A harp creates completely different overtones than a grand piano, which makes a big difference between singing with the accompaniment of a harp, and a grand piano. The singer has to adjust the ears to a completely different sound that partly supports the song well, but also makes it difficult for the singer to intonate; the singer is more vulnerable than with a piano accompaniment. The harp’s design makes it hard for the harpist to quickly make key changes and modulations, that for a pianist is natural, or even simple. Sometimes the key has to be adapted to the harp’s capability. A good and direct communication between singer and accompanist is always essential, regardless of accompaniment. Even a flexible and sensitive harpist can experience more difficulties to shift tempo than a pianist, forcing the singer to phrase different than singing to the piano or guitar. However, such difficulties must be tackled and afterwards the cooperation can be rewarded with an emergence of a magical atmosphere. Since the harpist Stina Hellberg Agback is also a skilful improviser, another dimension is added, here in the songs by George Gershwin.

Torsten Mossberg is a physician, specialist in anesthesiology and intensive care. He has studied singing with among others Ester Ruhrseitz, Eva Pilat and Björn Thulin. He has an extensive experience as a choir singer, as tenor in the Oscar Chamber Choir in Stockholm and is often engaged as a soloist. Torsten has a broad repertoire, from ballads to romances and cabaret songs, and has released several CDs of rarely recorded songs by Swedish composers.

Stina Hellberg Agback is educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Berklee College of Music in Boston and Trinity College of Music and has a master’s degree in jazz playing on harp. She has, among other things performed with artists like Rebecka Törnqvist, Frida Hyvönen and Tomas Ledin, and with orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. Stina moves freely between different genres and is playing classical as well as jazz music, and is keen on improvising. She both performs as a soloist with her own programmes, and in ensemble and has great experience in recordings.