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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.

Peter Friis Johansson has established himself as one of Scandinavia's most sought-after pianists. In 2009, he became Swedish Radio's P2 artist and that same year went on a European tour with concerts in, among others, the Vienna Musikverein and Concertgebouw. In 2012, he suffered a finger injury, but made an international comeback when he won first prize at the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition 2014. In 2015, Peter Friis Johansson performed cycles of Franz Schubert's piano sonatas all over the world. The first of five albums that will include the entire cycle will be released in 2022. He has premiered piano concertos by Sven-David Sandström and Andrea Tarrodi with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020, he completed Laura Netzel's piano concerto and premiered it with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for a recording of Bo Linde's piano trio. Peter Friis Johansson is also a passionate chamber musician who engages in far-reaching collaborative projects. With Emil Jonason he forms the duo Emil & Peter. He is the founder and artistic director of Järna Festival Academy, Sweden's largest chamber music festival.

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.

Peter Friis Johansson has established himself as one of Scandinavia's most sought-after pianists. In 2009, he became Swedish Radio's P2 artist and that same year went on a European tour with concerts in, among others, the Vienna Musikverein and Concertgebouw. In 2012, he suffered a finger injury, but made an international comeback when he won first prize at the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition 2014. In 2015, Peter Friis Johansson performed cycles of Franz Schubert's piano sonatas all over the world. The first of five albums that will include the entire cycle will be released in 2022. He has premiered piano concertos by Sven-David Sandström and Andrea Tarrodi with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020, he completed Laura Netzel's piano concerto and premiered it with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for a recording of Bo Linde's piano trio. Peter Friis Johansson is also a passionate chamber musician who engages in far-reaching collaborative projects. With Emil Jonason he forms the duo Emil & Peter. He is the founder and artistic director of Järna Festival Academy, Sweden's largest chamber music festival.

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.

Peter Friis Johansson has established himself as one of Scandinavia's most sought-after pianists. In 2009, he became Swedish Radio's P2 artist and that same year went on a European tour with concerts in, among others, the Vienna Musikverein and Concertgebouw. In 2012, he suffered a finger injury, but made an international comeback when he won first prize at the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition 2014. In 2015, Peter Friis Johansson performed cycles of Franz Schubert's piano sonatas all over the world. The first of five albums that will include the entire cycle will be released in 2022. He has premiered piano concertos by Sven-David Sandström and Andrea Tarrodi with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020, he completed Laura Netzel's piano concerto and premiered it with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, he was nominated for a Swedish Grammis for a recording of Bo Linde's piano trio. Peter Friis Johansson is also a passionate chamber musician who engages in far-reaching collaborative projects. With Emil Jonason he forms the duo Emil & Peter. He is the founder and artistic director of Järna Festival Academy, Sweden's largest chamber music festival.

Claes Gunnarsson has toured all over the world as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and teacher. He made an early and acclaimed debut as soloist in Dvorák's Cello Concerto with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Shortly afterwards he was appointed principal cellist of the orchestra, a position he has held since 1999. As soloist, Claes has appeared in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonie, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Seoul Arts Center and Singapore Symphony Hall. He has also appeared at leading international festivals such as La Folle Journée in Nantes, Music@Menlo in California, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Affinis in Japan, Yuri Temirkanov's Winter Festival in St. Petersburg and the Qingdao International Cello Festival. Conductors he has collaborated with include Neeme Järvi, Kent Nagano, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Alexander Lazarev, Christian Zacharias and Christopher Warren-Green. As a chamber musician, Claes has collaborated with prominent musicians such as Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolaj Znaider, Christian Zacharias and Hélène Grimaud. Of particular significance is his nearly 25-year collaboration with violinist Sara Trobäck and pianist Per Lundberg in the piano trio Trio Poseidon. The trio has toured extensively both nationally and internationally and made a critically acclaimed recording of Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Brahms' Double Concerto together with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi for Chandos Records. For Chandos Records, he has also recorded Weinberg's Cello Fantasy and Cello Concerto together with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Thord Svedlund. The recording of the cello concerto was awarded the Diapason d'Or award. He is also represented on BIS Records with the premiere recording of Albert Schnelzer's cello concerto. Claes is regularly invited as a guest solo cellist with, among others, the Oslo Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. In parallel with his concert performances, he is active as a teacher at the Academy of Drama and Music at the University of Gothenburg. Claes plays a cello built in 1707 by David Tecchler, generously on loan from the Järnåker Foundation.

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.

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.