Schubert deals with life and death, with pain and beauty. And nowhere are these opposites balanced more delicately than in Winterreise with lyrics by Wilhelm Müller. We are on a inexorable journey towards death, but the frozen winter landscape, where the tears freeze, has been set to a music which in paradoxical ways contains a decidedly lively aesthetics.There is no way back from the last journey towards winter. Hope dies with the last leaf falling, and everything is depicted with a vibrant musical sensitivity, where even the lamentation at Hope’s grave is reflected in the piano’s subtle change from minor to major.Empty fifths in the piano and a freezing, unresolved ending leave us shivering in the cold. Is the ghastly organ grinder of the last song a premonition of the meaninglessness of death? Will Hope survive the winter?Bo Skovhus and Stefan VladarBo Skovhus is in a league of his own. Both as an opera singer and lied interpreter he is unsurpassed and appreciated the world over. At just 25 Bo Skovhus made his name in the part of Don Giovanni at the Volksoper of Vienna. Since then his career has been a triumphal progress from one European and American concert hall to the next, working alongside stars such as Angela Gherghiu, Roberto Alagna and Plácido Domingo.Bo Skovhus cherishes the proximity of the audience in Mogens Dahl Concert Hall and will be visiting our stage for the fifth time. This time he will be accompanied Austrian pianist Stefan Vladar, as at his first visit in 2008.Programme:Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Winterreise