Pressrelease

May 18, 2009

Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

Present

KRISTINA In Concert

Premiering at Carnegie Hall, New York

KRISTINA, with music by Benny Andersson and lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus, will be performed in a concert presentation at Carnegie Hall on September 23 and 24, 2009.  

This will be the first presentation in English with lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer. Tickets for KRISTINA In Concert will go on sale on Sunday, May 31.

Originally titled Kristina från Duvemåla, the musical premiered at the Malmo Music Theatre in Sweden in 1995 to great acclaim from critics and audiences alike.  The musical ran for almost four years, winning four Guldmasken Theatre Awards (Sweden´s Tony!) and was seen by more people than any other musical in Swedish history.

In 1996, a concert version of KRISTINA was performed (in Swedish) at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota; a part of the country where many of the events in the Moberg novels took place.  The Minneapolis Star Tribune called the concert "engaging, emotionally charged and haunting."

Based on The Emigrants series of novels by Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg (The Emigrants, Unto a Good Land, The Settlers, and The Last Letter Home), KRISTINA tells the epic story of an extended family´s migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19^th Century.

Universal Music is proud to promote the concert alongside Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. A cast recording will follow, released through Universal Music´s Decca Records.

Best known as the song-writing partners in ABBA, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are also the composers of the stage musicals Chess and Mamma Mia!