The Absalon String Quartet, comprising four talented musicians from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, achieved notable recognition in 2023, winning the DR P2 Chamber Music Competition and previously claiming victory at the Rued Langgaard Competition. They will share the stage in the Tivoli Glass Hall Theatre with Wallis Giunta, a mezzo-soprano with an illustrious opera background, trained in Ottawa, Canada. Giunta's notable performances include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Together, Giunta's powerful voice and dramatic prowess, combined with Absalon String Quartet’s mastery, bring to life two love-themed compositions by Respighi and Chausson, as well as Samuel Barber's Dover Beach, a piece reflecting Europe’s tension on the verge of war. The poignant lyrics convey a message of peace and humanity’s unity against hatred. Ottorino Respighi’s Il Tramonto, inspired by Shelley's poem, tenderly depicts the story of lovers separated by death. Ernest Chausson's Chanson Perpétuelle is also a song about eternal love.

A woman, forsaken by her beloved, reflects on the romance of their first encounter, their journey into love, and his eventual departure. She vocalises the deep sorrow of abandonment, a grief so profound that death seems a comparable fate. Chausson’s composition, crafted for voice, string quartet, and piano, brings an additional highlight – the presence of the talented young Danish pianist, Valdemar Wenzel Most, gracing the stage at The Tivoli Glass Hall Theatre.

The concert is staged in association with the Copenhagen Opera Festival.

Erik og Susanna Olesens almenvelgørende Fond has sponsored free entry for the guests of Tivoli to three Shooting Star concerts. The Stellar Moments Festival is supported by Louis-Hansens Fond and Summer Classical is supported by Augustinus Fonden.

Photo: Absalon Quartet. Credit: Benedikte Hald.
Photo: Wallis Giunta. Credit: Kirsten Nijhof.
Photo: Valdemar Wenzel Most. Credit: Mikal Schlosser.