Recital in Celebration of Dag Hammarskjöld with Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, Swedish Pianist Per Tengstrand at Headquarters, 27 October

In celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the United Nations and in honour of legendary former Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson will join internationally renowned pianist Per Tengstrand for an evening of readings and music inspired by Mr. Hammarskjöld’s book, Markings (1963).  The special evening event will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 October, in the Economic and Social Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Hammarskjöld served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in 1961.  An economist by training, he led the United Nations in the mediation of numerous international disputes, including the Tripartite Aggression towards Suez in 1956 and the decolonization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1960.  He is credited with the creation of unprecedented practices such as the deployment of the United Nations Emergency Force and the establishment of UN peacekeeping.  Mr. Hammarskjöld was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his peacekeeping efforts in 1961.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson will pay tribute to the former Secretary-General’s remarkable life by reading excerpts from Markings, a collection of Mr. Hammarskjöld’s diary entries from 1925 until his death.  The anthology is composed of prose and haiku poetry, and offers an exploration of the former Secretary-General’s spiritual writings and beliefs.

Mr. Eliasson has a long diplomatic career serving his native country of Sweden and the United Nations.  He has held a number of distinguished positions, including Foreign Minister of Sweden, and Swedish Ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.  In 2005, Mr. Eliasson served as President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, and in 2007, as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Darfur.  He was appointed Deputy Secretary-General in 2012.

Mr. Eliasson will be joined by Swedish pianist Per Tengstrand, who began his professional career as a musical prodigy at the age of six.  Since the completion of his training at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, Mr. Tengstrand has accompanied renowned orchestras across the globe.  He is the recipient of a multitude of illustrious awards, including the “Litteris et Artribus” Medal for outstanding service to the arts conferred by the Swedish Royal Court.  Mr. Tengstrand’s hommage to Mr. Hammarskjöld will include renditions of Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 111.

For more information please contact:  Jeff Brez, Chief, NGO Relations, Advocacy and Special Events Section, at tel.:  +1 917 328 6736, email:  brez@un.org.