A special Holiday treat from Scandinavia House: You can buy two tickets for this special evening for the price of one! TICKETS HERE

“A remarkable film about the power of music”

Smålandsposten

“A film that makes you reflect and think”

Swedish National Radio

A unique event is awaiting at the Victor Borge Hall, the perfect venue for BOTH a film and live chamber music! The evening starts with a presentation of the film and the music performed, continues with the superb violinist Hana Mundiya playing Beethoven’s first violin sonata with Per Tengstrand at the piano (which was Victor Borge’s personal Steinwat grand!) after which Hana plays the greatest masterpiece there is for solo violin: J.S. Bach’s incredible Chaconne.

After an intermission where a complimentary glass of wine is served, the American premiere of Freedom of the Will, filmed in five countries and ten cities, is screened. Per Tengstrand is the cicron and pianist in the film, and we can also hear a phenomenal version of the Kreutzer Sonata by Hana Mundiya.

Welcome to a very special evening!

THE EVENING’S PROGRAM

WITH

Hana Mundiya, violin

Per Tengstrand, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven:

Sonata for violin and piano D Major op. 12 no. 1

I. Allegro con brio

II. Tema con variazioni: Andante con moto

III. Rondo: Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne for violin solo from Partita no. 2

INTERMISSION with drinks served

American Premiere:

Freedom of the Will: a documentary about the power of Beethoven’s music by Per Tengstrand (2022)

FREEDOM OF THE WILL
A film about music made by a musician

No human being is perfect – an attempt to idealize a person will always land in half-truths. But music can inspire and empower, and no music has done so more than the music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. This film takes us through historical moments and portraits of people who have been touched by the timeless power of Beethoven’s music. Beet- hoven’s music has been a part of my life since I played ”Fur Elise” when I was six years old. For the past twenty years, his music has been a constant part of my life in cycles of all the piano sonatas and piano concertos. I’ll never forget the letter I got after playing the dramatic ”Appassionata” in a concert.

In the audience was a man whose wife had recently passed away, and he obviously had a hard time recovering from that. He received a ticket to the concert as a gift from friends and he went to the concert, albeit reluctant- ly. After the recital, he wrote to me that when he had listened to Beetho- ven’s music, it made him want to come back to life, it gave him strength and hope in a way that nothing else had managed.

Although that story is not in the film, it could symbolize the heart of the film. How music, and in this case Beethoven’s music, can give us an inner strength that perhaps we didn’t know we had. I could make a film about research that shows how music affects the brain’s limbic system, the sys- tem that handles emotions and memories. But that’s not this movie.

I want to tell the story through music, and through people.

Hana Mundiya

Born in New York City to a Japanese mother and Indian father, Hana Mundiya began playing the violin at age three and made her concert debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 13 as part of the Young People’s Concerts series. Since then, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in major concert halls throughout the United States, including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Concert Hall, as well as in Sweden, Japan, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Switzerland.

She holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Princeton University with a specialization in French and Japanese literature, and is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at Juilliard.

Hana is a member of the UN Chamber Music Society and regularly performs at UN Headquarters, UNESCO, the Red Cross and Mount Sinai Hospital. She participates in the VI- SION Collective, an ensemble that raises awareness of the global refugee crisis through music. Hana has also performed for RAINN, the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the United States, in support of victims of gender-based violence and sexual assault.