Göteborgs Konserthus Mozart with Martin Fröst

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.

Cornelius Meister has been General Music Director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Staatsorchester Stuttgart since 2018. He was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien from 2010 to 2018 as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra from 2017 to 2020. A passionate advocate for cultural participation, Cornelius Meister devotes himself to educational and outreach projects for audiences of all ages, which often introduce them to a symphony orchestra for the first time. In the 2025/26 season he conducts new productions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Dialogues des Carmélites, as well as revivals of Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly. He also completes the cycle of Mahler’s symphonies. Further engagements in this season include returns to the Wiener Staatsoper and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien. As a pianist, he has been invited to perform in the Wiener Philharmoniker's chamber music cycle. He continues to strengthen his relationships with orchestras in Valencia, Geneva, Strasbourg and Frankfurt, and makes his debuts in Bordeaux, Warsaw and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London Since performing his first world premiere as a ten-year-old pianist, Cornelius Meister has been committed to contemporary composers; in 2004 he became Pierre Boulez’s assistant.His operatic career began at the age of 21 at the Hamburgische Staatsoper.