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The work on the Sixth Symphony began on 24 September 1879, but was interrupted by a revision of the Fourth Symphony. He was finally able to enjoy some success in February 1881, when the Fourth Symphony was praised even by his most ardent opponents. In May he began a Te Deum, and on 3 September (after nearly two years) the Sixth Symphony was finally completed. Three weeks later he set to work on the Seventh. The first movement of the Sixth Symphony is dominated by the rhythmic driving force that we encounter already in the opening bars - the so-called Bruckner rhythm. The symphony has a consistently bright and warm character and is filled with attractive melodies. The first movement is predominantly rhythmic, and the Adagio (F major) is a grandiose elegiac sonata movement, the only slow movement in sonata form in any Bruckner symphony. The Scherzo is in A minor, but the basic chord of that key is avoided in the first 100 bars. In the finale, the Bruckner rhythm reappears and leads the symphony to an orgiastic end.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

French Marie Jacquot is chief conductor of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen since 2024. She is also principal guest conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra since 2023. In 2026-2027, she will take up the position of chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. This season she made her debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and at the Royal Opera House in London. She conducts the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Filarmonica della Scala and the Tonhalle Orchestra Züric and returns to the Staatskapelle Dresden. Last season she guested with the Orchestre National de France, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Hamburg Philharmonic and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and others. She also conducted the opera premiere of Guercœur at the Oper Frankfurt. Marie Jacquot was First Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf/Duisburg for three years, conducting performances such as La clemenza di Tito, Romeo and Juliet and The Nutcracker, as well as concerts with Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016, she was assistant to Kirill Petrenko at the Bavarian State Opera in the world premiere of Miroslav Srnka's South Pole (directed by Hans Neuenfels), after which she was invited to conduct two world premieres at the Munich Opera Festival. She most recently guested with the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra in 2023.

Austrian pianist Markus Schirmer has performed in world leading concert halls, such as the Wiener Musikverein, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Gewandhaus Leipzig and Philharmonie Berlin. He has worked with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, under conductors such as Jukka Pekka Saraste, Michael Gielen, Sir Charles Mackerras, John Axelrod, James Judd, Paul Goodwin, Fabio Luisi, Philippe Jordan and many more. His love of the unexpected and eagerness to explore new territories drive him to projects outside the traditional classical repertoire. He is the founder of the improvisational project Scurdia, which brings together musicians from all over the world. He also works with actors and combines literature and music, for example in an adaptation of Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins with American singer Helen Schneider. Schirmer received the German Record Critics' Prize for his debut CD of Schubert sonatas and has also been awarded for recordings of Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, Mussorgsky and The Mozart Sessions with the American chamber orchestra A Far Cry. He is also a professor of piano at the University of Music in his hometown Graz and a sought-after judge at prestigious piano competitions.

The years around 1880 marked a turning point for Tchaikovsky. He had recovered from the worst consequences of his doomed marriage to his piano student Antonia, and was beginning to become famous as a composer. He did not actually want to travel to Italy, but his brother Anatol insisted and after a short visit to Paris, Tchaikovsky joined his brother in Rome in December 1879. He was pleasantly surprised by the exuberant carnival and was inspired by popular and folk music: "I want to compose something in the style of Glinka's Spanish fantasies," he wrote to his sponsor madame von Meck. Bach had used the term "capriccio" (capriccio) for some of his piano pieces. At that time it was more like a lively improvisation, but later the term came to denote music that is happy, folk and lively. And that is certainly true in Tchaikovsky's case. Capriccio Italien was such a success that his colleague Rimsky-Korsakov copied the idea a few years later in his Capriccio Espagnol.

No one has depicted his hometown in a more picturesque and convincing way than Ottorino Respighi, and above all in two four-movement, colorful orchestral suites: Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome. Respighi has selected four of Rome’s famous and characteristic fountains and depicted them “at the moment when their uniqueness is most in harmony with the surrounding environment, or when they are most expressive to the spectator” – as the preface to the score states. At the fountain in Valle Giulia, a herd of cattle passes by in the fresh, damp morning mist. Suddenly, the horns sound, introducing the second part: the Triton Fountain, full of naiads and tritons rumbling around each other in the water jets. A solemn theme leads us over to the Trevi Fountain at noon, and here too there are a series of mythological figures, but they are more dignified, and Neptune is followed by a triumphal procession of sirens and tritons. The procession disappears and a trumpet fanfare paints the fountain of the Villa Medici at sunset. The air is full of bells, birdsong, leaves rustling. Then everything dies away in the silence of the night. Fountains of Rome premiered in Rome in February 1918 in a concert conducted by none other than Arturo Toscanini.

La Gioconda is a grand opera in the truest sense of the word. With its sweeping music and captivating drama, it is Ponchielli's only work to remain in the repertoire. It contains memorable arias for all six main roles, an extremely popular ballet (Dance of the Hours) and outstanding numbers for the choir. The title, "The happy one", is somewhat ironic since it is about a singer's daughter who is promised to marry a miserable man, resulting in a scandal.

Violin and piano. Intimate and emotional in three movements. Apart from some small preludes for piano and ballads, Amanda Maier's violin sonata is the oldest of her surviving works. A youthful work dedicated to her father, the music director Carl Maier, who was her music teacher while growing up in Landskrona. The work was written at a turning point. After graduating in Stockholm, Amanda Maier had made a name for herself as a brilliant violinist. As the first woman, she could also call herself a music director. At only 19 years old, she already seemed to be at the height of her career, but her studies continued in Leipzig, Europe's musical epicenter at this time. Her main teacher was Engelbrekt Röntgen, in whose home Amanda Maier soon became a frequent guest. Before the violin sonata was completed, she played the work together with Engelbrekt's son, the composer and pianist, Julius Röntgen. It is easy to imagine that the development of Amanda Maier's romantic violin sonata also became a prelude to the love that a few years later led to marriage. Perhaps the lustful play between the two young musicians also inspired how the work was completed. The finale is an exuberant, dancing rondo, full of energy and virtuosity. The violin sonata is distinguished by its melodic singability and clear sense of form – a meeting between Nordic lyricism and German romanticism. Violin and piano. The first movement, in sonata form, begins dramatically, without introduction, without permission – straight from the heart.

Madárdal – String Quartet No 2 was commissioned by Sveriges Radio P2 and written for the Dahlkvist Quartet. The piece is inspired by both Swedish and Hungarian folk songs. Since I am half Swedish and half Hungarian I thought that it would be an interesting way of composing a piece. ”Madárdal” consists of three movements. The first movement (Allegro) is built on fragments from Romany/Hungarian melodies and gestures. The second movement (Adagio) is based on particularily two Swedish folk songs; ”Emigrantvisa” and ”Polska från Medelpad”. In the third and last movement (Allegro/Presto), the Hungarian/Romany and Swedish folk songs meet. Throughout the piece you also may hear both Hungarian and Swedish bird species. ”Madárdal” is the Hungarian word for ”birdsong”, hence the title. Andrea Tarrodi

Brahms' Second String Quintet is a late work, dated 1890. He wrote it, just like the first, as a string quartet with an additional viola. In the first movement he used sketches for what would actually have become his Fifth Symphony, a consistently bright and sunny movement. Brahms' bittersweet melancholy is heard in the slow adagio. The Hungarian folk elements of the finale are a reminder of the composer's famous Hungarian dances.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. Season 2025-2026, Kuusisto led three distinctive programmes with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Ava Bahari, Andreas Brantelid and Katarina Barruk. He continued his work with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presenting the renowned DSCH project, and took the stage as both conductor and soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic, including a tour across Germany and Austria. He guest conducted Oslo Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with New Zealand and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, and with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he appeared with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in a New Year’s programme with Joana Mallwitz. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. In 2026, Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra collaborated on the album Willows. The soundtrack of animated series Moominvalley composed by Kuusisto, Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari was released in January 2025. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

Justyna Jara began playing the violin when she was seven years old. After winning a prize at a competition for young violinists in Gdansk, Poland, she continued her studies in Warsaw with Miroslaw Lawrynowicz. During her studies, she won prizes in several violin competitions. She also recorded Wieniawski's Etudes Caprices Op 10 and 18 for the Acte Préalable record label as a tribute to her teacher. She studied for a year at the Chopin University in Warsaw and then at Juilliard in New York, working with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, often as assistant concertmaster. In 2014, she was appointed second concertmaster of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Norwegian Terje Skomedal is principal for violin 2 in the Gothenburg Symphony. He studied at the Barratt-Due Music Institute in Oslo and with Giuliano Carmignola in Lucerne where he took a soloist diploma. Terje Skomedal has worked as concertmaster in the Norrandsoperan orchestra in Umeå and in several Norwegian orchestras. He has extensive experience as a chamber musician and has toured internationally with the chamber orchestras Oslo Camerata and Spira Mirabilis as well as appeared as a soloist with several Norwegian and foreign orchestras.

Jun Sasaki is co-principal cello in Gothenburg Symphony since 2014. He was born in London and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal College of Music with Thomas Carroll before moving to Oslo to study at Norges Musikhögskola with Truls Mørk. A prizewinner at the Royal Overseas League (UK) and Antonio Janigro (Croatia) competitions, his cello playing has led to appearances on TV and radio, and has taken him to festivals and venues across Europe and beyond - as soloist performing in venues such as the Cadogan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall, and at festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), Edinburgh Fringe (Scotland), and Ultima (Norway). With a passion for chamber music, Jun has performed with artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes , Barbara Hannigan, Pekka Kuusisto, Corina Belcea and his teacher Truls Mørk. Jun is a member of Ensemble Caplet, as well as member of the musician community of Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

Cellist Johan Stern is principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and teaches cello, chamber music and orchestral playing at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and at the Juilliard School in New York. As a member of Gageego!, the Gothenburg Ensemble for New Music, he has premiered several solo works by our leading Nordic composers. Johan Stern has participated in a number of international festivals and as a soloist and chamber musician has performed with figures such as Bobby McFerrin, Edward Gardner, Petri Sakari, Kristjan Järvi, Daniel Müller-Schott and Levon Chilingirian. During his studies at Juilliard, he had the privilege of collaborating with several internationally renowned musical figures, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composers Elliott Carter and John Cage.

Juan Zurutuza is a pianist trained in Mexico and the Netherlands. He studied with Rian de Waal at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 2001-2008. He has played solo and chamber music concerts with members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Scandinavia, Europe and North America. Since 2022, Juan Zurutuza is pianist in the Gothenburg Symphony. He is currently studying with pianist Robert Durso, thanks to several scholarships received from Göteborgs Symfoniker Friend Association, the Marianne & Ary Paley Scholarship Fund, the Eduard Magnus Music Fund and the Mary von Sydows Donation Fund.

Compared to the Fourth Symphony, Sibelius's Fifth Symphony is colorful and vibrant, heroic and accessible. But equally it required more work than the brooding and introverted four. No other work caused him so much trouble. "Walked in the cold spring sun. Had a violent impression of Symphony No. 5. The new one!" "Saw today (April 21, 1915) ten before eleven 16 swans. One of the greatest impressions of my life! ... The sound of the same woodwind type as the cranes, but without tremolo. The swans are closer to the trumpet although the sarrusophone sound is clear. Nature mystery and life's woe! The fifth symphony's final theme." The first movement consists of two parts. The first of these begins with a true pastoral idyll, with signal horn motifs and responding woodwinds. Throughout this part the experience of nature is strong, but in the second part of the movement the music takes on a more scherzo-like character. In the slow movement, the idyllic returns, this time with a graceful, almost rococo elegance. "In the background wander the ever-changing cloud formations of the clarinets, bassoons and horns." The finale's main theme shines through an impressionistic shimmer of strings, which contrasts with the swan theme of the trumpets. And then the doomed, severely isolated chords that end this architectural masterpiece. STIG JACOBSSON

Written towards the end of 2020, ‘Be Still’ is a reflective piece on the year gone by. In a year where lockdowns became a thing, the idea of time became more apparent to me as everyday markers, such as meeting with friends and family, travelling or attending concerts vanished. Whilst writing ‘Be Still’ the opening lines of TS Eliot's Burnt Norton, the first of his Four Quartets, came to mind: “Time present and time past/ Are both perhaps present in time future/And time Future contained in time past/ If all time is eternally present/ All time is unredeemable”. And as I look back at the year and attempt to fix in my mind events, they slither away from my grasp – like clouds passing by in the sky. Daniel Kidane

Philip Glass is often mentioned in the same breath as Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Glass' minimalism, however, can be said to represent a completely different direction than that taken by Reich or Riley, but in history books we often find them on the same page. Today, Glass is probably best known for his film music, where several of his soundtracks have been nominated for Oscars, such as the cello music for The Hours. String Quartet No. 3 was written for Paul Schrader's acclaimed film Mishisma – a Life in Four Chapters in 1985. The controversial Japanese author Yukio Mishima developed his own form of nationalism and cultural conservatism.

Niäguoh (Dreams)

Hanna Kendall (f 1984) Weeron Weeron, for solo cuffed violin Hannah Kendall is from London and composed this solo piece for Pekka Kuusisto. It was premiered in Helsinki in 2022. The title means "My God, my God" and comes from Martin Carter's poem of the same name, written in 1954 as part of his collection Poems of Resistance from British Guyana. All the strings of the violin are tied together with aluminum dreadlock cuffs; accessories that distort the sound of the instrument, making the pitch unstable, unpredictable and changing from performance to performance. A new Creole-style instrument is formed.

Maadter-aahka (Great-grandmother)

Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür began his career in a rock band influenced by Frank Zappa, Yes and Genesis. He is the creator of eight symphonies, several instrumental concertos, many chamber music pieces and an opera. During his career, Tüür has tested most compositional techniques to demonstrate and combine musical opposites - tonality and atonality, repeating rhythms and complex rhythms, meditative calm and theatrical explosiveness. Action-Passion-Illusion is a three-part work for string orchestra from 1994.

Ij gåssieke (Never, never)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (transcript by Max Reger) The chorale "O man, weep for your great sin" is found in the final version of the St. Matthew Passion. Bach took the melody itself from an older hymn and added text by the hymn writer Sebald Heyden. In both orchestra and choir, Bach exposes man and his shortcomings. Where we have transgressed our powers, we have shown not strength, but weakness. Where we hurt our neighbor, we also hurt ourselves. In a chorale further on, forgiveness awaits: "I do not deny my sin, but your grace and mercy are much greater." Like Bach, the composer Max Reger was based in Leipzig. Here he has taken Bach's hymn and transformed it into slow strings, as humble as human voices.

Dállie (Now)

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. Season 2025-2026, Kuusisto led three distinctive programmes with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Ava Bahari, Andreas Brantelid and Katarina Barruk. He continued his work with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presenting the renowned DSCH project, and took the stage as both conductor and soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic, including a tour across Germany and Austria. He guest conducted Oslo Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with New Zealand and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, and with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he appeared with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in a New Year’s programme with Joana Mallwitz. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. In 2026, Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra collaborated on the album Willows. The soundtrack of animated series Moominvalley composed by Kuusisto, Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari was released in January 2025. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

Katarina Barruk is one of the Nordic countries' most highly regarded Sámi artists. She grew up in Lusspie (Storuman) and Gajhrege (Gardfjäll). She delivers a powerful yet deeply down-to-earth blend of pop music, traditional yoik and improvisational elements. She has toured Europe for the past ten years and has performed at venues including the Øya Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Reeperbahn and WOMEX. Since 2023, she has performed several times with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Her second album Ruhttuo (2022) with producers Arnljot Nordvik and Christo Stangness cemented her reputation for not taking the beaten track, but instead forging her own path.

Compared to the Fourth Symphony, Sibelius's Fifth Symphony is colorful and vibrant, heroic and accessible. But equally it required more work than the brooding and introverted four. No other work caused him so much trouble. "Walked in the cold spring sun. Had a violent impression of Symphony No. 5. The new one!" "Saw today (April 21, 1915) ten before eleven 16 swans. One of the greatest impressions of my life! ... The sound of the same woodwind type as the cranes, but without tremolo. The swans are closer to the trumpet although the sarrusophone sound is clear. Nature mystery and life's woe! The fifth symphony's final theme." The first movement consists of two parts. The first of these begins with a true pastoral idyll, with signal horn motifs and responding woodwinds. Throughout this part the experience of nature is strong, but in the second part of the movement the music takes on a more scherzo-like character. In the slow movement, the idyllic returns, this time with a graceful, almost rococo elegance. "In the background wander the ever-changing cloud formations of the clarinets, bassoons and horns." The finale's main theme shines through an impressionistic shimmer of strings, which contrasts with the swan theme of the trumpets. And then the doomed, severely isolated chords that end this architectural masterpiece. STIG JACOBSSON

Written towards the end of 2020, ‘Be Still’ is a reflective piece on the year gone by. In a year where lockdowns became a thing, the idea of time became more apparent to me as everyday markers, such as meeting with friends and family, travelling or attending concerts vanished. Whilst writing ‘Be Still’ the opening lines of TS Eliot's Burnt Norton, the first of his Four Quartets, came to mind: “Time present and time past/ Are both perhaps present in time future/And time Future contained in time past/ If all time is eternally present/ All time is unredeemable”. And as I look back at the year and attempt to fix in my mind events, they slither away from my grasp – like clouds passing by in the sky. Daniel Kidane

Philip Glass is often mentioned in the same breath as Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Glass' minimalism, however, can be said to represent a completely different direction than that taken by Reich or Riley, but in history books we often find them on the same page. Today, Glass is probably best known for his film music, where several of his soundtracks have been nominated for Oscars, such as the cello music for The Hours. String Quartet No. 3 was written for Paul Schrader's acclaimed film Mishisma – a Life in Four Chapters in 1985. The controversial Japanese author Yukio Mishima developed his own form of nationalism and cultural conservatism.

Niäguoh (Dreams)

Hanna Kendall (f 1984) Weeron Weeron, for solo cuffed violin Hannah Kendall is from London and composed this solo piece for Pekka Kuusisto. It was premiered in Helsinki in 2022. The title means "My God, my God" and comes from Martin Carter's poem of the same name, written in 1954 as part of his collection Poems of Resistance from British Guyana. All the strings of the violin are tied together with aluminum dreadlock cuffs; accessories that distort the sound of the instrument, making the pitch unstable, unpredictable and changing from performance to performance. A new Creole-style instrument is formed.

Maadter-aahka (Great-grandmother)

Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür began his career in a rock band influenced by Frank Zappa, Yes and Genesis. He is the creator of eight symphonies, several instrumental concertos, many chamber music pieces and an opera. During his career, Tüür has tested most compositional techniques to demonstrate and combine musical opposites - tonality and atonality, repeating rhythms and complex rhythms, meditative calm and theatrical explosiveness. Action-Passion-Illusion is a three-part work for string orchestra from 1994.

Ij gåssieke (Never, never)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß (transcript by Max Reger) The chorale "O man, weep for your great sin" is found in the final version of the St. Matthew Passion. Bach took the melody itself from an older hymn and added text by the hymn writer Sebald Heyden. In both orchestra and choir, Bach exposes man and his shortcomings. Where we have transgressed our powers, we have shown not strength, but weakness. Where we hurt our neighbor, we also hurt ourselves. In a chorale further on, forgiveness awaits: "I do not deny my sin, but your grace and mercy are much greater." Like Bach, the composer Max Reger was based in Leipzig. Here he has taken Bach's hymn and transformed it into slow strings, as humble as human voices.

Dállie (Now)

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. Season 2025-2026, Kuusisto led three distinctive programmes with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Ava Bahari, Andreas Brantelid and Katarina Barruk. He continued his work with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presenting the renowned DSCH project, and took the stage as both conductor and soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic, including a tour across Germany and Austria. He guest conducted Oslo Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with New Zealand and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, and with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he appeared with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in a New Year’s programme with Joana Mallwitz. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. In 2026, Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra collaborated on the album Willows. The soundtrack of animated series Moominvalley composed by Kuusisto, Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari was released in January 2025. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

Katarina Barruk is one of the Nordic countries' most highly regarded Sámi artists. She grew up in Lusspie (Storuman) and Gajhrege (Gardfjäll). She delivers a powerful yet deeply down-to-earth blend of pop music, traditional yoik and improvisational elements. She has toured Europe for the past ten years and has performed at venues including the Øya Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Reeperbahn and WOMEX. Since 2023, she has performed several times with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Her second album Ruhttuo (2022) with producers Arnljot Nordvik and Christo Stangness cemented her reputation for not taking the beaten track, but instead forging her own path.

At the very first performance of the German composer Max Bruch’s final version in 1868, the audience embraced the work at once. Bruch’s thoughtful approach to instrumentation allows both soloist and orchestra to shine – their interplay flows with melodic richness and expressive warmth. Like Felix Mendelssohn, Max Bruch was a musical prodigy. He wrote his first symphony and a string quartet at the age of fourteen. Yet it must have been a strange fate for a composer whose works were widely performed and admired to be celebrated, for the rest of his long life, almost exclusively for a single piece: the Violin Concerto in G minor. The world’s great violinists adored it, the public adored it, but Bruch eventually grew weary of players who wanted to perform only that concerto. Unfortunately, he had sold the rights to his publisher early on, meaning he received no income from the immense number of performances during his lifetime. Bruch described the first movement as a prelude – a long one – which leads almost imperceptibly into the second movement. Like Mendelssohn, he lets the soloist enter swiftly rather than opening with the full orchestra. Here, inspired melodies unfold in dialogue with the orchestra, interrupted by two brief solo cadenzas. The violin begins the adagio with a nostalgic, heartfelt line, later followed by brilliant solo writing that avoids any hint of undue sentimentality. A short pause leads into an energetic allegro, where a Hungarian-inspired dance takes command, complete with virtuosic solo passages and a romantic theme that captivates and seduces.

Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche is one of the great masterpieces of the orchestral repertoire. Until this point the composer had been known as a scholarly and rather serious young master, but after the premiere of Till in Cologne on 5 November 1895, it became clear that he also possessed a sparkling sense of humour. Formally the work resembles a rondo, inviting us to follow the various escapades of the title character. Till Eulenspiegel, a famous trickster who had appeared in literature since the Middle Ages, is introduced in unmistakably fairy-tale fashion: the violins begin the piece with a dreamy phrase that seems to sing, “Once upon a time...”. We then encounter Till as an itinerant preacher, see him fall in love, watch as he is brought to trial and sentenced to death, and finally witness his hanging. No name was inscribed on his gravestone, but an image of an owl and a mirror got to illustrate an old proverb: “Man sees his own faults as little as an owl recognizes his ugliness in looking into a mirror.” Hence the name Eulenspiegel (The Owl’s Mirror).

Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) The word enigma (riddle) says something about one of English music's most notorious orchestral suites. Part of the puzzle can be found in the subtitles of the different variation sets (14 in number) where name initials are preferably written. These recall various people who had a tangible impact on Elgar. From his wife, a musician, to close friends. Not infrequently their names form the melodic and even rhythmic variations which the original theme undergoes, but more clearly they are found in the temperament of the movements and sonorous execution of the characteristic of his friends. In everything from almost didactic interpretations, such as the sixth movement's play with string changes, which recalls one of his viola adepts' struggle with this very thing, or as in the most beloved ninth movement ("Nimrod"), where the conversations with Elgar's publisher shine through through the numerous musical references to Beethoven. The second riddle of the Enigma Variations remains unsolved to this day. It is said that there is a red thread hidden through the variations, identified by some as a melody, by others as an element of form, but we probably do best not to look too closely, but to do as Elgar emphasized already at the premiere: "but the work can be listened to to as a 'piece of music' free of any extra-musical references.” It is in the sound that the music has survived the centuries, the enigma is probably ultimately woven into a creative process that has long since ended. ESAIAS JÄRNEGARD

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is musical director of the Orchestre National de Lyon since 2020. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with world leading orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. After a successful debut as conductor of The Magic Flute at the Dresden Semperoper, Znaider was immediately invited back to conduct Der Rosenkavalier in the fall of 2019. He has also conducted the Royal Danish Opera and the Zurich Opera House. Nikolaj Znaider continues his career as a prominent violinist with concerts and recitals. In recent seasons, he has performed with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic as well as the Chicago Symphony and the Singapore Symphony, where he has also combined both playing and conducting. He has also returned to London's Wigmore Hall, for performances with pianist and long-time collaborator Saleem Ashkar. Znaider is passionate about supporting the next generation of musical talent and is the chairman of the Nielsen Competition, which takes place every three years in Odense, Denmark. He plays a Kreisler Guarnerius del Gesu from 1741, which he has received on generous loan from the VELUX Foundations, the Villum Foundation and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.

At the very first performance of the German composer Max Bruch’s final version in 1868, the audience embraced the work at once. Bruch’s thoughtful approach to instrumentation allows both soloist and orchestra to shine – their interplay flows with melodic richness and expressive warmth. Like Felix Mendelssohn, Max Bruch was a musical prodigy. He wrote his first symphony and a string quartet at the age of fourteen. Yet it must have been a strange fate for a composer whose works were widely performed and admired to be celebrated, for the rest of his long life, almost exclusively for a single piece: the Violin Concerto in G minor. The world’s great violinists adored it, the public adored it, but Bruch eventually grew weary of players who wanted to perform only that concerto. Unfortunately, he had sold the rights to his publisher early on, meaning he received no income from the immense number of performances during his lifetime. Bruch described the first movement as a prelude – a long one – which leads almost imperceptibly into the second movement. Like Mendelssohn, he lets the soloist enter swiftly rather than opening with the full orchestra. Here, inspired melodies unfold in dialogue with the orchestra, interrupted by two brief solo cadenzas. The violin begins the adagio with a nostalgic, heartfelt line, later followed by brilliant solo writing that avoids any hint of undue sentimentality. A short pause leads into an energetic allegro, where a Hungarian-inspired dance takes command, complete with virtuosic solo passages and a romantic theme that captivates and seduces.

Richard Strauss’s symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche is one of the great masterpieces of the orchestral repertoire. Until this point the composer had been known as a scholarly and rather serious young master, but after the premiere of Till in Cologne on 5 November 1895, it became clear that he also possessed a sparkling sense of humour. Formally the work resembles a rondo, inviting us to follow the various escapades of the title character. Till Eulenspiegel, a famous trickster who had appeared in literature since the Middle Ages, is introduced in unmistakably fairy-tale fashion: the violins begin the piece with a dreamy phrase that seems to sing, “Once upon a time...”. We then encounter Till as an itinerant preacher, see him fall in love, watch as he is brought to trial and sentenced to death, and finally witness his hanging. No name was inscribed on his gravestone, but an image of an owl and a mirror got to illustrate an old proverb: “Man sees his own faults as little as an owl recognizes his ugliness in looking into a mirror.” Hence the name Eulenspiegel (The Owl’s Mirror).

Edward Elgar (1857 – 1934) Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma) The word enigma (riddle) says something about one of English music's most notorious orchestral suites. Part of the puzzle can be found in the subtitles of the different variation sets (14 in number) where name initials are preferably written. These recall various people who had a tangible impact on Elgar. From his wife, a musician, to close friends. Not infrequently their names form the melodic and even rhythmic variations which the original theme undergoes, but more clearly they are found in the temperament of the movements and sonorous execution of the characteristic of his friends. In everything from almost didactic interpretations, such as the sixth movement's play with string changes, which recalls one of his viola adepts' struggle with this very thing, or as in the most beloved ninth movement ("Nimrod"), where the conversations with Elgar's publisher shine through through the numerous musical references to Beethoven. The second riddle of the Enigma Variations remains unsolved to this day. It is said that there is a red thread hidden through the variations, identified by some as a melody, by others as an element of form, but we probably do best not to look too closely, but to do as Elgar emphasized already at the premiere: "but the work can be listened to to as a 'piece of music' free of any extra-musical references.” It is in the sound that the music has survived the centuries, the enigma is probably ultimately woven into a creative process that has long since ended. ESAIAS JÄRNEGARD

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider is musical director of the Orchestre National de Lyon since 2020. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with world leading orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the NDR Elbphilharmonie, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. After a successful debut as conductor of The Magic Flute at the Dresden Semperoper, Znaider was immediately invited back to conduct Der Rosenkavalier in the fall of 2019. He has also conducted the Royal Danish Opera and the Zurich Opera House. Nikolaj Znaider continues his career as a prominent violinist with concerts and recitals. In recent seasons, he has performed with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic as well as the Chicago Symphony and the Singapore Symphony, where he has also combined both playing and conducting. He has also returned to London's Wigmore Hall, for performances with pianist and long-time collaborator Saleem Ashkar. Znaider is passionate about supporting the next generation of musical talent and is the chairman of the Nielsen Competition, which takes place every three years in Odense, Denmark. He plays a Kreisler Guarnerius del Gesu from 1741, which he has received on generous loan from the VELUX Foundations, the Villum Foundation and the Knud Højgaard Foundation.

Beast Sampler was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Sinfonieorchester in Hamburg, and received its premiere in 2014. The work is dedicated to the Royal Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor, Sakari Oramo. A key starting point for Anders Hillborg was to focus more on sound objects than on harmonically based pitch structures. He often refers to the orchestra as a “sound beast”, in which the individual identities of the instruments merge into a single, unified sonority. Samplings from earlier pieces, together with newly created material, form the structural backbone of the work.

Édouard Lalo came from an old Spanish family that had lived in France for several generations. His reputation grew considerably when the great Spanish violinist Pablo Sarasate premiered his Violin Concerto Op. 20 in 1874, followed the next year by Symphonie espagnole – a true stroke of fortune for the 52-year-old composer. Lalo called it a “Spanish symphony”, yet it is essentially a violin concerto in which the soloist is given every opportunity to shine, both through technical brilliance and expressive nuance, while remaining an integral part of the symphonic texture.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphony No. 1, Titan The first symphony was premiered in Budapest with the composer as conductor. The music attracted violent criticism, because this was something that was not expected. Mahler had made a name for himself as a brilliant opera conductor but as a composer he was virtually unknown, and now he came up with an ambitious, stylistically variegated and strangely personal symphony. Few works by Mahler have since undergone so many revisions - right up until 1898. When the first version was found in the 1960s, it was clear that the differences were large. The opening is compelling: it begins with an unforgettable feeling of space and stillness. Perhaps Mahler was thinking of when he was left alone in the forest by his father with the promise not to move until his father returned - and it took many hours. Gradually, thematic fragments emerge: horn calls, trumpet fanfares, birdsong. The second movement was first called "Full Sails" and reflects a longing for nature and lively, Austrian-inspired peasant dances. "Mourning march à la Callot" he called the third movement, and the etching intended by the artist shows the dead hunter being carried on a stretcher by the animals of the forest. It is a parodic picture and a highly parodic piece of music, which is based on the well-known children's song Frère Jacques in an ironic, grotesque and bitter minor version. In the trio part there is another quote from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. The finale is the despair of a wounded heart. He borrowed the title of the movement from Dante: "From inferno to paradise". Music may seem to start in hell, and Mahler was probably a long way to paradise. But he didn't get there yet, he did so only in the second symphony - and it was started immediately after the first.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1902 and Stockholm Concert Hall has been the orchestra's home since 1926. Chief conductor since 2023 is award-winning American Ryan Bancroft. Among the guest conductors are greats such as Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Herbert Blomstedt, Nathalie Stutzmann, Gianandrea Noseda and honorary conductors Sakari Oramo and Alan Gilbert. Sakari Oramo was the orchestra's chief conductor in the years 2008–2021. Together, over the years, they gained a lot of attention for both recordings and international tours. The German daily Die Welt described the Royal Philharmonic as "one of the world's best orchestras". The Royal Philharmonic has received a lot of attention for its recordings. Among these can be mentioned Carl Nielsen's six symphonies on three CDs (BIS), which were praised by critics worldwide and the CD with symphonies no. 1 and 3 was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Award for best classical orchestral production. Two CDs with recordings of Anders Hillborg's music have both been awarded Grammis, and they have also released a CD with the American star soprano Renée Fleming. The recording of Nielsen's and Sibelius' violin concertos together with Johan Dalene was awarded a Grammis in 2023.

German-born violinist Clara-Jumi Kang made her debut with the Royal Philharmonic in 2021. This season she is their Artist in Residence. uring her career, she has received numerous awards, including first prize at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition 2010, the Sendai Violin Competition and the Seoul Violin Competition. Her Beethoven Violin Sonatas with pianist Sunwook Kim, released on Accentus 2021, received outstanding reviews. Highlights of recent years include festival appearances at the BBC Proms, the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and her debut at the Salzburg Festival. She has made her debut with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Daniel Harding, and returned to the Munich Philharmonic and the Rotterdam Philharmonic with Chief Conductor Lahav Shani. She also made her debut with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Zubin Mehta on tour in China and Europe. Clara-Jumi Kang was born in Germany and at the age of seven received a scholarship to the Julliard School in New York.

Japanese Spring is a song cycle from 1957 by the Norwegian composer Ludvig Irgens-Jensen. Highly educated and fluent in several languages, Irgens-Jensen kept a close eye on emerging trends in classical music. In his youth he was drawn to French impressionism. Over time his musical voice moved towards the German late-Romantic tradition. The texts of Japanese Spring stem from a collection of Japanese poems spanning a millennium. They were interpreted by Hans Bethge, the same writer who translated the Chinese poems Gustav Mahler used in Das Lied von der Erde. The cycle first appeared in print in 1920, in a version with piano accompaniment released at Irgens-Jensen’s debut. On that occasion the songs attracted little notice. In the 1950s he decided to rework them for orchestra. With clear, shimmering orchestration, the melodies suddenly revealed new shades of colour. Since then the work has become his most celebrated composition.

Mahler’s Fourth Symphony marked a fresh direction in his symphonic writing. It is more concise than Symphony 2 and 3, and the orchestral forces are noticeably reduced. Gone, too, are the programmatic headings Mahler had previously used for each movement, even though he initially worked from a sketch of guiding ideas. The result is often described as a “happier” and more “playful” symphony, almost chamber-like at times, alive with melodies and dance rhythms. Echoes of the Viennese Classics – Haydn above all – mingle with Austrian Ländler and lilting waltz motifs. The symphony traces a disquieting journey from earthly life towards a heavenly existence beyond death. In the opening movement, sleigh bells and paradisiacal motifs appear alongside march rhythms and a touch of Viennese charm in the strings and winds. The second movement, a scherzo, introduces a ghostly dance of death through a violin solo played with the strings tuned a whole tone higher than usual. Mahler wanted it to sound “like a fiddler – friend Hein (a medieval name for Death) striking up a tune!” The winds add to the eerie atmosphere with unsettling waltz rhythms. Then comes the third movement, Ruhevoll: a serene and deeply moving set of variations. Mahler described it as containing “divinely joyful and profoundly sorrowful melodies”. It is an adagio in the truest Mahlerian sense. Near the end a powerful orchestral outburst dissolves into “heavenly” sonorities in the strings and harp. The gates of paradise begin to open. “When humankind, now filled with wonder, asks what all this means, the child answers with the fourth movement: This is heavenly life!” the composer explained. And this heavenly life is brimming with joy, song, dance, music-making – and above all food and drink. The text of the finale comes from the folk poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, “Das himmlische Leben”, and is set for soprano.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Renowned Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund is known for her charisma and inspiring style. She took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the 2024-2025 season, and in 2025 she became Principal Guest Conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie. She was previously Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of last season included debuts with the Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Lahti Symphony Orchestra. In her first weeks with the Detroit Symphony Orchestras, she gave the American premiere of Anna Clyne's violin concerto Time and Tides with Pekka Kuusisto. She made her Asian debut with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, a debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, a European tour with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, and returned to the Dresdner Philharmonie, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Orchestre national de Lyon, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. In December 2024, she conducted the Norwegian National Ballet in The Nutcracker. Tabita Berglund collaborates with internationally renowned soloists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leila Josefowicz, Truls Mørk, Pekka Kuusisto, Cédric Tiberghien, Alexander Malofeev, Camilla Tilling and the Jussen brothers. She graduated in 2019 in orchestral conducting from the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied under Professor Ole Kristian Ruud. She originally trained as a cellist and studied to master's level under Truls Mørk. She made her conducting debut with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2024 with music by Helen Grime and Sibelius 7th.

This season Ida Falk Winland has made her role debut as Madame Butterfly at the Gothenburg Opera. She has also visited the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where she sang the role of Helene in Kasper Holten's production of Manfred Trojahn's Orest. The previous season, she appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Gothenburg Opera and as Violetta in La Traviata at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Ida Falk Winland has been associated with the Gothenburg Opera since 2014. Here she has sung Gilda in Rigoletto, Mimì in La Bohème, Ilia in Idomeneo, Adalgisa in Norma, Morgana in Alcina, Cleopatra in Julius Caesar, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, The Countess and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Nedda in Pajazzo and Beate Bella Bravura in Julglitter och Operakaos. Ida Falk Winland has guested at the Glyndebourne Festival in the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. She has also performed Così fan tutte at the Opéra National de Paris, The Magic Flute and Xerxes at the Royal Swedish Opera and Peter Grimes at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She has also appeared at the Helsinki Festival, Opéra National de Lorraine, Covent Garden and at the Internationale Händel–Festspiele in Göttingen. In 2018, Ida Falk Winland was winner of the Opera Prize for her performance as Adalgisa in the Gothenburg Opera's production of Norma, an award voted for by the readers of the magazine Opera. She is educated at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio in London.

The young Norwegian composer arrived in Leipzig in 1863 and was thrown straight into one of Europe's most vital musical environments. At the conservatory, where Edvard Grieg and later Amanda Maier also studied, it was especially in the composition classes that Svendsen's talent shone brightest, this at a time when Leipzig still represented the classical tradition after Mendelssohn and Schumann. Leipzig also gave Svendsen a Nordic self-confidence. In the German environment, his melodies, colored by Norwegian folk tones, became something exotic and sought after. Symphony No. 2 in B flat major (1876) is one of the most vital and brilliantly orchestrated works of Nordic Romanticism. The symphony was written in Oslo, or Kristiania as the city was then called, during a period when Svendsen was also an active conductor and teacher. The style is reminiscent of that developed by Schumann. The melodic ideas are woven tightly together and the movements are tied together by recurring motifs into a poetic whole. The melodies also bear traces of Schumann's dreamy and melancholic phrases, as in the singing strings of the second movement – but with soft Scandinavian lyricism.

In 1844, Robert Schumann had his first serious nervous breakdown, which was followed by several others. The family moved to the quieter Dresden. The Second Symphony became a kind of recovery project. Unusually, all four movements are written in C major or C minor. This can create problems. But Schumann skillfully avoids the work becoming static and harmonically monotonous by inserting contrasting elements - different rhythms, tempi and short key changes within each movement. The first movement begins with the trumpets playing a chorale-like fanfare over the strings. That fanfare returns in the brass in the second movement and also concludes the entire symphony. Like Beethoven, Schumann puts the fast scherzo movement in second place - an incredibly virtuoso perpetuum mobile in the strings and two slower trio sections with woodwinds. A funny two-note motif is repeated through almost the entire movement like an encouraging mantra. The Adagio movement is truly the symphony's emotional center, like a long, melancholic opera aria with poignant solos in the woodwinds. Schumann is said to have been so moved while writing it that he had to take a long break before tackling the joyful, grand final movement which, in addition to robust, march-like elements, uses a simple theme in solo oboe from Beethoven's song An die ferne Geliebte. It was Schumann's tribute to his wife Clara.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the RTVE, Spanish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2024. He is also Honorary Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic. From 2016 to 2022 he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and from 1997 to 2019 Chief Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in Örebro. 2014-2022 he worked at the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He has been awarded the Knight's Cross of Denmark and has been appointed an honorary doctor at Örebro University. Recent successes include returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan; the Brussels, Helsinki and Dresden Philharmonics; the Bamberg, Lucerne and Valencia Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. He has also made his debuts with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the Brucknerhaus Orchester Linz. As a guest conductor, Dausgaard has worked extensively with most of the world's leading orchestras in Europe and the United States. He regularly appears at prestigious festivals worldwide and had a residency in Tokyo in 2019, where he presented the BBC Proms in Japan for the first time. Dausgaard studied piano and composition from an early age with a former student of Carl Nielsen. His international conducting career took off when he was appointed assistant conductor to Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has visited Gothenburg several times with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and was touring with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 1998.

Emelie Mayer became a household name in Berlin, both for her compositions and sculptures, which were another art form she mastered. Her first two symphonies were both premiered in Stettin and her success was even greater in Berlin. There her music was mainly played in private homes, but in 1850 a public concert was given at the Royal Theater with exclusively Emelie Mayer's compositions. She became popular with both critics and audiences and followed her works to the cities where they were performed; Cologne, Munich, Lyon, Brussels and Vienna. As a composer, she was versatile and productive. Eight symphonies, 15 concert overtures, a lot of music for piano, voice, violin, etc. She worked hard but also enjoyed helping others, for example by giving composition lessons to other women.

Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro The first sketches for the Third Piano Concerto can be dated to 1797, when Beethoven was greatly inspired by listening to a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in the same key. The handwritten manuscript is dated 1800, but he continued to refine the design until early 1803. The first performance of the Third Piano Concerto took place on 5 April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien. A newspaper article states that Beethoven did not receive a particularly long applause, even though he had gathered all his most devoted admirers for the evening. The reason is that he was already beginning to be regarded as a strange scoundrel. Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries reported that Beethoven played the solo part in the Piano Concerto in good spirits, but that many notes "fell under the table". When it came to the composition itself, however, Ries believed that no composer he knew even came close to the master - and we are still willing to agree today. Despite its serious key, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto is not a grand and tragic drama, unlike his other works in C minor (for example, Symphony No. 5, the Symphony of Fate). On the contrary, this concerto has a classically clear structure. The largo in particular is transparently simple and butterfly-like. The outward-looking final rondo, on the other hand, is more concerned with sharp shifts between both emotions and keys.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphony No. 1, Titan The first symphony was premiered in Budapest with the composer as conductor. The music attracted violent criticism, because this was something that was not expected. Mahler had made a name for himself as a brilliant opera conductor but as a composer he was virtually unknown, and now he came up with an ambitious, stylistically variegated and strangely personal symphony. Few works by Mahler have since undergone so many revisions - right up until 1898. When the first version was found in the 1960s, it was clear that the differences were large. The opening is compelling: it begins with an unforgettable feeling of space and stillness. Perhaps Mahler was thinking of when he was left alone in the forest by his father with the promise not to move until his father returned - and it took many hours. Gradually, thematic fragments emerge: horn calls, trumpet fanfares, birdsong. The second movement was first called "Full Sails" and reflects a longing for nature and lively, Austrian-inspired peasant dances. "Mourning march à la Callot" he called the third movement, and the etching intended by the artist shows the dead hunter being carried on a stretcher by the animals of the forest. It is a parodic picture and a highly parodic piece of music, which is based on the well-known children's song Frère Jacques in an ironic, grotesque and bitter minor version. In the trio part there is another quote from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. The finale is the despair of a wounded heart. He borrowed the title of the movement from Dante: "From inferno to paradise". Music may seem to start in hell, and Mahler was probably a long way to paradise. But he didn't get there yet, he did so only in the second symphony - and it was started immediately after the first.

Jurjen Hempel made his highly acclaimed debut in 1997 with Rotterdam Philharmonic. Recent engagements have been with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra, BBC SO London, BBC SSO Glasgow, BBC NOW Cardiff, Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin. He also has been twice guest conductor with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. After a successful production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Opéra de Toulon appointed him as Music Director starting 2018. He studied conducting with David Porcelijn and Kenneth Montgomery at the Utrecht Conservatorium. On invitation of Seiji Ozawa he studied as a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he worked with Bernard Haitink and Lorin Maazel. As finalist and prize-winner at the Sibelius Conducting Competition he received many invitations from Finnish Orchestras.

It is not known exactly when Valborg Aulin wrote Pie Jesu Domine. The work for choir and orchestra is dedicated to Ludvig Norman, who was her teacher, mentor and main supporter during her time at the Stockholm Conservatory of Music. He died at the end of March 1885. Shortly afterwards, Aulin was awarded the Jenny Lind scholarship and went abroad to continue her studies in Copenhagen and Paris. She probably wrote Pie Jesu Domine sometime during this time. As far as we know, it was never performed in connection with Norman’s death. The text of this solemn little mass consists of the Latin phrase “Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam. Amen”, (“Dear Lord Jesus, grant them eternal peace. Amen”). The music consists of only one part with a syncopated figure in the strings that adapts to the changes in harmony. The choir sings long notes, at first in weak dynamics. They then increase in strength and become more rhythmic until the work’s climax in forte. It is a lament that finally ends on a positive note – in major.

Early in his career, the young Lars-Erik Larsson traveled to Vienna to learn twelve-tone music. But it was as a civil servant at Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio) that he blossomed as a composer. He was hired in 1937 and that same year also saw the start of Dagens Dikt, a program accompanied by Larsson's music. With works such as Pastoral Suite and Förklädd gud, which were included in other radio programs, Lars-Erik Larsson became one of Sweden's greatest and most beloved composers of the 20th century. The text for the lyrical suite Förklädd gud is taken from the poems of Love in 21st Century by Hjalmar Gullberg (1933), also from Skåne and one of the radio's employees. The music, written for reciter, soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra, moves between pastoral sounds, Nordic folk tones and neoclassicism. Larsson lets the choir's soft harmonies carry Gullberg's humanistic message while the soloists give the story both intimacy and brilliance. When Förklädd gud was first performed on the radio in 1940, a world war was raging on the continent. In a time of deep unrest, the music became a quiet respite of hope. The entire work breathes the same idea: that the divine is found in the simple and everyday life. Gods still walk this earth. One of them may be sitting at your table.

Denmark's national composer began work on his third symphony in 1910. He was in an explosive creative phase, possibly triggered by a marriage in crisis, with underlying frustration and guilt. The symphony is one of his most life-affirming works. Around the same time, Nielsen developed close ties to Gothenburg. Here he conducted several times and found an artistic soulmate in the Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor Wilhelm Stenhammar. The two shared both aesthetics and ideals: music that speaks directly, organically and freely – unbound by the heavy veils of romanticism. Sinfonia Espansiva begins forcefully with several unison orchestral thrusts, as if Nielsen wants to open the gates to a new room, where pent-up energy can swirl freely. The music with a driving motoric quality, especially in the strings – constantly in motion, constantly on the move – is reflected in the concluding fourth movement, but is then less heroic and more dance-like and playful. Drive and melody that constantly expands, that is what Nielsen might think of as the meaning of his invented word espansiva. The slow second movement is the heart of the work – a lyrical idyll where two voices, soprano and baritone, emerge in wordless dialogue. What do the voices want to convey to each other? Probably love and happiness.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

The choir was founded in 1917 by cousins Elsa and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Elsa Stenhammar was one of the driving forces in turn-of-the-century choir life in Gothenburg and became the choir's first rehearser. On December 8, 1917, the choir debuted in Beethoven's Choir Fantasy with Wilhelm Stenhammar as soloist at the grand piano. As the country's oldest symphonic choir, they were able to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017 with a big celebratory concert where Mozart and Brahms as well as Stenhammar, Elfrida Andrée and Björn & Benny were on the program. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir is a non-profit association that is linked to the Gothenburg Symphony. The choir participates in concerts and performances under both the orchestra's and its own auspices. The music is mixed and the repertoire extensive. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir has participated in concerts in, among other places, the Royal Albert Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England, as well as participated with the Gothenburg Symphony in the annual music festival in the Canary Islands and on a tour to China.

The Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble (GSVE) was formed in 2016 and consists of 12 professional singers. The ensemble works both as part of the Gothenburg Symphony Choir in major symphonic works performed together with the Gothenburg Symphony, and as an independent ensemble under the direction of Katie Thomas. GSVE is a group of experienced and versatile singers, who perform varied programs and explore a wide repertoire, from medieval music to newly commissioned works. The ensemble has previously collaborated with, among others, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Barockakademin Göteborgs Symfoniker and performs regular vocal programs both in Gothenburg's Concert Hall and around the Västra Götaland region.

Swedish conductor Johannes Gustavsson works regularly with all major Nordic orchestras, being in demand as an interpreter of extensive symphonic and operatic repertoire. He established close relationships with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Swedish Opera, and the Gothenburg Opera. The soloists he often performs with include Janine Jansen, Peter Jablonski, Martin Fröst, Nina Stemme, Vikingur Olafsson, Olli Mustonen, Isbelle van Keulen, Torleif Thedeen, Guy Braunstein, and many others. He has a over 20 year partnership with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, which to date includes almost 40 concerts and countless days in the recording studio. He has held senior conducting posts at the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Västerås Sinfonietta, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, and was chief conductor at the Wermland Opera and at the Oulu Symphony Orchestra until 2021. As a champion of new music, he is dedicated to ensuring that works of his contemporaries are heard in concert halls, and to date he has premiered over 50 orchestral works written in the 21st century. Since 2023 he is Artistic director of Jönköping's Sinfonietta. His recordings includes world premiere of Valborg Aulin’s Tableaux Parisiens for Nilento Records, and Anders Eliasson’s Double Concerto and Sinfonia per Archi with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the CPO label. He has recorded for Dacapo with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, for Ondine with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (works by Jón Nordal) andthe Oulu Symphony Orchestra (works by Uuno Klami and Einar Englung), to name a few. He was prizewinner at the Solti Conducting Competition in Frankfurt and the Toscanini Competition in Parma, and the first artist to be awarded both the Swedish Conductor’s Prize and the Herbert Blomstedt Award. Originally trained as a violist, his strong passion for conducting led him to study conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Ole Kristian Ruud and Olav Anton Thommessen, and with the great Finnish conductor Jorma Panula.

Soprano Kathrin Lorenzen was the 2024 winner of the Soloist Prize awarded by the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, the first singer in 16 years to be awarded 1st prize. In 2023 she won 1st prize in the International Telemann Competition and in 2024 2nd prize in the Mirjam Helin International Voice Competition. Kathrin Lorenzen was born in Flensburg, Germany in 1994 and began church music studies at HMT Leipzig. After further organ and vocal studies at HfM Saar, she moved to Stockholm in 2021 for employment in the Swedish Radio choir. She has studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm under professor Bo Rosenkull. She has a strong passion for chamber music and collaborates, among other things, with pianist Oskar Ekberg.

Arvid Eriksson is a sought-after baritone on the concert stage. He has appeared with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon in Mozart's Mass in C minor under Ton Koopman, and made his debut with the Gothenburg Symphony in Haydn's Creation in 2024. He also participated in the prestigious Lieder concert series at the Stockholm Concert Hall, and made his debut with the Royal Philharmonic in 2025. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm in 2021. He also has a degree in church music and has been a member of the ensemble Göteborg Baroque. His extensive concert repertoire includes all of Bach's major choral works such as the St. John Passion and the Christmas Oratorio and several cantatas; Handel's Messiah; Haydn's Stabat Mater; and requiems by Brahms, Mozart, Fauré and Duruflé. He has also performed works by Beethoven, Britten, Monteverdi, Roman, Larsson and many others.

Tomas von Brömssen is one of our most popular actors. He has been a prominent figure on the Gothenburg theatre scene since the 1970s and is known from countless film and television productions. Through television series such as Albert & Herbert and Saltön, he has won a place in the hearts of the Swedish people. In 1995 he received a Guldbagge for his role in Bo Widerberg's Lust och fägring stor. In the same year he was named Gothenburger of the Year. Tomas von Brömssen is also a musician, including in the orchestra Majornas Tredje Rote. At Gothenburg City Theatre he has appeared in Påklädaren, Pygmalion and Karl Gerhard, and in Gisslan 1994 at Backa Teater, all directed by Eva Bergman. In 2022 he had great success with the performance Kontrabasen.

It is not known exactly when Valborg Aulin wrote Pie Jesu Domine. The work for choir and orchestra is dedicated to Ludvig Norman, who was her teacher, mentor and main supporter during her time at the Stockholm Conservatory of Music. He died at the end of March 1885. Shortly afterwards, Aulin was awarded the Jenny Lind scholarship and went abroad to continue her studies in Copenhagen and Paris. She probably wrote Pie Jesu Domine sometime during this time. As far as we know, it was never performed in connection with Norman’s death. The text of this solemn little mass consists of the Latin phrase “Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam. Amen”, (“Dear Lord Jesus, grant them eternal peace. Amen”). The music consists of only one part with a syncopated figure in the strings that adapts to the changes in harmony. The choir sings long notes, at first in weak dynamics. They then increase in strength and become more rhythmic until the work’s climax in forte. It is a lament that finally ends on a positive note – in major.

Early in his career, the young Lars-Erik Larsson traveled to Vienna to learn twelve-tone music. But it was as a civil servant at Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio) that he blossomed as a composer. He was hired in 1937 and that same year also saw the start of Dagens Dikt, a program accompanied by Larsson's music. With works such as Pastoral Suite and Förklädd gud, which were included in other radio programs, Lars-Erik Larsson became one of Sweden's greatest and most beloved composers of the 20th century. The text for the lyrical suite Förklädd gud is taken from the poems of Love in 21st Century by Hjalmar Gullberg (1933), also from Skåne and one of the radio's employees. The music, written for reciter, soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra, moves between pastoral sounds, Nordic folk tones and neoclassicism. Larsson lets the choir's soft harmonies carry Gullberg's humanistic message while the soloists give the story both intimacy and brilliance. When Förklädd gud was first performed on the radio in 1940, a world war was raging on the continent. In a time of deep unrest, the music became a quiet respite of hope. The entire work breathes the same idea: that the divine is found in the simple and everyday life. Gods still walk this earth. One of them may be sitting at your table.

Denmark's national composer began work on his third symphony in 1910. He was in an explosive creative phase, possibly triggered by a marriage in crisis, with underlying frustration and guilt. The symphony is one of his most life-affirming works. Around the same time, Nielsen developed close ties to Gothenburg. Here he conducted several times and found an artistic soulmate in the Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor Wilhelm Stenhammar. The two shared both aesthetics and ideals: music that speaks directly, organically and freely – unbound by the heavy veils of romanticism. Sinfonia Espansiva begins forcefully with several unison orchestral thrusts, as if Nielsen wants to open the gates to a new room, where pent-up energy can swirl freely. The music with a driving motoric quality, especially in the strings – constantly in motion, constantly on the move – is reflected in the concluding fourth movement, but is then less heroic and more dance-like and playful. Drive and melody that constantly expands, that is what Nielsen might think of as the meaning of his invented word espansiva. The slow second movement is the heart of the work – a lyrical idyll where two voices, soprano and baritone, emerge in wordless dialogue. What do the voices want to convey to each other? Probably love and happiness.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

The choir was founded in 1917 by cousins Elsa and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Elsa Stenhammar was one of the driving forces in turn-of-the-century choir life in Gothenburg and became the choir's first rehearser. On December 8, 1917, the choir debuted in Beethoven's Choir Fantasy with Wilhelm Stenhammar as soloist at the grand piano. As the country's oldest symphonic choir, they were able to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017 with a big celebratory concert where Mozart and Brahms as well as Stenhammar, Elfrida Andrée and Björn & Benny were on the program. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir is a non-profit association that is linked to the Gothenburg Symphony. The choir participates in concerts and performances under both the orchestra's and its own auspices. The music is mixed and the repertoire extensive. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir has participated in concerts in, among other places, the Royal Albert Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England, as well as participated with the Gothenburg Symphony in the annual music festival in the Canary Islands and on a tour to China.

The Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble (GSVE) was formed in 2016 and consists of 12 professional singers. The ensemble works both as part of the Gothenburg Symphony Choir in major symphonic works performed together with the Gothenburg Symphony, and as an independent ensemble under the direction of Katie Thomas. GSVE is a group of experienced and versatile singers, who perform varied programs and explore a wide repertoire, from medieval music to newly commissioned works. The ensemble has previously collaborated with, among others, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Barockakademin Göteborgs Symfoniker and performs regular vocal programs both in Gothenburg's Concert Hall and around the Västra Götaland region.

Swedish conductor Johannes Gustavsson works regularly with all major Nordic orchestras, being in demand as an interpreter of extensive symphonic and operatic repertoire. He established close relationships with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Swedish Opera, and the Gothenburg Opera. The soloists he often performs with include Janine Jansen, Peter Jablonski, Martin Fröst, Nina Stemme, Vikingur Olafsson, Olli Mustonen, Isbelle van Keulen, Torleif Thedeen, Guy Braunstein, and many others. He has a over 20 year partnership with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, which to date includes almost 40 concerts and countless days in the recording studio. He has held senior conducting posts at the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Västerås Sinfonietta, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, and was chief conductor at the Wermland Opera and at the Oulu Symphony Orchestra until 2021. As a champion of new music, he is dedicated to ensuring that works of his contemporaries are heard in concert halls, and to date he has premiered over 50 orchestral works written in the 21st century. Since 2023 he is Artistic director of Jönköping's Sinfonietta. His recordings includes world premiere of Valborg Aulin’s Tableaux Parisiens for Nilento Records, and Anders Eliasson’s Double Concerto and Sinfonia per Archi with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for the CPO label. He has recorded for Dacapo with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, for Ondine with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (works by Jón Nordal) andthe Oulu Symphony Orchestra (works by Uuno Klami and Einar Englung), to name a few. He was prizewinner at the Solti Conducting Competition in Frankfurt and the Toscanini Competition in Parma, and the first artist to be awarded both the Swedish Conductor’s Prize and the Herbert Blomstedt Award. Originally trained as a violist, his strong passion for conducting led him to study conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Ole Kristian Ruud and Olav Anton Thommessen, and with the great Finnish conductor Jorma Panula.

Arvid Eriksson is a sought-after baritone on the concert stage. He has appeared with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon in Mozart's Mass in C minor under Ton Koopman, and made his debut with the Gothenburg Symphony in Haydn's Creation in 2024. He also participated in the prestigious Lieder concert series at the Stockholm Concert Hall, and made his debut with the Royal Philharmonic in 2025. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm in 2021. He also has a degree in church music and has been a member of the ensemble Göteborg Baroque. His extensive concert repertoire includes all of Bach's major choral works such as the St. John Passion and the Christmas Oratorio and several cantatas; Handel's Messiah; Haydn's Stabat Mater; and requiems by Brahms, Mozart, Fauré and Duruflé. He has also performed works by Beethoven, Britten, Monteverdi, Roman, Larsson and many others.

Soprano Kathrin Lorenzen was the 2024 winner of the Soloist Prize awarded by the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, the first singer in 16 years to be awarded 1st prize. In 2023 she won 1st prize in the International Telemann Competition and in 2024 2nd prize in the Mirjam Helin International Voice Competition. Kathrin Lorenzen was born in Flensburg, Germany in 1994 and began church music studies at HMT Leipzig. After further organ and vocal studies at HfM Saar, she moved to Stockholm in 2021 for employment in the Swedish Radio choir. She has studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm under professor Bo Rosenkull. She has a strong passion for chamber music and collaborates, among other things, with pianist Oskar Ekberg.

Tomas von Brömssen is one of our most popular actors. He has been a prominent figure on the Gothenburg theatre scene since the 1970s and is known from countless film and television productions. Through television series such as Albert & Herbert and Saltön, he has won a place in the hearts of the Swedish people. In 1995 he received a Guldbagge for his role in Bo Widerberg's Lust och fägring stor. In the same year he was named Gothenburger of the Year. Tomas von Brömssen is also a musician, including in the orchestra Majornas Tredje Rote. At Gothenburg City Theatre he has appeared in Påklädaren, Pygmalion and Karl Gerhard, and in Gisslan 1994 at Backa Teater, all directed by Eva Bergman. In 2022 he had great success with the performance Kontrabasen.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faun (transcr J-B. Robin)

The interval of the fourth almost exclusively - from the right hand repeated/sustained chords and the melodic shape of the pedal part at the beginning, to the ‘middle section’ with its right hand parallel fourths and left hand parallel 5ths (inverted fourths!) and later fourths stacked on top of each other. Commissioned by Symphony Hall Birmingham and written for Thomas Trotter to whom I am extremely grateful for his suggestions as to hand and foot practicalities and his unilateral decisions on registration. Michael Nyman 2001

Johannes Skoog is Royal Court Organist in Stockholm since the spring of 2025. In 2024 he won first prize and the Bach Prize at the prestigious International Organ Competition in Canada. Johannes Skoog has performed solo concerts in venues such as the Bozar Concert Hall in Brussels, the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and Stockholm City Hall. He holds degrees from the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris in France and the Music Academy in Stuttgart. His teachers include Olivier Latry, Nathan Laube, Louis Robilliard, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich and Mathias Kjellgren. He was assistant organist at Västerås Cathedral for five years and currently teaches organ at Lilla Akademien in Stockholm.

Brahms's Violin Sonata in G major, composed at the height of his creative career after completing Symphony No. 1 and the Violin Concerto, is a brilliantly lyrical work with long melodies rather than concise themes. The opening Vivace, considerably slowed by its modifying ma non troppo, has two lyrical themes. The central Adagio is in tripartite form, with a heartfelt main theme full of double and triple registers in the violin. The concluding Allegro molto moderato begins with a direct quotation from Brahms' Regenlied (Rain Song), a melancholic minor-key song recalling the long-gone days of youth.

Brahms's second violin sonata is sometimes called the Thun sonata because it was composed at the Swiss lake, a beloved retreat that Brahms visited for three summers in a row, starting in 1886. Here his inner feelings were released. He wrote the sonata "while waiting for the arrival of a dear friend". The friend in question was the young, beautiful singer Hermine Spies, with whom he had a very intense and noted love affair at the time. This may also be the explanation for why Brahms quotes a couple of his own songs in his bright and charged music, the lyrics of which can be given loving associations.

The last of Brahms' violin sonatas took two years to write and, unlike the two previous violin sonatas, is in four movements. The sonata is dedicated to Brahms' friend and colleague Hans von Bülow and was first performed in Budapest in 1888. In contrast to his lyrical and sunnier works, this sonata has a darker and stormier feel.

Since his debut with the Royal Swedish Philharmonic in 1981, pianist Roland Pöntinen has appeared with major orchestras all over the world, including the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and at the BBC Proms. His repertoire ranges from Bach to Ligeti, with an emphasis on the “golden era” of piano literature with composers such as Debussy, Busoni, Szymanowski and Rachmaninov. He has performed the complete cycles of Beethoven’s sonatas and Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage. Composers such as Sven-Erik Bäck, Veli-Matti Puumala, Anders Eliasson and Anders Hillborg have dedicated works to him, and in 2007 he premiered Shchedrin’s Romantic Duets with the composer at the Verbier Festival. As a chamber musician, Roland Pöntinen has worked with prominent artists such as Barbara Hendricks, Janine Jansen, Nobuko Imai, Peter Mattei, Martin Fröst, Christian Lindberg and Nicolai Gedda. He has played Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsodies with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto with the Orchestre de La Suisse Romande, the Schumann Concerto with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony in 2017 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo. Roland Pöntinen is also active as a composer.

Justyna Jara began playing the violin when she was seven years old. After winning a prize at a competition for young violinists in Gdansk, Poland, she continued her studies in Warsaw with Miroslaw Lawrynowicz. During her studies, she won prizes in several violin competitions. She also recorded Wieniawski's Etudes Caprices Op 10 and 18 for the Acte Préalable record label as a tribute to her teacher. She studied for a year at the Chopin University in Warsaw and then at Juilliard in New York, working with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, often as assistant concertmaster. In 2014, she was appointed second concertmaster of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Camelopardalis was written for the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and premiered in January 2011 during the summer music festival in Cape Town, South Africa. Shortly before I planned to start this commission, I had a very strange and fantastic dream. I dreamed that I had a giraffe. We became the best of friends, the giraffe and I! I jumped on it, and we jumped out of a window and rode away! We rode through forests, over meadows and mountains! On the horizon we saw a big red sun rising (instead of setting) and a flock of colorful birds flying by. When I woke up, I felt so indescribably happy! Since I was just about to start writing the orchestral piece for the Cape Philharmonic, it only felt so natural to let the piece be inspired by the dream. Camelopardalis is the Latin name for the constellation of the giraffe. In the middle of the piece, you can also hear the giraffe's own theme, presented by the bassoon... Andrea Tarrodi

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Anna-Maria Helsing was appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2023, where she had previously been Principal Guest Conductor. Since January 2025, she has also been Chief Conductor of the Vaasa City Orchestra. From 2010 to 2013, Anna-Maria Helsing was Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. She is currently Artistic Director of the Rusk Chamber Music Festival in Jakobstad. In the 2025-2026 season, Helsing returns to the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm to conduct Britta Byström's newly written Sami opera Jordens hjärta (Heart of the Earth). She will also make a return visit to Brno, Czech Republic with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Moravian Autumn Festival. She will make her debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Canada, with the Philharmonic of Southern Denmark and with the Wiesbaden State Orchestra in Germany. She returns to the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the City Orchestras of Kuopio and Joensuu.

Marcus Bäckerud, violin, was born in 1997 in Torna Hällestad outside Lund. He was the 2024 winner of the newly established Anders Walls Music Prize. He plays in the Monbijou Quartet and has studied at the Academy of Music in Copenhagen with violinist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.

Lorenz Karls, a violinist born in 2001 in Vienna, studies in Salzburg and has performed with a number of European orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic and the Camerata Bern. In 2022 he won the youth class of the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition. He also gives solo concerts at a number of festivals.

Christoffer Breman, born in 2000 in Stockholm, is a percussionist, studying at the Copenhagen Academy of Music and performing with a number of different orchestras and newly written works. He is also a member of the percussion ensemble Ode to Noise.

Stefan Forsberg studied trumpet at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and after graduating he was employed as solo trumpeter in the Stockholm County Brass Orchestra, where he played for eleven years before being appointed County Music Director in Stockholm. Later, Stefan Forsberg became better known as the concert hall director of Konserthuset Stockholm, a position he held for 20 years. In 2025, he took office as chairman of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Ellen Reid (b 1983) Body Cosmic American composer Ellen Reid is dedicated to opera, sound art, avant-garde pop and film music. Her works are commissioned by the largest orchestras in the United States. In 2019, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her opera Prism. She tells about her music: "Body Cosmic is a meditation on the human body as it creates life and gives birth. The first movement, Awe | she forms herself unspools a melody against the pulse of an ostinato, reflecting the surreality of creating new life, so common and yet so astonishing. Dissonance | her light and its shadow explores the conundrum of bringing new life into the simultaneously beautiful and crumbling world, moving between big splashes of smearing brass and tumultuous percussion and moments of warmth and blazing beauty. This piece was written in response to my own experience with pregnancy and childbirth, a period of time that coincided with my dual residency at the Concertgebouw concert hall and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Spending time in Amsterdam, working in the Concertgebouw’s storied halls, activated over a hundred and forty years of music-making, is a looming presence in this work. Thank you to the incredible musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, whose generous artistic contributions rang loudly in my mind’s ear as I wrote this piece." (Ellen Reid)

Mikael Karlsson (b 1975) So We Will Vanish, Orchestration: Michael P. Atkinson, Mikael Karlsson, Text: Royce Vavrek Doggerland - Firehawk - Saint Helena Olive So We Will Vanish is a song cycle about natural destruction in nature, narrated by three trees that have either already perished or are about to perish. The title is a quote from director Werner Herzog: “Life on our planet has been a constant series of cataclysmic events, and we are more suitable for extinction than a trilobite or a reptile. So we will vanish. There’s no doubt in my heart.” Herzog predicts that we, like trees, and like so many species, are suited for extinction. The three trees in the song cycle tell us how they disappeared to show how natural it is to cease to exist. Mikael Karlsson

With his broad musical experience (he played cornet, percussion and violin), Nielsen has always been popular with orchestras: he is a "musicians' composer" whose parts are almost always rich in content and challenging. The Fourth Symphony (1916) is dense and intense, but there are also peaceful islands of recovery. The symphony opens with a powerful, completely surprising first movement, moves through a graceful allegretto (in which the wind instruments initially dominate) and a glowing third movement before ending with a blazing finale in which two drummers duel violently - incited and supported by the rest of the orchestra. This is how Nielsen himself described the symphony: "The title (The Inextinguishable) suggests something that only music itself can express: the elementary will to live. /.../ Life is indelible and inextinguishable, yesterday, today and tomorrow, life was, is and will exist in struggle, conflict, generation and annihilation."

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. Season 2025-2026, Kuusisto led three distinctive programmes with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Ava Bahari, Andreas Brantelid and Katarina Barruk. He continued his work with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presenting the renowned DSCH project, and took the stage as both conductor and soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic, including a tour across Germany and Austria. He guest conducted Oslo Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with New Zealand and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, and with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he appeared with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in a New Year’s programme with Joana Mallwitz. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. In 2026, Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra collaborated on the album Willows. The soundtrack of animated series Moominvalley composed by Kuusisto, Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari was released in January 2025. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

An ever-changing repertoire has played a key role in maintaining mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter's international profile; from the early role of Octavian (Die Rosenkavalier) to her acclaimed Leonora in the world premiere of Thomas Adès' The Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera. Highlights of recent years include Dialogues des carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, The Marriage of Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Orpheus in the Underworld at the Salzburg Festival and Oedipus at the Opéra National de Paris. She has also made her role debuts as the Countess in The Queen of Spades and Adelaide in Arabella. Anne Sofie von Otter's versatility has led her to work with legendary artists such as Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Elvis Costello, Brad Mehldau and Rufus Wainwright. She has inspired several contemporary composers, in particular Mikael Karlsson. In 2023 she played Gaby in the world premiere of his opera Melancholia at the Royal Swedish Opera and the role of Justine in Fanny and Alexander, with world premiere at La Monnaie. The 2025-2026 season will include concert tours in North America with her long-time collaborator Kristian Bezuidenhout in Schubert's Schwanengesang, as well as Japan and Hong Kong with a trio program. She is also singing the Baroness in Barber's Vanessa with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Ellen Reid (b 1983) Body Cosmic American composer Ellen Reid is dedicated to opera, sound art, avant-garde pop and film music. Her works are commissioned by the largest orchestras in the United States. In 2019, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her opera Prism. She tells about her music: "Body Cosmic is a meditation on the human body as it creates life and gives birth. The first movement, Awe | she forms herself unspools a melody against the pulse of an ostinato, reflecting the surreality of creating new life, so common and yet so astonishing. Dissonance | her light and its shadow explores the conundrum of bringing new life into the simultaneously beautiful and crumbling world, moving between big splashes of smearing brass and tumultuous percussion and moments of warmth and blazing beauty. This piece was written in response to my own experience with pregnancy and childbirth, a period of time that coincided with my dual residency at the Concertgebouw concert hall and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Spending time in Amsterdam, working in the Concertgebouw’s storied halls, activated over a hundred and forty years of music-making, is a looming presence in this work. Thank you to the incredible musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, whose generous artistic contributions rang loudly in my mind’s ear as I wrote this piece." (Ellen Reid)

Mikael Karlsson (b 1975) So We Will Vanish, Orchestration: Michael P. Atkinson, Mikael Karlsson, Text: Royce Vavrek Doggerland - Firehawk - Saint Helena Olive So We Will Vanish is a song cycle about natural destruction in nature, narrated by three trees that have either already perished or are about to perish. The title is a quote from director Werner Herzog: “Life on our planet has been a constant series of cataclysmic events, and we are more suitable for extinction than a trilobite or a reptile. So we will vanish. There’s no doubt in my heart.” Herzog predicts that we, like trees, and like so many species, are suited for extinction. The three trees in the song cycle tell us how they disappeared to show how natural it is to cease to exist. Mikael Karlsson

With his broad musical experience (he played cornet, percussion and violin), Nielsen has always been popular with orchestras: he is a "musicians' composer" whose parts are almost always rich in content and challenging. The Fourth Symphony (1916) is dense and intense, but there are also peaceful islands of recovery. The symphony opens with a powerful, completely surprising first movement, moves through a graceful allegretto (in which the wind instruments initially dominate) and a glowing third movement before ending with a blazing finale in which two drummers duel violently - incited and supported by the rest of the orchestra. This is how Nielsen himself described the symphony: "The title (The Inextinguishable) suggests something that only music itself can express: the elementary will to live. /.../ Life is indelible and inextinguishable, yesterday, today and tomorrow, life was, is and will exist in struggle, conflict, generation and annihilation."

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. Season 2025-2026, Kuusisto led three distinctive programmes with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with soloists such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Ava Bahari, Andreas Brantelid and Katarina Barruk. He continued his work with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra presenting the renowned DSCH project, and took the stage as both conductor and soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic, including a tour across Germany and Austria. He guest conducted Oslo Philharmonic, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with New Zealand and Tasmanian symphony orchestras, and with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he appeared with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in a New Year’s programme with Joana Mallwitz. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. In 2026, Kuusisto, Sam Amidon and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra collaborated on the album Willows. The soundtrack of animated series Moominvalley composed by Kuusisto, Samuli Kosminen and Jarmo Saari was released in January 2025. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

Abîme des oiseaux is written for solo clarinet and is the third of eight movements in this remarkable work. Olivier Messiaen performed it in a prison camp during World War II.

György Ligeti (1923-2006) Ramifications for string orchestra György Ligeti – the Hungarian composer who became one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century – shifted the focus of music from form to texture, from linear to density. In the string orchestra work Ramifications [1968] he lets this ring out suggestively. The two-part ensemble, whose groups are separated by a microtonal tuning between them, allows music to grow like roots in the dark, branching out yet united in a strange cycle. The drama is not to be found in the classical forms but in a tangle of microscopic movements. Ramifications anticipates, one might imagine, the French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari’s groundbreaking work A Thousand Plateaus (1980), in which the world is described as a terrain, an undergrowth, and an organically growing map. In Ramifications we can perhaps hear what Deleuze and Guattari called assemblage – a composition of different elements that together form a changing whole. The listener is asked to enter a music where the tension arises in the small movements and in the friction between the microtonal sound worlds of the two groups. Esaias Järnegard

Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic Birds) was composed in 1955. The work is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod (the composer's wife, ed. note) and is written for piano solo, xylophone, two clarinets, a small wind ensemble and percussion. It is built around exotic bird calls from India, China, Malacca, North and South America.

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Pelléas et Mélisande Op 80 Prélude Fileuse Sicilienne The Death of Mélisande The Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck wrote the verse drama Pelléas and Mélisande about forbidden love, which with its intense atmosphere, mysterious setting and dark background made readers' hearts pound with passion, excitement and fear. The play was a success in Europe and, together with the fairy tale play Fågel blå, Maeterlinck's triumphant procession went all the way to the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. In 1911 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Debussy refused when the English actress Mrs Patrick Campbell asked for music for a theatrical production of Pelléas and Mélisande in London. He was already busy with his own opera of the fairy tale. She turned instead to Fauré, whose music had recently been performed in the same city. He accepted the assignment but only had a month or so to complete it. He entrusted the orchestration to his student Charles Koechlin. "Fileuse" is a scene where Mélisande sits at the spinning wheel and talks with her stepson Yniold and her brother-in-law Pelléas (with whom she is in love). The Sicilian is an intermezzo between two scenes. In the drama’s twists and turns, Mélisande’s husband Golaud kills his brother Pélleas and later Mélisande dies in childbirth when she gives birth to a small and frail daughter. The tragedy is complete. It can be added that the prelude with its gloomy tones occasionally echoes faintly from Tristan and Isolde, also a tragic love drama. Stefan Nävermyr

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Piano Concerto G Major Allegramente - Adagio assai - Presto After a long tour of the United States in 1928, Ravel wrote his last three major works the following year: the super hit Bolero and two piano concertos. The journey can be felt above all in the Piano Concerto in G major, which was influenced by the blues, the freedom of jazz and the rhythms of New York nightclubs. On the trip, Ravel also met George Gershwin. The American composer knew what the pulse of a big city and modernity should sound like. Ravel was inspired by the style. Despite the presence of jazz, the work is elaborated with Ravel's meticulous precision and French elegance – the orchestral sounds of the wind, every drum beat and syncopation, every bluesy piano chord and glissando have their exact place. The two outer movements of the work crackle with energy, rhythmic precision and virtuosity, but it is in the slow middle movement that Ravel opens his most intimate space. The movement’s opening three-minute solo on the piano, which hovers silently, is reminiscent of Erik Satie. The keys speak with deep humanity and the simple, almost pastoral melody slowly unfolds in an endless line. When the clarinet and flute then respond to the piano in a languid dialogue, it is as if time has stood still. The Piano Concerto in G major is the last major work in which Ravel was in full artistic control – a shimmering farewell from one of the most refined musical poets of the 20th century.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Bertrand Chamayou has been called “the French prince of piano” and is recognized for powerfully virtuosic and imaginative performances. His repertoire includes the complete piano works of Ravel, as well as major works by Liszt and Messiaen. He has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtág, Thomas Adès, Bryce Dessner and Michael Jarrell. In the 2025-2026 season, he participates in the Lucerne Festival with the Netherlands Philharmonic in Unsuk Chin’s piano concerto and in his own Festival Ravel in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Major engagements include the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in the Turangalîla Symphony. He will perform with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Bleuse, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He is also touring with Leif Ove Andsnes at the launch of their new album. He is a highly regarded chamber musician and his partners include renowned artists such as Sol Gabetta, Barbara Hannigan, Vilde Frang and Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. For his recording of Saint-Saëns’ piano concertos, he was awarded the Gramophone Recording of the Year Award 2019. He has won France’s prestigious Victoires de la Musique on five occasions. Bertrand Chamayou made his first appearance with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2019 in Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2.

Urban Claesson is principal clarinetist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since 1995. He joined the orchestra in 1986 and has appeared as a soloist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on around 20 occasions, including Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Sinfonia concertante for wind instruments, Bruch's Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra and Corigliano's Clarinet Concerto. As a chamber musician, he has appeared with the Amadeus Quartet and the Britten Quartet, among others. Urban Claesson is also active as a teacher at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama.

Abîme des oiseaux is written for solo clarinet and is the third of eight movements in this remarkable work. Olivier Messiaen performed it in a prison camp during World War II.

György Ligeti (1923-2006) Ramifications for string orchestra György Ligeti – the Hungarian composer who became one of the most innovative composers of the 20th century – shifted the focus of music from form to texture, from linear to density. In the string orchestra work Ramifications [1968] he lets this ring out suggestively. The two-part ensemble, whose groups are separated by a microtonal tuning between them, allows music to grow like roots in the dark, branching out yet united in a strange cycle. The drama is not to be found in the classical forms but in a tangle of microscopic movements. Ramifications anticipates, one might imagine, the French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari’s groundbreaking work A Thousand Plateaus (1980), in which the world is described as a terrain, an undergrowth, and an organically growing map. In Ramifications we can perhaps hear what Deleuze and Guattari called assemblage – a composition of different elements that together form a changing whole. The listener is asked to enter a music where the tension arises in the small movements and in the friction between the microtonal sound worlds of the two groups. Esaias Järnegard

Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic Birds) was composed in 1955. The work is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod (the composer's wife, ed. note) and is written for piano solo, xylophone, two clarinets, a small wind ensemble and percussion. It is built around exotic bird calls from India, China, Malacca, North and South America.

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Pelléas et Mélisande Op 80 Prélude Fileuse Sicilienne The Death of Mélisande The Belgian Maurice Maeterlinck wrote the verse drama Pelléas and Mélisande about forbidden love, which with its intense atmosphere, mysterious setting and dark background made readers' hearts pound with passion, excitement and fear. The play was a success in Europe and, together with the fairy tale play Fågel blå, Maeterlinck's triumphant procession went all the way to the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. In 1911 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Debussy refused when the English actress Mrs Patrick Campbell asked for music for a theatrical production of Pelléas and Mélisande in London. He was already busy with his own opera of the fairy tale. She turned instead to Fauré, whose music had recently been performed in the same city. He accepted the assignment but only had a month or so to complete it. He entrusted the orchestration to his student Charles Koechlin. "Fileuse" is a scene where Mélisande sits at the spinning wheel and talks with her stepson Yniold and her brother-in-law Pelléas (with whom she is in love). The Sicilian is an intermezzo between two scenes. In the drama’s twists and turns, Mélisande’s husband Golaud kills his brother Pélleas and later Mélisande dies in childbirth when she gives birth to a small and frail daughter. The tragedy is complete. It can be added that the prelude with its gloomy tones occasionally echoes faintly from Tristan and Isolde, also a tragic love drama. Stefan Nävermyr

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Piano Concerto G Major Allegramente - Adagio assai - Presto After a long tour of the United States in 1928, Ravel wrote his last three major works the following year: the super hit Bolero and two piano concertos. The journey can be felt above all in the Piano Concerto in G major, which was influenced by the blues, the freedom of jazz and the rhythms of New York nightclubs. On the trip, Ravel also met George Gershwin. The American composer knew what the pulse of a big city and modernity should sound like. Ravel was inspired by the style. Despite the presence of jazz, the work is elaborated with Ravel's meticulous precision and French elegance – the orchestral sounds of the wind, every drum beat and syncopation, every bluesy piano chord and glissando have their exact place. The two outer movements of the work crackle with energy, rhythmic precision and virtuosity, but it is in the slow middle movement that Ravel opens his most intimate space. The movement’s opening three-minute solo on the piano, which hovers silently, is reminiscent of Erik Satie. The keys speak with deep humanity and the simple, almost pastoral melody slowly unfolds in an endless line. When the clarinet and flute then respond to the piano in a languid dialogue, it is as if time has stood still. The Piano Concerto in G major is the last major work in which Ravel was in full artistic control – a shimmering farewell from one of the most refined musical poets of the 20th century.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Bertrand Chamayou has been called “the French prince of piano” and is recognized for powerfully virtuosic and imaginative performances. His repertoire includes the complete piano works of Ravel, as well as major works by Liszt and Messiaen. He has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, György Kurtág, Thomas Adès, Bryce Dessner and Michael Jarrell. In the 2025-2026 season, he participates in the Lucerne Festival with the Netherlands Philharmonic in Unsuk Chin’s piano concerto and in his own Festival Ravel in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Major engagements include the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in the Turangalîla Symphony. He will perform with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Bleuse, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He is also touring with Leif Ove Andsnes at the launch of their new album. He is a highly regarded chamber musician and his partners include renowned artists such as Sol Gabetta, Barbara Hannigan, Vilde Frang and Renaud and Gautier Capuçon. For his recording of Saint-Saëns’ piano concertos, he was awarded the Gramophone Recording of the Year Award 2019. He has won France’s prestigious Victoires de la Musique on five occasions. Bertrand Chamayou made his first appearance with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2019 in Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2.

Urban Claesson is principal clarinetist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since 1995. He joined the orchestra in 1986 and has appeared as a soloist with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on around 20 occasions, including Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Sinfonia concertante for wind instruments, Bruch's Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra and Corigliano's Clarinet Concerto. As a chamber musician, he has appeared with the Amadeus Quartet and the Britten Quartet, among others. Urban Claesson is also active as a teacher at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama.

Laura Bowler (b. 1986) The White Book (commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) The White Book by South Korean Nobel Prize winner Han Kang was published in English in 2017. It is a poetic novel about grief, the color white and the human soul. The lyrics and music in the song are created by Laura Bowler, a British composer, singer and artistic director who specializes in theater, interdisciplinary work and opera. Her works have been commissioned by ensembles in the UK, Canada, Austria, France and Australia, including the BBC Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent projects include Feminine Hygiene, a multimedia work for large ensemble and singer (herself), and Damned Mob of Scribbling Women, a 20-minute musical theater song cycle for Lucy Goddard that was nominated for the British Composer Award. She has also written Antarctica, a 50-minute multimedia work for orchestra and voice commissioned by Manchester Camerata and BBC Radio 3. Bowler is also a singer in Ensemble Lydenskab based in Aarhus, and has written works for voice and nyckelharpa. The White Book is a joint commission by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Copenhagen Phil.

Clocks and Clouds (1972) moves at the junction of the measurable and the intangible – a music in which György Ligeti lets two different perceptions of time share time and space. The title alludes to the philosopher Karl Popper’s distinction between “clocks”, which follow clear and regular patterns, and “clouds”, which change organically. Ligeti, who during this period became increasingly interested in perception and how we perceive time, here makes these ideas audible through a sound world that is both strictly organized and at the same time floating. The work, written for a female choir and a condensed orchestral movement, is built up of long and rhythmically complex clusters that seem to dissolve the boundary between individual voices. From this sonic fog, more regular pulses sometimes rise – the “clocks” – giving the music an almost mechanical depth, before they dissolve again into the soft unpredictability of the “clouds”. In Clocks and Clouds we encounter a Ligeti who does not seek drama but refined perception: how small changes in time, density and voice can create a feeling that the listener is in the middle of a constantly transforming landscape. It is music that does not point forward or backward, but continues to expand in the very moment of listening. Esaias Järnegard

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine -Anthem of the Inward Conversation -Sequence of the Word, Divine Canticle -Psalmody of Ubiquity through Love In a time of war and spiritual emptiness, Olivier Messiaen created Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (1944), a jubilant hymn of praise “to the presence of God in the world.” Translating the religious message into musical elements is a central driving force behind Messiaen’s music, and so is this work, where the three movements depict different aspects of God’s presence (in the human heart, communion through the Eucharist, and in creation). The work is written for female choir, solo piano, strings, percussion, and the then-futuristic instrument ondes Martenot, whose ethereal sound gives it an angelic glow. The intensity and mystery of the music reflect not only Messiaen's Catholic faith, but also his deep fascination with color, rhythm, and foreign scales. He lets the piano and vibraphone work together as a small chamber ensemble, similar to the Balinese gamelan. Set against the choir's sensual, rich singing and rhythmic cries, accompanied by powerful percussion, the strings weave the whole together, creating a rich, shimmering tapestry. Andreas Konvicka

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Cécile Lartigau calls herself an “ondist” and plays the rare instrument ondes Martinot. She works at the intersection of contemporary music, experimental improvisation and the large orchestral repertoire. She has performed with prestigious ensembles such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 2024, Cécile recorded Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie for Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to her orchestral work, she is deeply involved in interdisciplinary projects that combine music, performance, theatre and video. From 2018 to 2025, she participated as an improviser in Heiner Goebbels’ major production Everything That Happened and Would Happens, a hybrid stage work that toured all over Europe. Cécile Lartigau also has a rich solo and chamber music career, regularly collaborating with specialized ensembles as well as with contemporary composers. She has contributed to the rediscovery of the first known piece for ondes Martenot and orchestra, the Poème Symphonique by Dimitri Lévidis from 1928.

Juan Zurutuza is a pianist trained in Mexico and the Netherlands. He studied with Rian de Waal at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 2001-2008. He has played solo and chamber music concerts with members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Scandinavia, Europe and North America. Since 2022, Juan Zurutuza is pianist in the Gothenburg Symphony. He is currently studying with pianist Robert Durso, thanks to several scholarships received from Göteborgs Symfoniker Friend Association, the Marianne & Ary Paley Scholarship Fund, the Eduard Magnus Music Fund and the Mary von Sydows Donation Fund.

In 2024, Bar Avni won the major La Maestra competition in Paris. This success led to a fruitful collaboration with the Paris Mozart Orchestra and its founder Claire Gibault. She works with mentors such as Yoav Talmi, Barbara Hannigan and Ayelet Geva. An important part of her artistry is shaping concerts as complete experiences. Her debut album will be released in February 2026, with works by Charlotte Sohy, Darius Milhaud, CPE Bach and Igor Stravinsky. In the 2025-2026 season, Bar Avni returns to the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, and makes her debuts with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber and the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra. 2021-2024 she was Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Philharmonic. She is a trained percussionist and studied conducting with Yoav Talmi, Martin Sieghart and Ulrich Windfuhr. She has assisted conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Myung-Whun Chung and Matthias Pintscher.

Laura Bowler (b. 1986) The White Book (commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra) The White Book by South Korean Nobel Prize winner Han Kang was published in English in 2017. It is a poetic novel about grief, the color white and the human soul. The lyrics and music in the song are created by Laura Bowler, a British composer, singer and artistic director who specializes in theater, interdisciplinary work and opera. Her works have been commissioned by ensembles in the UK, Canada, Austria, France and Australia, including the BBC Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent projects include Feminine Hygiene, a multimedia work for large ensemble and singer (herself), and Damned Mob of Scribbling Women, a 20-minute musical theater song cycle for Lucy Goddard that was nominated for the British Composer Award. She has also written Antarctica, a 50-minute multimedia work for orchestra and voice commissioned by Manchester Camerata and BBC Radio 3. Bowler is also a singer in Ensemble Lydenskab based in Aarhus, and has written works for voice and nyckelharpa. The White Book is a joint commission by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Copenhagen Phil.

Clocks and Clouds (1972) moves at the junction of the measurable and the intangible – a music in which György Ligeti lets two different perceptions of time share time and space. The title alludes to the philosopher Karl Popper’s distinction between “clocks”, which follow clear and regular patterns, and “clouds”, which change organically. Ligeti, who during this period became increasingly interested in perception and how we perceive time, here makes these ideas audible through a sound world that is both strictly organized and at the same time floating. The work, written for a female choir and a condensed orchestral movement, is built up of long and rhythmically complex clusters that seem to dissolve the boundary between individual voices. From this sonic fog, more regular pulses sometimes rise – the “clocks” – giving the music an almost mechanical depth, before they dissolve again into the soft unpredictability of the “clouds”. In Clocks and Clouds we encounter a Ligeti who does not seek drama but refined perception: how small changes in time, density and voice can create a feeling that the listener is in the middle of a constantly transforming landscape. It is music that does not point forward or backward, but continues to expand in the very moment of listening. Esaias Järnegard

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine -Anthem of the Inward Conversation -Sequence of the Word, Divine Canticle -Psalmody of Ubiquity through Love In a time of war and spiritual emptiness, Olivier Messiaen created Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (1944), a jubilant hymn of praise “to the presence of God in the world.” Translating the religious message into musical elements is a central driving force behind Messiaen’s music, and so is this work, where the three movements depict different aspects of God’s presence (in the human heart, communion through the Eucharist, and in creation). The work is written for female choir, solo piano, strings, percussion, and the then-futuristic instrument ondes Martenot, whose ethereal sound gives it an angelic glow. The intensity and mystery of the music reflect not only Messiaen's Catholic faith, but also his deep fascination with color, rhythm, and foreign scales. He lets the piano and vibraphone work together as a small chamber ensemble, similar to the Balinese gamelan. Set against the choir's sensual, rich singing and rhythmic cries, accompanied by powerful percussion, the strings weave the whole together, creating a rich, shimmering tapestry. Andreas Konvicka

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Cécile Lartigau calls herself an “ondist” and plays the rare instrument ondes Martinot. She works at the intersection of contemporary music, experimental improvisation and the large orchestral repertoire. She has performed with prestigious ensembles such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 2024, Cécile recorded Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie for Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to her orchestral work, she is deeply involved in interdisciplinary projects that combine music, performance, theatre and video. From 2018 to 2025, she participated as an improviser in Heiner Goebbels’ major production Everything That Happened and Would Happens, a hybrid stage work that toured all over Europe. Cécile Lartigau also has a rich solo and chamber music career, regularly collaborating with specialized ensembles as well as with contemporary composers. She has contributed to the rediscovery of the first known piece for ondes Martenot and orchestra, the Poème Symphonique by Dimitri Lévidis from 1928.

Juan Zurutuza is a pianist trained in Mexico and the Netherlands. He studied with Rian de Waal at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague from 2001-2008. He has played solo and chamber music concerts with members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Scandinavia, Europe and North America. Since 2022, Juan Zurutuza is pianist in the Gothenburg Symphony. He is currently studying with pianist Robert Durso, thanks to several scholarships received from Göteborgs Symfoniker Friend Association, the Marianne & Ary Paley Scholarship Fund, the Eduard Magnus Music Fund and the Mary von Sydows Donation Fund.

In 2024, Bar Avni won the major La Maestra competition in Paris. This success led to a fruitful collaboration with the Paris Mozart Orchestra and its founder Claire Gibault. She works with mentors such as Yoav Talmi, Barbara Hannigan and Ayelet Geva. An important part of her artistry is shaping concerts as complete experiences. Her debut album will be released in February 2026, with works by Charlotte Sohy, Darius Milhaud, CPE Bach and Igor Stravinsky. In the 2025-2026 season, Bar Avni returns to the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, and makes her debuts with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber and the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra. 2021-2024 she was Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Philharmonic. She is a trained percussionist and studied conducting with Yoav Talmi, Martin Sieghart and Ulrich Windfuhr. She has assisted conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Myung-Whun Chung and Matthias Pintscher.

Josef Strauss was the younger brother of the Strauss waltz family, and sometimes replaced his older brother Johan as orchestra leader. His hit Sphärenklänge, Music of the Spheres, from 1868 has become a standard piece in the Wiener Philharmoniker's New Year's concerts and contains all the swinging turns a Viennese waltz should have.

Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro The first sketches for the Third Piano Concerto can be dated to 1797, when Beethoven was greatly inspired by listening to a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in the same key. The handwritten manuscript is dated 1800, but he continued to refine the design until early 1803. The first performance of the Third Piano Concerto took place on 5 April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien. A newspaper article states that Beethoven did not receive a particularly long applause, even though he had gathered all his most devoted admirers for the evening. The reason is that he was already beginning to be regarded as a strange scoundrel. Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries reported that Beethoven played the solo part in the Piano Concerto in good spirits, but that many notes "fell under the table". When it came to the composition itself, however, Ries believed that no composer he knew even came close to the master - and we are still willing to agree today. Despite its serious key, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto is not a grand and tragic drama, unlike his other works in C minor (for example, Symphony No. 5, the Symphony of Fate). On the contrary, this concerto has a classically clear structure. The largo in particular is transparently simple and butterfly-like. The outward-looking final rondo, on the other hand, is more concerned with sharp shifts between both emotions and keys.

Attire of the Rose Cavalier and Duet Ochs-Walzes Tenor Aria Breakfast scene Terzett Closing Duet Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier (1910) is a tribute to an idealized Vienna, where 18th-century elegance meets late-Romantic waltzes with generous orchestral sound. The libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal is an exuberant tangle of love intrigues and confusions, reminiscent of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro. We meet the young nobleman Octavian, lover of the elderly Marschallin. When he is commissioned to deliver a silver rose as an engagement gift to Sophie, who is to marry the buffoonish Baron Ochs, the two young people fall in love with each other. Plots and complications follow, but in the end the Marschallin lets her young lover go - with sadness, insight and dignity. The suite opens with the intense horns depicting the love meeting between the Marshallin and Octavian. We are led on to the famous scene where Octavian presents the silver rose to Sophie, shimmeringly embodied by harp, flute and celesta. Baron Ochs' clumsy intrusion breaks the mood and the waltzes begin, full of charm and comedy. Towards the end, the emotional climax of the opera is anticipated, where young love triumphs and the music finally culminates in the iconic Rosenkavalier Waltz – a glittering reflection of Vienna's golden age.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Magnus Fryklund is educated in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music. He has been Young Conductor in Residence at the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence at the Orchester National de Montpellier and house conductor at Malmö Opera. In the 2023-2024 season, he made his debut with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Leif Ove Andsnes, at Wermland Opera (both soloist and conductor) and the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. He also competed in the international Malko Competition for young conductors. Magnus Fryklund has conducted Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Dalasinfonietta and Concerto Copenhagen. He has participated in masterclasses with Herbert Blomstedt and Kurt Mazur and has been assistant to Michael Jurowski and Philippe Auguin. Magnus Fryklund is very passionate about opera and has, among other things, performed The Marriage of Figaro at Malmö Opera as both conductor and pianist.

Josef Strauss was the younger brother of the Strauss waltz family, and sometimes replaced his older brother Johan as orchestra leader. His hit Sphärenklänge, Music of the Spheres, from 1868 has become a standard piece in the Wiener Philharmoniker's New Year's concerts and contains all the swinging turns a Viennese waltz should have.

Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro The first sketches for the Third Piano Concerto can be dated to 1797, when Beethoven was greatly inspired by listening to a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in the same key. The handwritten manuscript is dated 1800, but he continued to refine the design until early 1803. The first performance of the Third Piano Concerto took place on 5 April 1803 at the Theater an der Wien. A newspaper article states that Beethoven did not receive a particularly long applause, even though he had gathered all his most devoted admirers for the evening. The reason is that he was already beginning to be regarded as a strange scoundrel. Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries reported that Beethoven played the solo part in the Piano Concerto in good spirits, but that many notes "fell under the table". When it came to the composition itself, however, Ries believed that no composer he knew even came close to the master - and we are still willing to agree today. Despite its serious key, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto is not a grand and tragic drama, unlike his other works in C minor (for example, Symphony No. 5, the Symphony of Fate). On the contrary, this concerto has a classically clear structure. The largo in particular is transparently simple and butterfly-like. The outward-looking final rondo, on the other hand, is more concerned with sharp shifts between both emotions and keys.

Attire of the Rose Cavalier and Duet Ochs-Walzes Tenor Aria Breakfast scene Terzett Closing Duet Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier (1910) is a tribute to an idealized Vienna, where 18th-century elegance meets late-Romantic waltzes with generous orchestral sound. The libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal is an exuberant tangle of love intrigues and confusions, reminiscent of Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro. We meet the young nobleman Octavian, lover of the elderly Marschallin. When he is commissioned to deliver a silver rose as an engagement gift to Sophie, who is to marry the buffoonish Baron Ochs, the two young people fall in love with each other. Plots and complications follow, but in the end the Marschallin lets her young lover go - with sadness, insight and dignity. The suite opens with the intense horns depicting the love meeting between the Marshallin and Octavian. We are led on to the famous scene where Octavian presents the silver rose to Sophie, shimmeringly embodied by harp, flute and celesta. Baron Ochs' clumsy intrusion breaks the mood and the waltzes begin, full of charm and comedy. Towards the end, the emotional climax of the opera is anticipated, where young love triumphs and the music finally culminates in the iconic Rosenkavalier Waltz – a glittering reflection of Vienna's golden age.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Magnus Fryklund is educated in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music. He has been Young Conductor in Residence at the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Conductor in Residence at the Orchester National de Montpellier and house conductor at Malmö Opera. In the 2023-2024 season, he made his debut with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Leif Ove Andsnes, at Wermland Opera (both soloist and conductor) and the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. He also competed in the international Malko Competition for young conductors. Magnus Fryklund has conducted Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Dalasinfonietta and Concerto Copenhagen. He has participated in masterclasses with Herbert Blomstedt and Kurt Mazur and has been assistant to Michael Jurowski and Philippe Auguin. Magnus Fryklund is very passionate about opera and has, among other things, performed The Marriage of Figaro at Malmö Opera as both conductor and pianist.

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Danish conductor Christian Øland is one of the Nordic countries' greatest conductor talents. He is appointed new Musical Director of Theater Magdeburg from 2025-2026. He has conducted orchestras such as the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Swedish Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Magdeburg Philharmoniker, the Slovak State Philharmonic, Wermland Opera, the Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the Jönköping Sinfonietta. In Denmark, he often conducts the Copenhagen Phil and the Sønderjylland Symphony Orchestra. As an opera and ballet conductor, Christian Øland has conducted The Nutcracker at the Royal Danish Theatre, Mats Ek's famous ballet Juliet & Romeo at the Royal Stockholm Opera, John Neumeier's autobiographical ballet with the Hamburg Ballet, and a production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Helsinki Sinfonietta. Øland has also worked as an assistant conductor at the Nylivka Opera Festival in Finland. At the age of 18, Christian Øland was accepted into the Sibelius Academy, and was later appointed assistant conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2016 he received the Carl Nielsen Talent Award.

Andreas van Tol (formerly Hansson) was the 2021 winner of the Neeme Järvi prize. He made his debut as an opera conductor in 2023 with the critically acclaimed production Die Zauberflöte: The Next Generation together with Opera2Day and de Theateralliantie on tour throughout the Netherlands. Andreas van Tol has conducted a large number of international orchestras, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orchester de Chambre de Lausanne, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Het Residentieorkest and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He has been principal conductor of Polstjärnepriset for several years and was appointed as the orchestra's Artistic Director in 2023.

Paul Dukas (1865-1935) L'apprenti sorcier L'apprenti sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) is the most famous work by the French composer Paul Dukas. It premiered in May 1897 in Paris with the composer himself conducting. The piece is based on Goethe's poem Der Zauberlehrling, about a sorcerer who leaves his apprentice to fetch water. But instead of doing it himself, the apprentice conjures up a broom to do the job for him. Dukas illustrates the broom with a rhythmic theme in the bassoon. The water is depicted through leaps and splashing cymbals. But the apprentice is not fully trained and loses control of the situation. The broom never stops fetching water. The room floods. The apprentice tries to chop the broom in half with an axe, which only gives rise to more brooms. A contributing factor to the music's great popularity was Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia from 1940, starring Mickey Mouse. Dukas' romantic and magical works stand today as a clear precursor, along with Korngold and Holst, to John Williams' shimmering film music.

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Piano Concerto No 2 Andante sostenuto Allegro scherzando Presto Camille Saint-Saëns made his debut as a pianist at the age of ten, offering to play any of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas - from memory - as an encore. As a composer, he became extremely prolific, composing music in all genres. His music is characterized by a disarming charm, rich melody and elegance. The second has probably remained his most famous of his five piano concertos and is the earliest of his compositions still in the standard repertoire. In the spring of 1868, Saint-Saëns intended to arrange a concert with the celebrated Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein (not to be confused with Artur Rubinstein) at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. But when it became clear that they would have to wait three weeks for a free concert day, Saint-Saëns took the opportunity in the meantime to write a completely new piano concerto. Rubinstein was so delighted with the new work that he offered the composer to play the solo part while he himself conducted. Saint-Saëns may not have been entirely satisfied with his hastily assembled concert, but in the audience was Franz Liszt himself, who had no shortage of praise to pour over his young colleague's inspired work. The concerto has a very original form. The first movement begins with a cadenza, the second movement is not slow (as convention required), but a mercurial and playful scherzo. The finale is a sparkling presto.

Albert Roussel (1869-1937) Symphony No 3 Albert Roussel was one of the foremost representatives of early 20th-century music in France, alongside Debussy and Ravel. He was originally a naval officer, but failing health meant that he had to go ashore at the age of 25. After returning home, he began studying music at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He wrote his first opus-numbered works at the age of 30. They are not particularly personal, the influence is clear from both Debussy and D’Indy and César Franck. Only after a decade had the basic features developed into a style of expression that would become entirely his own. Roussel’s mature works differ considerably from Ravel’s and even more from Debussy. The breakthrough came in 1913 with the ballet pantomime The Spider’s Feast. The work was a great success, and was performed 22 times during the first year. More ballet music was added later, most fame clamed by Bacchus and Ariadne (1931). The musical language at that time was entirely personal with persistent rhythm, sometimes barbaric orchestral sounds and a rather advanced harmony for the time: fiercely dissonant or polytonal. The third of Roussel's four symphonies, composed in 1929-30, is rather classical in its structure. Each movement has its own themes, but three of them are linked together by a common motif: the falling rhythmic figure that is heard already in the first bar. The opening movement is completely dominated by its persistent stomping. In the slow second, the composer focuses on new aspects of the motif and builds up a long fugato. The work was commissioned by conductor Serge Koussevitsky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary. The premiere was given in October 1930, with Roussel present in the audience.

The glory days of the Viennese waltz at the end of the 19th century were pure madness - completely comparable to today's unrestrained club dancing. Swirling around giant ballrooms with thousands of other couples, over and over again, was the great pleasure and enjoyment of the time. The young loved to be swept up in these communal excesses while the opposing side argued that it was harmful and immoral to spin around in this way. But the Viennese waltz could not be stopped - the Strauss family and their successors spread the courage to the rest of Europe, Russia and the USA. Ravel was born early enough to know the ravages of the Viennese waltz. This familiarity probably inspired him when he began the orchestral piece intended for Diaghilev's Russian ballet. However, he refused. The "choreographic poem" that was finished in 1920 only became a ballet in 1929 when the dancer Ida Rubinstein staged it. The work's working name was Vienna, a city Ravel knew well by the way, but in the end was given an even more stripped-down and concentrated title: La valse, the waltz. Like the Strauss waltzes, La valse has a slow opening, after which it finds its rhythm and melody and dances away in good old three-bar. But where Strauss keep the music under soft reins and gently slow down at the end to let off their travelers, Ravel does the opposite: the waltz completely explodes, swells over all borders and explodes both tempo and melody. Ravel simply captures the essence of the Viennese waltz - the rapture and total indulgence. An emotional discharge, or for the theorist: music that comments on itself. The ironic Ravel did not deny himself - what is wrong with satisfying different tastes at the same time?

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

French Stéphane Denève has guested Gothenburg several times. He is Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, USA, and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony. Since 2023, he has also been Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 2014 to 2020 and Chief Conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic from 2015 to 2022. Stéphane Denève has a particular fondness for the music of his native France and is a passionate advocate of 21st century music. He appears with the world’s leading soloists, including Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti, Yefim Bronfman, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, James Ehnes, Kirill Gerstein, Hélène Grimaud, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Recent engagements include appearances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic in Stockholm, with whom he conducted the 2020 Nobel Prize Concert. In 2022, he conducted the John Williams 90th Birthday Gala with the National Symphony Orchestra and he is a popular guest at the American summer festivals. In the world of opera, Stéphane Denève has conducted productions at the Netherlands Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Saito Kinen Festival, Gran Teatro del Liceu, La Monnaie and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Denève has won critical acclaim for his recordings of Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, Roussel, Franck and Connesson. He is a three-time winner of the Diapason d'Or of the Year and has been nominated for the Gramophone Artist of the Year Award.

Pianist Marie-Ange Nguci grew up in Albania and was accepted to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 13. Despite her young age, she has performed in major concert halls, such as the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Zurich Tonhalle, Sydney Opera House, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Teatro La Fenice in Venice and Teatro della Pergola in Florence. Highlights of the 2024-2025 season included debuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Stéphane Denève, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Alan Gilbert, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Marie Jacquot, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. She returned to the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI with Marc Albrecht and to the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In recent years, Marie-Ange Nguci has presented an extensive repertoire on stage and performed with leading conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Fabio Luisi, Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, John Storgårds, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Krzysztof Urbanski, Dalia Stasevska, Xian Zhang and Petr Popelka. She was Artist in Residence with the Basel Symphony Orchestra for the 2023-2024 season and has been an associate artist with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma. She studied orchestral conducting at the Musik und Kunst Universität in Vienna and was accepted at the age of 18 to the City University of New York.

Allegro ma non tanto: The Silver Sleigh Bells Lento: The Mellow Wedding Bells Presto: The Loud Alarm Bells Lento lugubre: The Mournful Iron Bells. “You should compose this!” In the winter of 1912, Sergei Rachmaninoff received an anonymous letter. He was in Rome at the time to rest, but also for inspiration. Rachmaninoff rented the same apartment near the Piazza de Spagna where Tchaikovsky had lived and worked for a few decades earlier. In addition to the invitation, the letter contained a Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Bells, translated into Russian by the poet Konstantin Balmont. The poem with bells from four different phases of life – from childhood, marriage, life crisis and death – was already divided into a symphony. The choral symphony The Bells (in Russian Kolokola) is based on a rich orchestration, with soloists and choir, where of course bells – both real and symbolic – sound throughout the work. The score includes celesta, glockenspiel, reed bells and xylophone, but piano, harp and high-pitched strings are also used to create the sonorous impression of ringing bells. A well-known doomsday theme also resonates in the orchestral fabric: Dies irae. The medieval Catholic falling four-tone phrase darkens in the background in the first three movements. Rachmaninoff lets the heavy doom lie in wait, then it liberately fades away in the fourth movement. But before that, the tones sound worthy the master of horror Edgar Allan Poe.

Initially, Sibelius believed this first symphony would be programmatic: a symphony telling of his homeland’s geology and the triumph of Christianity over paganism. But seven years after the success of his choral-orchestral work based Finnish folklore Kullervo, friends and critics were urging Sibelius to think in more rigorous symphonic terms. Finland, they argued, needed art that was more international than parochial – a symphony that stood its ground on musical terms alone. Such thinking would give the First Symphony its musical weight irrespective of political context. In his student days in Vienna and Berlin, Sibelius’s teachers had stressed the importance of working through musical themes – lathing them continuously until they were fit for purpose. Ultimately, Sibelius took that advice to a level that couldn’t have been anticipated. Already in this symphony, the composer was handling his material in a distinctive way. Its misty opening on a solitary clarinet doesn’t just prepare us for the shock of the movement’s fast-paced Allegro; it infiltrates the work’s musical ideas like nutrients in their soil. The shape of the clarinet’s theme can be detected in numerous fragments right up to the final bars. The fourth movement launches with a transfigured version of it on thrusting strings. That gesture speaks of another conceptual difference in Sibelius’s symphonic designs: his response to the colours and capabilities of instruments. In a departure from traditional Germanic symphonic argument (which would make sense on a piano), Sibelius allowed the particular colour of instruments and instrumental groups to shape the path of his music. The symphony’s opening clarinet solo presents one example. The long-held pedal notes in the slow Andante, and the pizzicatos of the Scherzo, two more. These led the critic Ernest Newman to conclude that ‘every page breathes of another manner of thought, another way of living, even another landscape.’ That ‘other way of living’ can be rationalized. The use of recitation – a note repeating itself, like something half-sung – has its roots in Finland’s runic singing tradition. Others have heard something distinctly Russian in the clarinet solo, in the fur-wrapped melancholy of the slow movement and in the feverish way in which the final Allegro molto erupts. It’s in this movement that we hear Sibelius at his most unique. The organic treatment of themes continues. But as part of that process, the movement appears to reconcile the symphony’s poles of energy and stasis in a way only Sibelius could have conceived: by tricking us into assuming the music is operating at one distinct velocity when it’s actually locked into another. Andrew Mellor, from Sibelius: Symphony 1 & En Saga; Rouvali & Göteborgs Symfoniker (Alpha, 2019)

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

The Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble (GSVE) was formed in 2016 and consists of 12 professional singers. The ensemble works both as part of the Gothenburg Symphony Choir in major symphonic works performed together with the Gothenburg Symphony, and as an independent ensemble under the direction of Katie Thomas. GSVE is a group of experienced and versatile singers, who perform varied programs and explore a wide repertoire, from medieval music to newly commissioned works. The ensemble has previously collaborated with, among others, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Barockakademin Göteborgs Symfoniker and performs regular vocal programs both in Gothenburg's Concert Hall and around the Västra Götaland region.

The choir was founded in 1917 by cousins Elsa and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Elsa Stenhammar was one of the driving forces in turn-of-the-century choir life in Gothenburg and became the choir's first rehearser. On December 8, 1917, the choir debuted in Beethoven's Choir Fantasy with Wilhelm Stenhammar as soloist at the grand piano. As the country's oldest symphonic choir, they were able to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017 with a big celebratory concert where Mozart and Brahms as well as Stenhammar, Elfrida Andrée and Björn & Benny were on the program. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir is a non-profit association that is linked to the Gothenburg Symphony. The choir participates in concerts and performances under both the orchestra's and its own auspices. The music is mixed and the repertoire extensive. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir has participated in concerts in, among other places, the Royal Albert Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England, as well as participated with the Gothenburg Symphony in the annual music festival in the Canary Islands and on a tour to China.

Tobias Ringborg is equally successful in opera houses as on concert stages as both a conductor and a violinist. His career began in 1994 when he won the prestigious Soloist Prize and received a soloist diploma from the Royal Academy of Music. He has a lifelong passion for opera and made his debut as an opera conductor at Folkoperan in 2001 with Verdi's La Traviata. In 2002 he joined Malmö Opera and made his debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 2001 with La Bohème. He has also conducted at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, the Royal Danish Opera in Denmark, Oper Leipzig, Scottish Opera and the English Opera North. Tobias Ringborg has explored the symphonic repertoire with leading orchestras in the Nordic countries, as well as in Auckland, in Victoria (Canada) and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2005 he made his London debut with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican, both as a soloist and conductor. The years 2012-2015 Ringborg was chief conductor of Dalasinfoniettan. In the 2024-2025 season he conducted Puccini's La Rondine at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne, La Bohème at the Aalborg Opera Festival, Madama Butterfly at the Gothenburg Opera and The Barber of Seville at the Royal Swedish Opera. In addition, a gala evening at the Royal Swedish Opera at the opening of the Riksdag, Verdi's Requiem in the Faroe Islands and Moses Pergaments The Jewish Song at Stockholm Concert Hall. The 2025-2026 season includes The Marriage of Figaro and Turandot at the Royal Swedish Opera, Così fan tutte with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras in Aachen and Nuremberg.

Soprano Iwona Sobotka gained international recognition when she won the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium. She was also awarded first prize at the Warsaw Singing Competition and first prize at the East & West Artists International Auditions in New York, which led to her debut at Carnegie Hall. Last season, Iwona Sobotka performed Verdi's Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Orchestra National de France. She took on roles such as Aida and Turandot at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Slovak National Theatre, Gioconda at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania and Desdemona in Otello at the Teatro Coccia in Novara. She also reprised roles such as Madama Butterfly and Rusalka in her home country of Poland. Highlights from previous seasons include several symphonic programs with Sir Simon Rattle, including Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives and Symphony No. 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. She has also performed Janácek's Glagolitic Mass, Szymanowski's Stabat Mater and Brahms' Ein deutches Requiem. She has appeared with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Nashville Symphony, working with distinguished conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Marco Armiliato and Teodor Currentzis.

American tenor Daniel Brenna was recognized at the Gothenburg Opera in 2021 when he sang the title role in Wagner's opera Siegfried. The role has taken the American tenor to a number of different stages around the world, such as San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Theater an der Wien, Budapest Wagner Days, Ravello Festival and Opéra Dijon. In 2025, he has played Parsifal in concert performances at Den Norske Opera and debuted as Tristan at Opéra de Lille. He has also performed in Salome at the Helsinki Opera. Daniel Brenna was educated in Boston and had an international breakthrough in Moses and Aaron at Opernhaus Zürich in 2011. In 2015, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York in Lulu, a production named the best of the year by the New York Times, and in 2016 he returned to the Metropolitan in Jenufa. He has also guested the Bilbao Opera House, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Edmonton Opera, the Comic Opera Berlin, Leipzig Opera House, Aalto-Theatre Essen, Festival St. Margarethen and Munich Radio Symphony.

Lithuanian singer Kostas Smoriginas is a world leading baryton. He was recently seen on SVT as the Toreador in Carmen from Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He made his debut at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin in this role, and has also performed it with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle (recorded for EMI Classics) at the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Santa Fe Music Festival and the Dresden Semperoper. In the 2024-2025 season, Smoriginas sang the role of Jochanaan in Salome at the operas in Hanover, Antwerp and Malmö. At the Zurich Opera he performed Verdi's Requiem with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Lohengrin. The previous season he appeared at the Hamburg Opera, with the Munich Radio Orchestra and at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. He also sang the role of Orest in a concert performance of Elektra with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano in Rome. Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and represented his country in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Music and has been a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House.

Allegro ma non tanto: The Silver Sleigh Bells Lento: The Mellow Wedding Bells Presto: The Loud Alarm Bells Lento lugubre: The Mournful Iron Bells. “You should compose this!” In the winter of 1912, Sergei Rachmaninoff received an anonymous letter. He was in Rome at the time to rest, but also for inspiration. Rachmaninoff rented the same apartment near the Piazza de Spagna where Tchaikovsky had lived and worked for a few decades earlier. In addition to the invitation, the letter contained a Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Bells, translated into Russian by the poet Konstantin Balmont. The poem with bells from four different phases of life – from childhood, marriage, life crisis and death – was already divided into a symphony. The choral symphony The Bells (in Russian Kolokola) is based on a rich orchestration, with soloists and choir, where of course bells – both real and symbolic – sound throughout the work. The score includes celesta, glockenspiel, reed bells and xylophone, but piano, harp and high-pitched strings are also used to create the sonorous impression of ringing bells. A well-known doomsday theme also resonates in the orchestral fabric: Dies irae. The medieval Catholic falling four-tone phrase darkens in the background in the first three movements. Rachmaninoff lets the heavy doom lie in wait, then it liberately fades away in the fourth movement. But before that, the tones sound worthy the master of horror Edgar Allan Poe.

Initially, Sibelius believed this first symphony would be programmatic: a symphony telling of his homeland’s geology and the triumph of Christianity over paganism. But seven years after the success of his choral-orchestral work based Finnish folklore Kullervo, friends and critics were urging Sibelius to think in more rigorous symphonic terms. Finland, they argued, needed art that was more international than parochial – a symphony that stood its ground on musical terms alone. Such thinking would give the First Symphony its musical weight irrespective of political context. In his student days in Vienna and Berlin, Sibelius’s teachers had stressed the importance of working through musical themes – lathing them continuously until they were fit for purpose. Ultimately, Sibelius took that advice to a level that couldn’t have been anticipated. Already in this symphony, the composer was handling his material in a distinctive way. Its misty opening on a solitary clarinet doesn’t just prepare us for the shock of the movement’s fast-paced Allegro; it infiltrates the work’s musical ideas like nutrients in their soil. The shape of the clarinet’s theme can be detected in numerous fragments right up to the final bars. The fourth movement launches with a transfigured version of it on thrusting strings. That gesture speaks of another conceptual difference in Sibelius’s symphonic designs: his response to the colours and capabilities of instruments. In a departure from traditional Germanic symphonic argument (which would make sense on a piano), Sibelius allowed the particular colour of instruments and instrumental groups to shape the path of his music. The symphony’s opening clarinet solo presents one example. The long-held pedal notes in the slow Andante, and the pizzicatos of the Scherzo, two more. These led the critic Ernest Newman to conclude that ‘every page breathes of another manner of thought, another way of living, even another landscape.’ That ‘other way of living’ can be rationalized. The use of recitation – a note repeating itself, like something half-sung – has its roots in Finland’s runic singing tradition. Others have heard something distinctly Russian in the clarinet solo, in the fur-wrapped melancholy of the slow movement and in the feverish way in which the final Allegro molto erupts. It’s in this movement that we hear Sibelius at his most unique. The organic treatment of themes continues. But as part of that process, the movement appears to reconcile the symphony’s poles of energy and stasis in a way only Sibelius could have conceived: by tricking us into assuming the music is operating at one distinct velocity when it’s actually locked into another. Andrew Mellor, from Sibelius: Symphony 1 & En Saga; Rouvali & Göteborgs Symfoniker (Alpha, 2019)

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto from 2025. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra. In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region. The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

The Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble (GSVE) was formed in 2016 and consists of 12 professional singers. The ensemble works both as part of the Gothenburg Symphony Choir in major symphonic works performed together with the Gothenburg Symphony, and as an independent ensemble under the direction of Katie Thomas. GSVE is a group of experienced and versatile singers, who perform varied programs and explore a wide repertoire, from medieval music to newly commissioned works. The ensemble has previously collaborated with, among others, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Barockakademin Göteborgs Symfoniker and performs regular vocal programs both in Gothenburg's Concert Hall and around the Västra Götaland region.

The choir was founded in 1917 by cousins Elsa and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Elsa Stenhammar was one of the driving forces in turn-of-the-century choir life in Gothenburg and became the choir's first rehearser. On December 8, 1917, the choir debuted in Beethoven's Choir Fantasy with Wilhelm Stenhammar as soloist at the grand piano. As the country's oldest symphonic choir, they were able to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017 with a big celebratory concert where Mozart and Brahms as well as Stenhammar, Elfrida Andrée and Björn & Benny were on the program. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir is a non-profit association that is linked to the Gothenburg Symphony. The choir participates in concerts and performances under both the orchestra's and its own auspices. The music is mixed and the repertoire extensive. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir has participated in concerts in, among other places, the Royal Albert Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England, as well as participated with the Gothenburg Symphony in the annual music festival in the Canary Islands and on a tour to China.

Tobias Ringborg is equally successful in opera houses as on concert stages as both a conductor and a violinist. His career began in 1994 when he won the prestigious Soloist Prize and received a soloist diploma from the Royal Academy of Music. He has a lifelong passion for opera and made his debut as an opera conductor at Folkoperan in 2001 with Verdi's La Traviata. In 2002 he joined Malmö Opera and made his debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 2001 with La Bohème. He has also conducted at the Norwegian Opera in Oslo, the Royal Danish Opera in Denmark, Oper Leipzig, Scottish Opera and the English Opera North. Tobias Ringborg has explored the symphonic repertoire with leading orchestras in the Nordic countries, as well as in Auckland, in Victoria (Canada) and with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2005 he made his London debut with the English Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican, both as a soloist and conductor. The years 2012-2015 Ringborg was chief conductor of Dalasinfoniettan. In the 2024-2025 season he conducted Puccini's La Rondine at the Victorian Opera in Melbourne, La Bohème at the Aalborg Opera Festival, Madama Butterfly at the Gothenburg Opera and The Barber of Seville at the Royal Swedish Opera. In addition, a gala evening at the Royal Swedish Opera at the opening of the Riksdag, Verdi's Requiem in the Faroe Islands and Moses Pergaments The Jewish Song at Stockholm Concert Hall. The 2025-2026 season includes The Marriage of Figaro and Turandot at the Royal Swedish Opera, Così fan tutte with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras in Aachen and Nuremberg.

Soprano Iwona Sobotka gained international recognition when she won the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium. She was also awarded first prize at the Warsaw Singing Competition and first prize at the East & West Artists International Auditions in New York, which led to her debut at Carnegie Hall. Last season, Iwona Sobotka performed Verdi's Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Orchestra National de France. She took on roles such as Aida and Turandot at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera at the Slovak National Theatre, Gioconda at the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania and Desdemona in Otello at the Teatro Coccia in Novara. She also reprised roles such as Madama Butterfly and Rusalka in her home country of Poland. Highlights from previous seasons include several symphonic programs with Sir Simon Rattle, including Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives and Symphony No. 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker. She has also performed Janácek's Glagolitic Mass, Szymanowski's Stabat Mater and Brahms' Ein deutches Requiem. She has appeared with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Nashville Symphony, working with distinguished conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Marco Armiliato and Teodor Currentzis.

American tenor Daniel Brenna was recognized at the Gothenburg Opera in 2021 when he sang the title role in Wagner's opera Siegfried. The role has taken the American tenor to a number of different stages around the world, such as San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Theater an der Wien, Budapest Wagner Days, Ravello Festival and Opéra Dijon. In 2025, he has played Parsifal in concert performances at Den Norske Opera and debuted as Tristan at Opéra de Lille. He has also performed in Salome at the Helsinki Opera. Daniel Brenna was educated in Boston and had an international breakthrough in Moses and Aaron at Opernhaus Zürich in 2011. In 2015, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York in Lulu, a production named the best of the year by the New York Times, and in 2016 he returned to the Metropolitan in Jenufa. He has also guested the Bilbao Opera House, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Edmonton Opera, the Comic Opera Berlin, Leipzig Opera House, Aalto-Theatre Essen, Festival St. Margarethen and Munich Radio Symphony.

Lithuanian singer Kostas Smoriginas is a world leading baryton. He was recently seen on SVT as the Toreador in Carmen from Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He made his debut at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin in this role, and has also performed it with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle (recorded for EMI Classics) at the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Santa Fe Music Festival and the Dresden Semperoper. In the 2024-2025 season, Smoriginas sang the role of Jochanaan in Salome at the operas in Hanover, Antwerp and Malmö. At the Zurich Opera he performed Verdi's Requiem with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Lohengrin. The previous season he appeared at the Hamburg Opera, with the Munich Radio Orchestra and at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. He also sang the role of Orest in a concert performance of Elektra with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano in Rome. Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and represented his country in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Music and has been a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House.