Karin Rehnqvist wins the Swedish MPA Award for Take the Milky Way
At the Swedish MPA Award gala on November 7, Karin Rehnqvist received the Art Music Prize of the Year – small ensemble/chamber music for her work Take the Milky Way.
“A battle song of hope where cosmic clusters, folk elements and timeless sounds create a musical galaxy of its own” - this is how the jury of the Musikförläggarnas Pris (Swedish Music Publishers' Association Award) describes Take the Milky Way for mixed choir, baroque orchestra and "audience ad libitum" (where the audience can participate). The work was commissioned for the Helsinki Chamber Choir's 20th anniversary in April 2025, where the choir premiered it together with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Nils Schweckendiek.
Take the Milky Way consists of four movements: Invisible threads / Rush Black hole interlude / Reach out your hand / And the journey continues. The libretto is written by Kerstin Perski, who previously collaborated with Karin Rehnqvist on, among other things, the oratorio Silent Earth, which was recently released as an album with the Radio Choir and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk.
At Gehrmans Musikförlag, Take The Milky Way is available for viewing (browse the edition), purchase (study score, score and piano excerpt for choir) and rental (for orchestra).
Karin was also honored in 2017 by Musikförläggarna (the Swedish Music Publishers' Association) as Honorary Laureate of the Year .