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Motettkören i Gamla Uppsala Kyrka (The Motettkör of Old Uppsala = MKOU) is a mixed choir tied to the beautiful medieval Old Cathedral there. It has extremely good acoustics, one of the best in Uppsala, and consequently both choir and hymn singing sounds superior. The cultural surroundings of Old Uppsala with burial-mounds from the time of the Swedish Folk Kings and the new museum "Historic centre" makes it to one of the remarkable milieu in Northern Europe.
Motettkören sings at Advent, Christmas, Easter and some other Sundays during the ecclesiastical year, and also at special occasions in Old Uppsala as the Day of local folklore and the eve of May Day. The repertoire is a mixture of old and new songs. Appreciated occasions have been services with "The Hymns of the Season" when the congregation have had the opportunity to sing together with the choir and Anders have told about the history of the hymns. The choir has also sung a lot of songs from other parts of the world, for example Africa and Asia. Last Christmas Service (2004) the carols were highly international, as a calypso from South America.
At springtime Motettkören together with the Lötenkören and the choir of Österledskyrkan have sung at the celebration of Walpurgis Night on the hills of Old Uppsala. Yearly the choir has performed a greater work of music, the last two years (2--3-2004) in co-operation with the choir in the church of Bälinge, north of Uppsala. In spring 2002 the choir sang a Mass built on folk music from western Sweden "I välsignan och fröjd". Hans Kennemark arranged the merry and exciting music, and Alf Hambe wrote the wonderful and subtle texts based on the biblical parable about the lost son. Together with soloists and musicians from the institute of Swedish Folk Music in Tobo, north of Uppsala, the Mass was performed in the church of Old Uppsala in April and in Bälinge in May.
During the leadership of Anders Dillmar (since 1989) the choir has performed larger musical works as, for example J S Bach's Actus Tragicus (BWV 106) and Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), P. Cornelius' Mass for female choir, soloists and strings, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, J.C.F. Haeffner's Passion Oratory Försonaren på Golgatha, H. Kennemark's Folk Music Mass I välsignan och fröjd and more. |
