Frihamnen The Anniversary Festival Opening Concert

Event has already taken place. Sparkling opening concert with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and famous pop artists at Gothenburg's Anniversary Festival in Frihamnen!

Concert length: 1 h 30 min
Free entry

Event has already taken place

The mighty Gothenburg Symphony – Sweden’s National Orchestra – opens Gothenburg’s Anniversary Festival in Frihamnen with a sparkling concert together together with a bunch of well-known Gothenburg artists: Ebbot Lundberg, Maia Hirasawa, Timo Räisänen, Vic Vem, Yukimi Nagano, José Gonzales and Katarina Hemlin. Sissela Kyle is the cicerone and the concert is conducted under the direction of Hans Ek together with the August family and Stefan Sporsén.

The event in Frihamnen is free, the area opens at 15.00 and we start playing at 18.00.

Gothenburg’s official anniversary song

When Gothenburg celebrated 350 years, Lasse Dahlqvist wrote one of his most played songs “Welcome to Gothenburg”. Ahead of Gothenburg’s 400th anniversary, the anniversary and The Brewhouse Award attracted songwriters to write the official anniversary song. During The Brewhouse Award in January 2020, the winning entry, ”Vi vill leva, vi vill dö i Göteborg”, written by Katarina Hemlin, was presented.

Lyrics

Vid Gullbergs Kaj blev vi kvar igår kväll
Efter bad i Poseidon, och promenad längs vår älv
Jag vilar i tystnaden efter allt skrål
Tänk att Håkan fyllde Ullevi igår

Vi ser dagen komma här uppe från bron
Hur hamnen är färgad av gryningens ton
Regnet faller, men nog är det väl så
att det känns mest som hemma just då

Stanna och känn en stund
Hur en gammal stad är ung
Låt ropen eka över gator och torg
Vi vill leva, vi vill dö i Göteborg

Vyn från Skansen Kronan värmer hjärtat alltjämt
Bekymmer försvinner som om vinden har vänt
Tiden kan stanna och tiden kan gå
Så länge vårt hem här kan nås

Kvarter har förfallit och byggts upp på nytt
Men själen i staden har aldrig förbytts
Alla dagar har satt sina spår
I 400 år

Stanna och känn en stund
Hur en gammal stad är ung
Låt ropen eka över gator och torg
Vi vill leva, vi vill dö i Göteborg

Stanna och känn en stund
Hur en gammal stad är ung
Låt ropen eka över gator och torg
Vi vill leva, vi vill dö i Göteborg

Låt ropen eka över gator och torg
Vi ska leva, vi ska dö i Göteborg

The Anniversary Festival 2-5 June

The big Anniversary Festival takes place in Frihamnen in Gothenburg 2-5 June. The large festival area will be filled with a variety of quality music, performances, food, dance, activities and much, much more. Three stages will give you everything from pop music and orchestra to dance-bands and rock music. There will also be delicious and interesting food offerings in three areas.

Several choirs will also take place on stage; Körcentrum Väst with several hundred singers on stage in front of a musical written by Sting, and Hjärta Göteborg will have concerts with choirs and famous names. Stay tuned for more program news and artist releases!

With the Anniversary Festival as the starting point, the celebration of the city of Gothenburg continues all summer until 3 September and is rounded off with the Anniversary Finale with the Free Harbor Days, the Culture Festival and the Gothenburg Marathon.

Find Frihamnen

Friday 2 June 2023: The event ends at approx. 19.30

Participants

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1905 and currently consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra is based in Gothenburg Concert Hall – a gem of functionalism on Götaplatsen square that has enchanted music lovers since 1935. Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra’s Chief Conductor from 1907 until 1922. He gave the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited his colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to collaborate with the orchestra. Under the leadership of Chief Conductor Neeme Järvi between 1982 and 2004, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra undertook a number of international tours and made a hundred or so album recordings while establishing itself as one of Europe’s foremost orchestras. In 1997 the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra received the title of the National Orchestra of Sweden. Since season 2017-2018 Santtu-Matias Rouvali is Chief Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Since season 2019-2020 Barbara Hannigan is Principal Guest Conductor. Christoph Eschenbach was also Principal Guest Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony in the years 2019-2022 – together they formed a strong three-leaf clover consisting of three completely different types of artists. We are also extremely proud to be an official partner of soprano Barbara Hannigan’s mentor initiative Equilibrium, with focus on young singers and musicians who are just beginning their careers. Sten Cranner is the orchestra’s CEO and Artistic Director, while Gustavo Dudamel holds the title of Honorary Conductor and Neeme Järvi that of Principal Conductor Emeritus. Region Västra Götaland is owner of the orchestra. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.

Hans Ek conductor

Sissela Kyle host

Ebbot Lundberg vocalist

Yukimi Nagano vocals

Katarina Hemlin vocals

Maia Hirasawa vocals

Timo Räisänen vocalist

José Gonzales vocalist

Augustifamiljen

Vic Vem

Questions? Contact the ticket office
Symphonia with Tomas Ledin
19 Aug 19.00

Tomas Ledin, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Peter Nordahl in a unique concert experience in Scandinavium on August 19!

Purchase tickets