"Destiny"

With Skæbnen [Destiny], Copenhagen Phil presents the second iteration in its series of staged symphonic concerts. Director Christian Lollike and composer Rasmus Zwicki reanimates and actualizes Beethoven's fifth symphony, one of the most iconic European works of all time, as a contemporary horror story, addressing the shift in the European zeitgeist of the present; a time marked by tension and paranoia, armament and desillusion.

Between the symphony's movements, a mother grieves the loss of her son to war. In a monologue collapsing past, present, and future, she tries and fails to understand the reason for her loss. Asking to get her son back, she suddenly feels haunted by his presence. When he appears, she must ask herself if it's really him.

Skæbnen is based on a musical collaboration between director Christian Lollike, composer Rasmus Zwicki, and dramaturg Anders Thrue Djurslev. Actress Sofie Gråbøl is accompanied by two boy solo singers from the Copenhagen Boy Choir [Københavns Drengekor] and six male singers from the vocal ensemble Ars Nova, shrouded in a spectacular cinematographic scenery by Vertigo and film photographers Mia Mai Graabæk and Manuel Claro in Konservatoriets Koncertsal.