When Rickard Söderberg competed in "Kontrapunkt" seven years ago, he had performance anxiety, sweat on his forehead, and panic.
Now, he takes over the role as judge in the program.
It feels completely right. I love to lower the threshold for these tricky art forms, he says.
Kontrapunkt is Sweden's toughest cultural quiz show. At least, that's the image portrayed by the program, and one that Rickard Söderberg wants to change at any cost.
It's about a number of prejudices. Some may be nervous about what to wear when they go to the opera or worried that they won't understand when they look at a work of art.
I want people to let go of their performance anxiety, allow themselves to let their emotions flow, and experience the genius of art and culture that affects us. Whether it's "fine" or "bad" culture doesn't matter to me.
Mixing Lego with Baroque
For Rickard Söderberg, it's the contrasts that make culture worth experiencing. In his home in Malmö, a series hero Link oversees a piano by a window, and in the dining room, Danish Lego is mixed with ceiling paintings inspired by French Baroque.
I think it's exciting when these eclectic parts of the cultural world meet. It can be a symphony orchestra playing music from video games or modern photography meeting French Renaissance.
And it's precisely the meeting between different people, art forms, and eras that he hopes to contribute to through his new role as judge:
It can be a new target group that will watch the program because I'm sitting there. My hope is that they'll get hooked, not because of me, but because of the culture, so I can just lean back and let the art speak.
I love meeting people who say: I've never been to the opera before, but now I'll be damned if I don't go and buy a ticket.
Gets Goosebumps
Rickard Söderberg pulls up his sleeve and continues:
Look, I get goosebumps everywhere.
Don't you have performance anxiety about succeeding Eva Beckman?
I'll spend the whole summer studying and being incredibly prepared. I don't know if that's maybe an expression of that.
When it comes to performance anxiety, he mostly empathizes with all the participants who will compete in the program.
I have such respect for them who do it. When I was on, I answered a question wrong and got a letter home with the correct answer. Then I just felt: I'll never compete on TV again.
"Kulturfrågan Kontrapunkt" is a cultural quiz show about music, art, and literature on SVT.
The first season was broadcast in the spring of 2017.
The contestants are divided into four teams, each consisting of three people, including a team leader.
Ella Petersson is the host and has previously been accompanied by Eva Beckman as judge.
This fall, opera singer Rickard Söderberg takes over the role as judge.
