Early morning sky over Øresund

Early this morning we had a rather severe thunderstorm in the Øresund region. I shot the two pictures about half an hour before the storm started, when the sky was reddish.

The sky was red before the thunderstorm broke out

The Costa Luminosa passed by at 5.53 AM in the morning haze

The dredger Madog and the Kronborg castle

The dredger Madog (28x6m) tonight passed by on its way to Gothenburg.

Bosjökloster - a castle in Scania, Southern Sweden

Bosjökloster castle as it looks today

 Scania, the southernmost of the traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, is full of historic castles and manors, many of theem dating back to the time (before 1658) when Scania still was part of  the Kingdom of Denmark.

Bosjökloster, situated on the shore of lake Ringsjön, dates back to A.D. 1080. The castle, which originally was a monastery for women, is since 1908 in the possession of the Bonde family. Today count Tord Bonde and his family are in charge of the estate.

Bosjökloster is open for the public in June - September. For friends of classical music, the annual Music at Bosjökloster  festival offers a number excellent concerts. (My previous post was about one of them). If you happen to be in Southern Sweden in August, the Music at Bosjökloster concerts are worth keeping in mind.

Here are a couple of pictures I shot yesterday during the concert interval at Bosjökloster:

A view of the castle church

The church tower

A close up of the 1000 year old oak at Bosjökloster



This kid is not yet one year old



Swedish tenor Joachim Bäckström on his way to international stardom

Joachim Bäckstöm after the concert at the Bosjökloster castle

Having heard the young Swedish tenor Joachim Bäckström sing in May this spring in Helsingborg, I felt certain that he is on his way to a great international career. Tonight, I heard Bäckström again, at an Italian Opera Gala at the Bosjökloster castle together with the wonderful Italian soprano Sabina von Walther and the outstanding Helsingborg Symphony under the talented Fredrik Burstedt´s baton, and I am even more certain that he is destined to become the next Swedish world class tenor.

Bäckström and the superb Sabina von Walther at Bosjökloster

Bäckström was particularly convincing in Rodolfo´s aria Che gelida manina -  one of  Jussi Björling´s favourites - from La Bohéme. I do not think that I was the only one in the audience, who felt that this voice has a lot in common with the the unique voice of  Jussi the great, particularly in the high notes.

This is my free piece of advice to the directors of the famous opera houses in Europe and the United States: Get in touch with Bäckström´s agent, before somebody else gets there before you!


PS
Here is video from 2009 with Joachim Bäckström singing Lenski´s aria from Eugen Onegin (here only part of it). The technical quality of the recording is not good, but you can get an idea of the beauty of his voice.