From the 23rd to the 28th August 1973 several bank employees were held hostage in vaults of the Kreditbank at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, Sweden. During this time the victims of this siege began to express empathy and sympathy for their captors, a psychological phenomenon that has since become know as the ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. These very unique circumstances combined with the intensity of the experience had a remarkable effect on the victims.
Some forty years later the Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble was formed, in Stockholm, with the hope of creating concert programmes that would give audiences a more healthy dose of Stockholm syndrome; the aim, to give the audience the opportunity to hear music set in a surprising and illuminating context, one which heightens the listening experience.
Whilst not bound by size, style or genre most concerts include this founding group of players. Often the programmes are built around an event, idea or concept. This narrative or thread (sometimes unspoken in the form of images and sometimes spoken with film and voice) allows the comparison and contrast of music across all periods and styles.
As a result the ensemble has performed music from Purcell to Bob Dylan and Messiaen to Radiohead collaborating with musicians such as Margareta Bengtsson, Olivia Chaney, Sebastien Dubbé, Ruby Hughes, Gustav Lindgren, Anne Sofie von Otter, Elin Rombo, Andrew Staples, artist Joanne Grüne-Yanoff and juggler Jay Gilligan. The ensemble has its own concert series at Musikaliska in Stockholm and was the subject of a documentary for Swedish TV. Future plans include a tour of the Netherlands and festival performances in Sweden and Finland.