Joyful Voices - Sweden 2002

Our first stop in Sweden will be Laholm, - an idyllic small town with an old city centre and bumpy narrow streets. - situated above the river Lagan. Here we will pass our first night in a youth hostel. Melbystrand - a suburb of Laholm - has one of the longest and most beautiful beaches in the Province of Halland where we can extensively enjoy the Baltic Sea.

The journey will lead us 320 km with direction to Bengtsfors in Dalsland, which is a little town with 3.600 inhabitants, surrounded by forests, elks and water. Here we will stay in the parish of Bengtsfors. In Torrskog - 20 km to the north at the shore of the lake Lelång - we will perform our program "Under the sun" (Mon, 2002-08-12) in Torrskog Church (Torrskog Kyrkan) - by the way the second largest church in Dalsland.

The opportunity to see elks in this area is extremely high. Lake Lelången affords the opportunity for canoeing. The old railway line between Årjäng and Bengtsfors is closed since years and can now be used by a handcar- a kind of tricycle.Worthwhile to see is also the very well known aqueduct of Håverud: a narrow canyon, passed through by rapids, crossed on different levels by a water bridge, a street and a railway bridge.

Our next destination is Sweden's capital Stockholm - not unfairly one of the world's most beautiful capitals. Due to its location on many islands and numerous bridges, Stockholm is called "Venice of the north".We will stay in a youth hostel in the city centre. Our concert will take place on Wednesday, 2002-08-14 in the "German Church" (Tyska Kyrkan) in Gamla Stan. Unfortunately there is too little time to sense the flair and see all the sights of the city.In the middle of Gamla Stan the Tyska kyrka is located, also known as "St. Getrud Church". In summer - on Wednesday's evenings at 6 p.m. - several concerts take place here. Many of the performing artists are musicians who spend their holidays in Sweden and use their stop in Stockholm to give a summer concert in the Tyska Kyrka.

From Stockholm we will leave to Enköping, 70 km distant in the Province of Uppland. Enköping is a neat little town in the north of the big Lake Mälaren, well known for its municipal park. A German landscape gardener will guide us through the most different parks. Several concerts and workshops are planned in and around Enköping - please see our tour schedule.

On our way to the northwest we'd like to see another concert location - Dalhalla. Dalhalla - perhaps one of the most beautiful and interesting festival stages in the world - is a former limestone quarry outside Rättvik (Province of Dalarna). It has room for nearly 4.000 persons, who will be offered great events with an exceptional acoustic.

In Enköping our concert tour will end with a "barn party". From here we will start our journey back to Germany - via Laholm and the Danish islands Zealand and Funen.