# Sofia Vokalensemble

Sofia Vokalensemble (often abbreviated as SOVE) is a mixed chamber choir based in the Sofia Church in the Sofia parish in Stockholm, Sweden. The choir in its present form was founded in 1995 by conductor Bengt Ollén who still leads the artistic work.
In 2012 Sofia Vokalensemble won the 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Maribor, Slovenia, competing in the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions. In 2015 Sveriges Radio, the Swedish public-broadcasting system that frequently records and broadcasts Sofia Vokalensemble's performances, appointed the choir as Sweden's representative in Let the Peoples Sing (LTPS), an international choir competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

## The choir
### Organization

Sofia Vokalensemble performs both within the framework of the parish's work and in collaboration with external partners. The choir is a non-profit organization with bi-annual General Meetings and a Board of Directors. Most of the 32 singers started singing in choirs before the age of 10 and are now between 20 and 40 years old; many have received their choral and music training at Adolf Fredrik's School of Music, Stockholms Musikgymnasium, Södra Latin and/or other music institutions in the Stockholm region.

### Repertoire

The repertoire consists of both new and old choral music, such as works by Bach, Mahler, Poulenc, Pärt and Schnittke. The choir has performed world premieres by the established Swedish composers Fredrik Sixten, Stefan Klaverdal and Karin Rehnqvist, Swedish soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson, Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo and Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, as well as "rising stars" such as Jacob Mühlrad and some of the choir's own members.

### Choral work

The working style is collaborative. The choir members all help out with the choice of repertoire, musical scores, food and drink, marketing och stage costumes. Rehearsals are usually one evening per week and the choir meets for a weekend retreat at an external location about twice per year. Sometimes massage is included in the warmup for practice. During rehearsals, Bengt Ollén works actively with the voices and challenges the choir members to sing without the score. To foster security and trust between choir members they practice singing in small groups, eye to eye, ear to ear or with varying temperamental expressions and improvisations.
For each new concert or tour, a project leader is appointed, drawn from the members of the choir. During tours each new hotel means new roommates. "Secret buddies" are drawn by lottery so that each choir member must take extra care of the person whose name appears on the lottery ticket. Says one choir member: "Above all we try to be kind to each other".
Over the years Sofia Vokalensemble has often been invited to present their working method at international workshops, and the choir is host to visiting foreign choir leaders who wish to follow the rehearsal work. Says Ollén: "The vision is to create music beyond the score. The music performed by the choir should not be just beautiful tones and neat musical interpretation. The music must also affect the listener. Therefore each singer is an important part of the musical work".

## International tours and competitions

Sofia Vokalensemble has toured extensively both in Sweden and abroad. The following is a list of the choir's international tours:
| Year | Country | Description | Competition result / notes |
| 1996 | Russia | Tour with concerts in western Russia | |
| 1998 | Venezuela | Tour | |
| 1999 | Greece | International Competition of Sacred Music in Preveza | Received gold medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Mixed Voices, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Women Section, silver medal in the category Chamber Choirs – Male Section, special prize for "Best Performance of Orthodox Chant”. |
| 1999 | Italy | Tour on Sicily | Received Special International Award of the Jury, |
| 2000 | Ireland | Cork International Choral Festival in Cork | Fleischmann International Trophy Competition: 3rd with 90.9 points, 0.8 points behind the winner |
| 2000 | Hong Kong | Tour | |
| 2000 | Italy | Tour on Sicily | |
| 2001 | Italy | Tour on Sicily | |
| 2003 | Slovenia | Tour | |
| 2004 | Germany | 3rd Choir Olympics in Bremen | Gold medals and best European Choir in the classes Mixed Chamber Choirs, Musica Sacra a capella and Musica Contemporanea. |
| 2006 | Finland | II International Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition in Helsinki | Shared podium with the Hungarian Victoria Chamber Choir |
| 2007 | South Africa | Tour | |
| 2008 | Italy | 47th International Choral Competition "C.A. Seghizzi" in Gorizia | Winner of two categories, 2nd prize in the Grand Prix final |
| 2009 | Norway | Grieg International Choir Festival in Bergen | Grand Prix winner and elected the best choir of the competition; 1st prize in the category Contemporary music |
| 2010 | Poland | Szczecin Choir Festival | |
| 2011 | Slovenia | 11th International Choral Competition in Maribor | Winner of the Grand Prix, 1st prize in both the compulsory and in the free program, qualified for the final of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in April 2012; conductor Bengt Ollén also took home two special awards for the conductor of the best performance of a composition by Jacobus Handl Gallus and the best performance of the contemporary compulsory Slovenian composition |
| 2012 | Slovenia | 24th European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Maribor | Winner of the final against four other winners of major 2011 international choral competitions |
| 2012 | Italy | La Fabbrica del Canto in Legnano | |
| 2013 | Czech Republic | Czech Choir Festival in Hradec Králové | |
| 2014 | South Korea | 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul; also separate concerts in Seoul and Busan | |
| 2015 | France | Festival des Choeurs Lauréats in Provence | Tour received as a price for winning the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2012 |
| 2016 | France | Opera festival in Aix-en-Provence | Ladies only |
| 2016 | United Kingdom | Consert in the Royal Festival Hall, London | Ladies only |
| 2016 | Latvia  Lithuania | Tour to Riga and Vilnius | Men only |
| 2018 | Lithuania | Festival Birštonas Cantat 2018 in Vilnius |
| 2019 | Japan | Tour to Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Karuizawa | Participated in Karuizawa International Choral Festival by special invitation by composer and conductor Ko Matsushita. |

## Other noteworthy events

* 1995: Bengt Ollén founded the choir
* 2011: Represented Sweden as far as the semifinal in the choir competition Let the Peoples Sing, arranged by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
* 2014: Selected by the International Federation for Choral Music as IFCM ambassador for a period of three years and invited to participate in the 2014 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in South Korea.
* 2015: Represented Sweden in final of the choir competition Let the Peoples Sing, arranged by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

## Discography and broadcasts

Sofia Vokalensemble has recorded the following CDs:
* 2003: Black against white sky with music by i.a. Frank Martin and Eric Whitacre, Skivbolaget Silas Bäckström Produktion, BEF - 4806.
* 2009: The Darkness is No Darkness has a focus on contemporary American and British choral music, including four of James MacMillan's Strathclyde motets and Herbert Howells' Requiem, Footprint Records, FRCD047
* 2011: A Spotless Rose - Nordic Christmas contains Christmas music by Norwegian and Swedish composers with a mix of classical tunes and more contemporary works, Footprint Records, FRCD060
* 2012: Ett Svenskt Juloratorium (English: A Swedish Christmas Oratorio) where Sofia Vokalensemble has recorded a new oratorio by the Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten, Footprint Records, FRCD069
* 2014: Förvårskväll - One early spring evening contains Swedish and Nordic music where Swedish classical choral lyrics are mixed with modern compositions, Convivium Records, CR017 – includes the folk song Trilo
* 2019: In Paradisum contains Sofia Vokalensemble's "favourite and most frequently performed composers in pieces that depict perceived divinity", Footprint Records, FRCD112
As of October 2021 the choir had participated in nine television and 200 radio broadcasts that are on file at the Swedish Media Database, a search service for the audiovisual collections at the National Library of Sweden. The files include live radio broadcasts through the European Broadcasting Union.