initiated by Paul-André Bempéchat, Artist-In-Recidence at Leverett House, Harvard University and Director musices Stefan Karpe. The result is an exchange between students from Harvard and members from the Royal Academic Orchestra.
Saturday, November 4th | 7:30pm | $10; free for SCC members and Uppsala Alumni
The program will include two U.S. premières and two beloved quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Mozart: Quartet for Oboe and Strings
Viking Dahl: Pastoral, Opus 3, no. 1, for Oboe and Piano, K. 370
Brief intermission
Arne Mellnäs: Trio for Strings
Mozart: Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493
The performers, Bo Pontopiddan (violin), Helga Löfvenius (viola), Sara Kalla (cello) and Anna Randelin (oboe), are members of the Royal Academic Orchestra at Uppsala University, the Uppsala University Chamber Players. This is their second tour in the U.S. and second appearance at the Scandinavian Living Center with Paul-André Bempéchat.
“Lingonberry Twig Sitting in a Cocktail Glass” is a tribute by American and Swedish jazz musicians living in New York dedicated to one of the greatest Swedish jazz singers of all time – Monica Zetterlund. The program extends from some of her earliest work in the well-known revue with Hasse & Tage to her collaboration with the great piano player Bill Evans on their album Waltz for Debby.
Born in Bangkok, Thai/Swedish singer Sirintip Phasuk moved to Stockholm, Sweden at 11 years old to study music. Amazed by how she was able to communicate through music as a global language, she discovered jazz when she was 14. Jazz became her portal to freedom and New York became her new home in 2015 to pursue a Master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music, of which she is now a recent graduate.
In the fall of 2015, Phasuk was chosen as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in Los Angeles. The competition was a huge milestone in her career which led to scholarships from STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society), Swedish Musician´s Union, and Brooklyn Brewery. Her involvement in the competition also landed her a record deal with GroundUP Music NYC and collaborations with Benny Andersson (ABBA) and three time grammy award winner Michael League (Snarky Puppy).
Band:
Sirintip Phasuk(SE/TH) – vocals
Oskar Stenmark(SE) – trumpet/Flugelhorn
Jon Snell – piano
Karl Kohut(CA) – bass
Tickets $15; $7 for SCC Members
Pepperkaker are considered a traditional Christmas cookie in Norway, although the idea and practice of Christmas cookies are relatively new traditions beginning in the 1800s. Even still, pepperkaker is one of the oldest cookies, having been in Norway for around 400 years.
Join us at the SCC to celebrate the beloved cookie. Kids (of all ages) deocorate pepperkaker to take home!
Saturday, December 16th | 11am-1pm | $5 per person; $3 for SCC Members
Niklas Sivelöv, born in Skelleteå, Sweden, currently teaches at the Royal Danish Music Academy in Copenhagen. Even though he didn’t start formal piano instruction until age 14, Sivelöv’s repertoire grew to include up to 50 piano concerti and he’s been featured on over 25 CDs, some award-winning. Sivelöv has also composed over 40 of his own works since 1985. His work reflects a modern, romantic style of piano artistry and he has the distinction of being a Steinway Artist.
Saturday, October 28th | 1pm
Admission $15; $7 for SCC Members
program:
“Virtuoso Intrspective”
• J. Haydn Sonata no. 47 B-minor hob. XV1/32
• L.van Beethoven Sonata no.32 opus 111 C-minor
intermission
W. Stenhammar Fantasy opus 11
2 songs:
I skogen (arr. Niklas Sivelov)
Fylgia (arr. Niklas Sivelov)
Impromptu
• A. Piazzolla 3 Tangos
Adiós Nonino
Invierno Porteño
Milonga del Angel
• N.Sivelov 7 Preludes from 24 Preludes for piano
Heartstone, the winner of Boston’s Wicked Queer Film Festival 2017 Best Narrative Jury Award, returns as a part of their Cinema Club series. The SCC is proud to collaborate with Wicked Queer to promote the rich and diverse Nordic films dealing with gender and sexuality.
A remote fishing village in Iceland. Teenage boys Thor and Christian experience a turbulent summer as one tries to win the heart of a girl while the other discovers new feelings toward his best friend. When summer ends and the harsh nature of Iceland takes back its rights, it’s time to leave the playground and face adulthood.
General Admission Tickets $11 – Order here
Friday, October 6th | 7pm
Please note this film is screened in the Bright Family Screening Room at The Paramount Center of Emerson College in downtown Boston and not in our Nordic Hall.
To celebrate the return of our Kaffestugan after its summer break, we’re celebrating the signature Swedish Princess Cake! Prinsesstårta in Swedish, this cake contains layers of light sponge cake, pastry cream, and a dome of whipped cream all covered by green marzipan and marzipan pink roses. This confection was crafted by Jenny Åkerström who taught Prince Carl’s three daughters in the early 1900’s. In addition to plenty of servings of the cake, we’ll have activities for children and the rest of our standard Kaffestugan menu.
To order a whole Princess Cake for you and your family, please email Kaffestugan Director Lise at lise.rosland@gmail.com by Wednesday, September 27th. Whole cakes are $28.
