Göteborgs Konserthus High above the Sea with Hemsing

Dawn Sunday Morning Mooonlight Storm Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes, which premiered in 1945, is one of the most central works in British opera of the 20th century. It tells the story of a fisherman who causes the death of his apprentices, is harassed by the small town population and loses his mind. Between the acts, Britten inserted four orchestral interludes that can be performed as a standalone orchestral suite, the Four Sea Interludes. They are titled Dawn, Sunday Morning, Moonlight and Storm. The four interludes depict not only the nature outside the small coastal village where the opera is set, but also the psychological content of the opera and the title character's struggle against society and his inner demons. In Britten's music, the sea is both concrete and symbolic, a force of nature and a mirror for human loneliness, alienation and conflict – something that resonated deeply with him as a homosexual in a time of condemnation. With his sensitive tone language, Britten creates an atmospheric soundscape, and its rich, expansive music is reminiscent of Debussy's La Mer and Mahler's emotional moods. The interludes move between impressionistic colors and sharp drama, and show Britten's mastery in transforming the colors of the sea into expressive music of both beauty and anxiety. Andreas Konvicka

Anders Hillborg wrote his second violin concerto in 2016 for the world-renowned violinist Lisa Batiashvili. The premiere was conducted by Sakari Oramo in Stockholm. “One can guess that Anders Hillborg’s new violin concerto will be a piece that violinist Lisa Bathiashvili will watch over jealously for the next few years,” Svenska Dagbladet wrote in the review. Now, despite the warning, Norwegian Eldbjørg Hemsing has also made the concerto her own, and has recorded it on disc. Hillborg’s violin concerto No. 2 is a dynamic and meditative work that invites the listener on a journey through contrasting soundscapes. There is “ethereal beauty” here, as Hemsing’s album promises, with passages of rhythmic intensity. Anders Hillborg wrote his first violin concerto back in 1992, and it has been performed all over the world. Hillborg himself has described that he lets the soloist be more soloistic in the second, and has definitely raised the bar. “Somewhat furiously difficult,” was the assessment in the review from 2016.

Allegro ma non troppo - Andante molto mosso - Allegro - Allegro - Allegretto Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major is one of his most naturalistic and lyrical works. It was written in parallel with the dramatic Fifth Symphony, and they were premiered at the same time on December 8, 1808 in Vienna. Beethoven himself named the Pastoral Symphony, which reveals a new side of him - the thoughtful, naturalistic and soulful. Together with the Fifth Symphony, it marks a new, more narrative and emotional stage in his work. With its five movements and descriptive titles such as “Awakening of Joyful Feelings on Arrival in the Countryside” and “Scene by the Stream”, it differs in character from his other symphonies. Beethoven emphasized in a famous quote that the work should not be seen as an exact nature painting, but as an expression of the feelings that nature arouses. The thunderstorm of the fourth movement with swirling strings, drums and winds is particularly famous, and illustrates the dramatic forces of nature. The last movement is the shepherd's song with happy and grateful feelings. The symphony reflects Beethoven's strong love for country life and every summer he escaped the noise of the city to seek peace in the countryside. He found inspiration for the work in the village of Nussdorf just north of Vienna, and to this day you can walk along the path that bears his name – Beethovengang. Andreas Konvicka

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.

Dinis Sousa is Music Director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS) in the UK and Founder and Artistic Director of Orquestra XXI in his native Portugal. In the 2024-2025 season, Sousa led the RNS in programs with Víkingur Ólafsson, Stephen Hough, Benjamin Grosvenor, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Kristian Bezuidenhout, in Handel's Messiah and much more. In 2023-2024, he conducted an acclaimed Schumann cycle, made a return visit to the BBC Proms and collaborated with soloists such as Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis and Elisabeth Leonskaja. Dinis Sousa has also been Assistant Conductor of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, where he has been praised for, among other things, a complete Beethoven cycle in London and at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2024. In 2023, he enjoyed success with Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Salzburg Festival, Berlin Musikfest and BBC Proms, where The Guardian noted that " Sousa was electrifying in moments of grandeur." In the autumn of 2023, he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in two programs of Bach and Handel. As a guest conductor, Sousa has appeared with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Danish Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Copenhagen Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. In 2025, he will conduct a new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte for the Graz Opera.

Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing is acclaimed for her "breathtaking virtuosity and tenderness" (Expressen, 2024). She has released four award-winning albums and performed world premieres of several compositions. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include visits at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Concertgebouw Amsterdam and a recording of Bruch’s Violin Concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic. In the 2024-2025 season she appeared with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra with Kahchun Wong, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at David Geffen Hall in New York, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Bodensee Philharmonie. She returned to the Oslo Philharmonic and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and guested at the Bechstein Hall in London, the Dvorák Prague Festival and the Schwetzinger Festspiele. She has been acclaimed for her performance of Anders Hillborg's Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, which she also released on CD in 2024. Other highlights in recent years include Rolf Wallin's Virvel with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and collaborations with the Philharmonia and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Eldbjørg Hemsing regularly guest performs with orchestras such as the Bergen Philharmonic, the Belgian National Orchestra, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig and the Shanghai and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras. She has performed at several major events, including the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Shanghai Expo and the UN Security Council. She has developed a close collaboration with composer Tan Dun, and has premiered, toured and recorded several of his award-winning works. Eldbjørg Hemsing was born in Valdres, Norway, and studied at the Barratt Due Music Institute. She plays a 1707 Antonio Stradivarius 'Rivaz, Baron Gutmann' violin, on loan from the Dextra Musica Foundation.