About Gothenburg Symphony
In addition to concerts in the Gothenburg Concert Hall and on international tours, the orchestra performs every summer at Götaplatsen and in the Slottsskogen park, and gives guest performances at the concert hall in Vara. The Symphony Orchestra’s television channel GSOplay broadcasts concerts live and on demand in full HD. You can also find us at Google Cultural Institute.
The National Orchestra of Sweden
The Gothenburg Symphony was founded in 1905 and today consists of over 100 musicians. The orchestra’s home is the Gothenburg Concert Hall, which offers many opportunities for meetings and experiences for visitors of all ages.
Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes up the position of our Chief Conductor from the 2017-2018 season. Kent Nagano is the principal guest conductor and the artistic advisor, and Sten Cranner is the managing and artistic director. Gustavo Dudamel is the honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi is the principal conductor emeritus. The orchestra is a part of Region Västra Götaland.
Under the leadership of the conductor Neeme Järvi, 1982–2004, the orchestra made a number of international tours and around a hundred recordings, and established itself as one of the foremost orchestras in Europe. In 1997, the Gothenburg Symphony was appointed as the National Orchestra of Sweden.
Every year we have the pleasure of having a unique Artist in Residence with us – a strong artist with both magnificant musical skills and an inspiring artistry.
We are also a prooud partner to Barbara Hanningan´s mentoring program Equilibrium with focus on young singers at the beginning of his career.
Stenhammar and the Nordic profile
Wilhelm Stenhammar was the principal conductor of the orchestra during the period 1907–1922. He gave the Gothenburg Symphony a distinctly Nordic profile and invited his colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra.
Today, the Gothenburg Symphony regularly collaborates with such conductors as Joana Carneiro, Andrew Manze, David Afkham, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Neeme Järvi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Zacharias and Herbert Blomstedt.
Tours around the world
The Gothenburg Symphony received its international breakthrough in 1987, when the orchestra visited Asia and the USA. Subsequently, the orchestra has also toured in Japan, China and Europe, and performed at the BBC Proms in London, Lucerne in Switzerland, the Salzburg festival, the Musikverein in Vienna and the Barbican in London.
For children and youth
Every year, the Gothenburg Symphony carries out concerts and activities for children, youth, families and schools. The Concert Hall is also a meeting place for young musicians – from those just beginning to students of the music academies. The spring break orchestra and the autumn break choir are a tradition to look forward to every year, as is the collaboration with the cultural schools.
Popical: Meetings with strong artist profiles
The list goes on of all the swedish artists who played with the Gothenburg Symphony under the headline “Popical” – bob hund, Laleh, Timbuktu, Nina Persson, Soundtrack of our lives, Weeping willows and many more. The performers’ songs rendered in a specially crafted arrangement where the musical creativity to create unique concert experiences.
El Sistema
In 2009, the Gothenburg Symphony began a collaboration with the City of Gothenburg to establish El Sistema in Sweden. It was the orchestra’s then principal conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, who brought the model with him from Venezuela.
In 2010, the first El Sistema school started in Hammarkullen, under the management of the cultural school, Angereds kulturskola. El Sistema activities now take place in all districts of Gothenburg and the model has received national and international distribution. All El Sistema schools in Gothenburg are managed by the municipality, with musicians from the Gothenburg Symphony as mentors.
Prestigious recordings
The Gothenburg Symphony collaborates with the recording companies Deutsche Grammophon and Svenska BIS, which has resulted in around a hundred recordings. The orchestra has also made several recordings with Chandos, including symphonies and orchestral works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Alban Berg’s orchestral music, Brahms’s Double Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, as well as symphonies by Kurt Atterberg.
All these recordings can be purchased at the ticket office in the Gothenburg Concert Hall. The Gothenburg Symphony can also be found on GSOplay, Spotify and iTunes, and the concerts are regularly recorded by the Swedish radio company Sveriges Radio P2.
