Britta Byström returns to Båstad Chamber Music Festival June 23-28 as this year's festival composer. Byström previously held the role in 2007. More than 50 musicians will participate in the festival which features 27 concerts and events.

Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen serves as artistic leadership for the second consecutive year. The ensemble comprises Malin William-Olsson (violin), Kristoffer Hyldig (piano), Cansın Kara (cello), and Viktor Wennesz (clarinet), and will remain in residence throughout the festival week.

The festival will present an extensive selection of Byström's works, including the world premieres of two fanfares Mate and Hajime, Camera Picta at the opening concert, and The Conference of the Birds, which receives its world premiere in Copenhagen on June 13 and is co-commissioned by Båstad Festival and Østerbro Chamber Music Festival.

Britta Byström says about The Conference of the Birds:

The Conference of the Birds is a remarkable 12th-century poem by the Persian poet Farid Ud-Din Attar. In this allegorical tale, we follow the birds as they pass through seven valleys of trial and transformation, each bringing them closer to understanding the truth about Simorgh. When they finally reach their destination, only thirty birds remain — and they realize that Simorgh is, in fact, a mirror, showing them their own reflections.

Additional Byström works performed at the festival include Diagonal Musik, Dream Day for solo viola, Epiphanies, Alfabet, and By the Window.

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