Göteborgs Konserthus Hasselblad Concert: The Seasons in New Colours

The story of Robert Schumann and the piano unfolded over the course of his entire life—initially with passion and joy, and later, amidst depression and physical (as well as psychological) challenges, pushing him to the breaking point. In a famous essay from 1839, he muses on the future direction of the piano concerto as a genre. Schumann asks himself which genius will succeed in transforming the interaction between piano and orchestra from a mere circus act into a true symbiosis of sonic splendor. From the very first notes, it is as if we are hearing the blueprint for what the piano concerto would become in the century to follow. After the orchestra’s opening unison, the piano descends in cascading runs—framed by the orchestra—before the music settles into the theme’s sweet phrasing, passed between oboe and bassoon to the piano, and then carried forward by the strings into the second theme. Schumann’s great achievement with this concerto is the way he unites orchestra and piano; they become part of a shared, unified sound. The premiere of the complete concerto took place in Dresden in 1845, with his wife, Clara Schumann, as the soloist.

Spring - Summer - Autumn - Winter My versions of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons represent a kind of expansion of the sonic palette of the master’s original score. The orchestral variety is inspired primarily by the history of time, people, fashion, architecture, and by everyday sounds that surrounded Vivaldi. Some musical fragments are expanded in sound and duration, too. The pushing of the boundaries of the original volume of these fragments is dictated by Vivaldi’s music itself, and in the course of the work it was as if he simply drew me in to going further and taking my listener away, immersing me in a voluminous musical palette of sounds. The quiet, lyrical parts of the concertos sometimes creep in like dreams, where past and present time spaces collide as if in mirrors. My re-creations of Vivaldi’s concertos are an experiment in hearing the music of a genius in a slightly different way. Aziza Sadikova

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.

Kent Nagano is considered one of today’s outstanding conductors for both operatic and orchestral repertoire. He will be the next Chief conductor and Artistic Director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) in Madrid starting in September 2026 and is the newly appointed Principal Artistic Partner of Filarmonica Toscanini. In addition, he is committed together with Jan Vogler as Artistic Director of the Ring project “The Wagner Cycles” of Dresdner Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln alongside Jan Vogler. He has been Honorary Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin since 2006, Concerto Köln since 2019, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2021 and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg since 2023 and is as patron of the Herrenchiemsee Festival. As a much sought-after guest conductor, Kent Nagano regularly works with leading international orchestras worldwide, 2025-2026 season highlights included several projects with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Maggio Musicale, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Opera de Paris, and the Philharmonia Orchestra amongst others.

Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the most legendary pianists of our time, with a career spanning over 60 years. His interpretations of Ludwig van Beethoven's works in particular are considered classics. Buchbinder was the first pianist to play all of Beethoven's piano sonatas in one festival summer at the 2014 Salzburg Festival. The Wiener Musikverein gave Rudolf Buchbinder the honour of performing all five of Beethoven's piano concertos in a specially created series. He was joined by five of the world's leading conductors and orchestras. His private music collection includes 39 different editions of Beethoven's complete piano sonatas as well as an extensive archive of first printings, original editions and copies of Johannes Brahms' piano concertos. As artistic director, he is responsible for the Grafenegg Festival, which has been one of the most influential orchestral festivals in Europe since its founding in 2007. He is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

Joel Vaz, born in Portugal, is educated at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, and the Académie Musicale de Villecroze in Paris. In 2011 he joined the International Ensemble Modern Academy, collaborating closely with members of Ensemble Modern. Joel has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the European Union Youth Wind Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra de Cadaqués, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He joined the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2020. He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras in Portugal and is a founding member of Ensemble Palhetas Duplas who performs all over the Iberian peninsula.

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.

The trumpeter Per Ivarsson has been principal trumpet in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since 2011. He was recruited to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra even before he graduated from the Academy of Music in Karlsruhe, where he studied for six years. Per Ivarsson was born and raised in Malmö and started playing the trumpet when he was six years old. He has studied with Björn Lovén, Reinhold Friedrich and Håkan Hardenberger. Per Ivarsson is also a devoted chamber musician. With the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Per Ivarsson has, among many other things, been a soloist in Jolivet's Heptade for trumpet and percussion and in Jolivet's second trumpet concerto. He has also made several recordings for GSOplay.

Walter Witick was employed by the Gothenburg Symphony in 2023. He was born in 1992 in Karleby, Finland and began his studies as an 8-year-old at the Middle Österbotten Conservatory. In 2007, he began his studies at the Sibelius Academy's youth department and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree at the Amsterdam Conservatory and a master's degree from the Sibelius Academy. Alongside his work in the orchestra, chamber music is close to his heart.