BENNY’S PIANO

“Everything is stripped off. All that’s left is me and the piano…In a strange way I feel like I’m playing my memoirs.” Benny Andersson

This concert is a journey through over forty years of music penned by the inimitable Benny Andersson from his recent album Piano; with music from ABBA, his musicals Chess and Kristina från Duvemåla and his beautiful instrumental solos. He chose the pieces that were expressive on their own; without words, voices or other instruments. That wasn’t hard because that was how they all started, at the piano.

This music transcends genre. It can be a waltz, a Swedish polska, a little march, a pop tune, a chorale in an eighteenth-century church, a Baroque minuet, a dance hall romp, a love song.

Whatever his music is, it connects, it soothes, it becomes a part of us. Swedish Zen.

These are our memoirs too.

I love this piano music of Benny’s because it has the vibe of other eras and is also very immediate. As a classical pianist, this appeals very much to me. It is deep with feeling and it is timeless.

Benny is Sweden’s musical hero. And everyone’s musical voice.

It is my very great pleasure to play these pieces for you.