Release concert “Summer of the Sea”

Summer of the Sea

Soprano Annika Sandberg and pianist Chiara Schmidt presenterar sitt debutalbum “Summer of the Sea” – a tribute to the Swedish archipelago and the sea.

The program consists of two Swedish song cycles: “Havets sommar” by Ture Rangström and “Själ och landskap” by Gösta Nystroem, with poems by Ebba Lindqvist. In Havets sommar we follow the unfolding of a summer day in the archipelago, in a dreamlike shimmer. The music is accompanied by a film with nature imagery, created in collaboration with filmmaker Christian Ingels.

Where Rangström’s sea is portrayed in poetic images, Lindqvist’s sea is personified. In Själ och landskap , the human relationship to the sea takes center stage - a reflection on nature, life, and the landscape around us.

Annika Sandberg and Chiara Schmidt met in 2019 during their studies at the Universität Mozarteum i Salzburg and have since worked together as a Lied duo, performing in Austria, Italy, and Sweden. In February 2026, their debut album “Summer of the Sea” was released on Footprint Records.

Annika Sandberg grew up in Sollentuna and trained at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. She made her international opera debut in 2019 in the title role of Martha by Friedrich von Flotow at Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Germany, and returned to the role in 2025 at the Salzburger Landestheater. In 2024, she was awarded the Mozartpriset vid Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition.

Chiara Schmidt grew up in Milan and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She combines her passion for music with a passion for alpinism and has given concerts in the Italian Alps. In 2024, she brought a keyboard to the summit of Niederes Dirndl on the Dachstein glacier to perform Brian Field’s Three Passions for a Tortured Planet.

Foto: Christian Ingels