Schnee

Schnee - Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen: Saturday 5 December 2026, 16:00–17:10, Koncertkirken, Copenhagen. Tickets cost 95–225 kr.

ATHELAS performs Hans Abrahamsen's Schnee - 10 Canons for 9 Instruments, a work that has played to sold-out houses at Koncertkirken since 2018. At the most recent performance in 2025, Politiken gave it the maximum six hearts, writing: "Once again, it was a white Christmas at Koncertkirken, where Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen has made it a December tradition to transform solitude into community. To be transformed from a lonely snowflake into part of a snowstorm. Could it possibly be more beautiful?"

Schnee is a musical interpretation of the sounds of snow - the simultaneous individuality and collective movement of snowflakes. The structure is built on canon, the same principle as in "Frère Jacques": each voice follows its own path while simultaneously becoming part of an increasingly complex whole. The music evokes associations with swirling snow flurries and gently falling snow, and its fascination with patterns and structures leads some listeners toward Bach, others toward Vivaldi's winter landscapes.

As in previous performances, ATHELAS lets Christmas snow fall over the audience at Koncertkirken with dancing snowflakes on the church walls as living points of light.

Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen - conductor Rei Munakata.