Spår vägar

Spår vägar  – vokalsymfoni i en betänklig tid (Paths traces – vocal symphony in precarious times) Choir, orchestra, organ and video art.

Commissioned by Gothenburg symphony orchestra.

First performance Gothenburg concert hall November 2023

Idea, libretto and music: Paula af Malmborg Ward
Video design: Lene Juhl
Gothenburg symphony vocal ensemble
Gothenburg symphony orchestra

Paths traces (Spår vägar)

Diary entry August 2019

Perspectives change.
Gothenburg is preparing for a party, the upcoming 400th anniversary.
We try to live as usual.
The city is demolished, rebuilt, switched off, turned on, redirected.
Quite similar to my own composition process while I created this anniversary piece for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
I can control a composition.
But I cannot control when ”many opportunities” slip into ”small chances”.
I have been asking our Afghan extra son, part of the family for almost two years, for a text fragment for this piece of music. He likes the idea but says he must get better at Swedish first.
He struggles with the new language that sets limits to his opportunities for education.
No education – no residence permit.
In three months from today’s date, we will know what his paths will look like but not what traces they will leave.
From the big to the small – traces and paths in his and our souls.