What happens when a symphony orchestra moves into a nightclub? At Trädgården under Skanstull bridge in Stockholm, the festival Gränslandet did exactly that, and for a couple of summers it became one of the most unexpected musical experiences the city had to offer. I was there in 2019 to capture the essence of it.

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A full symphony orchestra sharing space with a crowd of all ages, drinks, hugs and dancing feet. Tchaikovsky and Philip Glass performed under the open sky, and in the middle of the night, pianist David Huang playing Bach's Goldberg Variations on a silent piano, 120 people listening through headphones while techno thumped from somewhere deeper in the club. The sound of police sirens drifting down from the bridge above, weaving unexpectedly into the bassoons and strings. And the conversations with visitors who kept saying the same thing in different ways: that this was the first time classical music had felt like theirs.

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