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Conductor and oboist François Leleux is the artistic director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from the 2025-2026 season. He has previously featured as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, the Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. As a dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with his long-time concert partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser, as well as with his acclaimed woodwind sextet Les Vents Français, which toured Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Japan in 2024-2025. His recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser for Warner Classics, Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and the award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Other releases include Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with the Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. He most recently guested at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in a chamber concert in 2020.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde The musical language of the opera Tristan und Isolde (1859) is sometimes considered the beginning of musical modernism. Tristan’s harmonic language, filled with linguering and unresolved dissonances, not only realizes the sexual tension between the opera’s two central characters, but also heralds the liberation from the limitations of tonality. The famous “Tristan chord” is an unresolved dissonance, an academic way of saying that it “leads to something”. The prelude exemplifies Wagner’s forward-looking view of both harmony and the question of musical form. Here Wagner’s Leitmotif technique, i.e. central themes that correspond to characters and ideas, is also developed. Something that became completely self-evident in film music many decades later. Isolde has just arrived and finds Tristan dead as the famous piece Liebestod (Love's Death) begins. She wants to sink into unconsciousness and finally consummate her love for Tristan by following him into death. The passage builds to a climax when "waves of refreshing winds" begin to envelop Isolde, and again when she imagines dying in "the mighty wave of the world's breath." She sinks everything as the wind floats and dissolves the chord from the prelude.

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.

Conductor and oboist François Leleux is the artistic director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from the 2025-2026 season. He has previously featured as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, the Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. As a dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with his long-time concert partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser, as well as with his acclaimed woodwind sextet Les Vents Français, which toured Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Japan in 2024-2025. His recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser for Warner Classics, Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and the award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Other releases include Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with the Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. He most recently guested at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in a chamber concert in 2020.

Conductor and oboist François Leleux is the artistic director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from the 2025-2026 season. He has previously featured as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, the Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. As a dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with his long-time concert partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser, as well as with his acclaimed woodwind sextet Les Vents Français, which toured Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Japan in 2024-2025. His recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser for Warner Classics, Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and the award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Other releases include Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with the Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. He most recently guested at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in a chamber concert in 2020.

Conductor and oboist François Leleux is the artistic director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from the 2025-2026 season. He has previously featured as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, the Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. As a dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with his long-time concert partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser, as well as with his acclaimed woodwind sextet Les Vents Français, which toured Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Japan in 2024-2025. His recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser for Warner Classics, Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and the award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Other releases include Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with the Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. He most recently guested at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in a chamber concert in 2020.

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.

Conductor and oboist François Leleux is the artistic director of the Kammerakademie Potsdam from the 2025-2026 season. He has previously featured as Artistic Partner of Camerata Salzburg, Artist-in-Association with Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Artist-in-Residence with orchestras such as hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Berner Symphonieorchester, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include appearances with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, the Staatsorchester Hamburg and the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. As a dedicated chamber musician, he performs worldwide with his long-time concert partners Lisa Batiashvili, Eric Le Sage and Emmanuel Strosser, as well as with his acclaimed woodwind sextet Les Vents Français, which toured Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Japan in 2024-2025. His recordings include Bienvenue en France with Emmanuel Strosser for Warner Classics, Bizet and Gounod with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn), and the award-winning Hummel and Haydn with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Other releases include Bach with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mozart with the Camerata Salzburg, and Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding. He most recently guested at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in a chamber concert in 2020.