The Stockholm International Composer Festival is one of classical music’s most important opportunities to explore the full breadth of a composer’s career. Since 1986, Koncerthuset Stockholm has hosted this annual multi-day classical music festival honouring a single, established contemporary composer. This year, the Stockholm International Composer Festival celebrates the work of Betsy Jolas.
The 2026 festival, running from November 5-8, will provide an extensive overview of Jolas’ career in four orchestral and chamber concerts – including a world premiere. It joins the long list of global activities marking Betsy Jolas' centenary, born 100 years ago on 5 August 1926.
For the Opening Concert on 5 November, Ryan Bancroft conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for Jolas’ Tales of a Summer Sea (1977) as well as Histoires Vraies (2015), a concertante suite for piano, trumpet and orchestra. The trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger, who appears as soloist, comments on Jolas’ remarkable life: “She has dined with Stravinsky and studied with Milhaud, served as assistant to and succeeded Messiaen …”
Betsy Jolas began her training in the United States, before returning to France to study with Darius Milhaud, Simone Plé-Caussade and Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservatory. From 1971 to 1974, she replaced Messiaen at this institution, where she was appointed professor of analysis in 1975 and of composition in 1978. For the Composer Festival, Betsy Jolas has chosen to place her own music in dialogue with that of others – as a conversation with history as well as with those composers she also knew as colleagues. The programmes include music by Maurice Ravel and Albert Roussel, Dmitri Shostakovich, Tōru Takemitsu and Witold Lutosławski – and, of course, Olivier Messiaen.
On 6 November, conductor Emilia Hoving joins Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and cellist Anssi Karttunen for Jolas’ Side Roads (2017) for cello and string orchestra. The programme will also her Well Met Suite (2016) for string orchestra and works by Witold Lutoslawski, Tōru Takemitsu and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The Festival Finale on 8 November is a chamber concert featuring the world premiere of Paris: A Poem by Jolas, written for an actor, piano and string trio. The title derives from Hope Mirrlees’ 600-line modernist poem, a psychogeographical journey through Paris in the aftermath of World War I. The new commission will be programmed with Messiaen’s modern classic, Quartet for the End of Time.
Details
Thursday 5 November 2026 19.00 & Saturday 7 November 2026 15.00
Konserthuset Stockholm, Sweden
Betsy Jolas: Tales of a Summer Sea
Betsy Jolas: Histoires Vraies
Albert Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé – Suite No. 2
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Ryan Bancroft, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet
Roger Muraro, piano
Friday 6 November 2026 19.00
Konserthuset Stockholm, Sweden
Witold Lutoslawski: Grave: Metamorphoses for cello and strings
Toru Takemitsu: Scene for cello and string orchestra
Betsy Jolas: Side Roads for cello and string orchestra
Betsy Jolas: Well Met Suite for string orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony in c minor
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Emilia Hoving, conductor
Anssi Karttunen, cello
Sunday 8 November 2026 19.30
Konserthuset Stockholm, Sweden
Betsy Jolas: Paris: A Poem (World Premiere)
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Lambert Wilson, actor
Roger Muraro, piano
Johan Fransén, clarinet
Cecilia Zilliacus, violin
Ylvali McTigert Zilliacus, viola
Kati Raitinen, cello
Explore our new composer brochure, published by the Wise Music Group for Betsy Jolas' centenary, exploring her career and highlighting some of her key works:
