Slottsskogen The National Day concert

Event has already taken place. Enjoy an afternoon in the greenery of Slottsskogen to the tones of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with presenter Tomas von Brömssen, conductor Johannes Gustavsson, Barbara Hanningan conductor and soprano, Inez Karlsson cello and guests. We also welcome our new citizens in the City of Gothenburg's citizenship ceremony!

Concert length: 1 h 30 min no intermission
Free entry

Event has already taken place

There will be party music for the young and the old when the Gothenburg Symphony takes place in the vast greenery of Slottsskogen. We promise fanfare and tributes on the Swedish National Day 2023 when both Gothenburg turns 402 years old and Sweden 500 years under a united king.

The concert offers notes from musicals like West Side Story and Gershwin’s Girl Crazy, with vocals by Barbara Hannigan. In addition, fabulous theater music from Carl Nielsen and Swedish classics from Alfvén and Stenhammar. The Polstjärnepriset winner 2023, 15-year-old cellist Inez Karlsson takes on Dvorak’s romantic tribute to the forest, while Valborg Aulin’s lustful tones take us to turn-of-the-century Paris.

Join our sing-along and let the sounds of the orchestra be the start of a relaxing summer in the spirit of community. Tomas von Brömssen is presenter and everyone is welcome!

You find us at the big lawn infront of the big pond.

Other activities

Before the concert, there will also be activities on our small stage:

Gothenburg’s citizenship ceremony 2023

In connection with the concert, the City of Gothenburg’s citizenship ceremony will be held, where we welcome our new citizens!

Logotyp Göteborgs Stad

Sing-along text

Så länge skutan kan gå (E. Taube)

Så länge skutan kan gå
så länge hjärtat kan slå
så länge solen den glittrar på böljorna blå
om blott en dag eller två så håll tillgodo ändå
för det finns många som aldrig en ljusglimt kan få!
Och vem har sagt att just du kom till världen för att få solsken och lycka på färden?
Att under stjärnornas glans bli purrad uti en skans att få en kyss eller två i en yrande dans?
Ja, vem har sagt att just du skall ha hörsel och syn, höra böljornas brus och kunna sjunga!
Och vem har sagt att just du skall ha bästa menyn och som fågeln på vågorna gunga.

Och vid motorernas gång
och ifall vakten blir lång,
så minns att snart klämtar klockan för dig: ding, ding, dong!
Så länge skutan kan gå, så länge hjärtat kan slå,
så länge solen den glittrar på böljorna blå,
så tag med glädje ditt jobb fast du lider, snart får du vila för eviga tider!
Men inte hindrar det alls att du är glad och ger hals, så kläm nu i med en verkligt sju-sjungande vals!
Det är en rasande tur att du lever, min vän och kan valsa omkring uti Havanna!
Om pengarna tagit slut, gå till sjöss omigen med Karibiens passadvind kring pannan.
Klara jobbet med glans, gå iland någonstans, ta en kyss eller två i en yrande dans!
Så länge skutan kan gå, så länge hjärtat kan slå, så länge solen den glittrar på böljorna blå

Programme

Trad. Du gamla, du fria 1 min

Bernstein West Side Story: Overture 5 min

Nelson Cardiac Fanfare 4 min

Stenhammar Interlude from the cantata Sången 5 min

Nielsen Overture to Maskarade 4 min

Dvorák Silent woods 6 min

Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 2 min

V Aulin Vie bruyante from Tableaux Parisiens 6 min

Taube Så länge skutan kan gå 4 min

Ericson Utskärgård 2 min

Britta Byström Fanfare für die Verwandlung 4 min

Lumbye Champagnegalop 2 min

Gershwin Girl Crazy, suite 13 min

Tuesday 6 June 2023: The event ends at approx. 15.30

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.

As one of Sweden's leading conductors, Johannes Gustavsson has a wide repertoire and conducts both symphonic and operatic repertoire together with several of the leading Scandinavian orchestras and opera houses. He regularly conducts orchestras such as the Gothenburg Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki City Orchestra. As an enthusiast for contemporary music, Johannes Gustavsson has conducted around 50 premieres of newly written Nordic orchestral works. Johannes Gustavsson has received several appointments and prizes. He was the first recipient of both the Swedish conductor's prize and the Herbert Blomstedt scholarship. He has also won prizes in the Solti competition as well as the Frankfurt and Toscanini competitions in Parma and Taormina in Italy. He was chief conductor at Wermland Opera in the years 2015-2021 and at the Oulu Symphony Orchestra until 2021. Johannes Gustavsson also conducted the Gothenburg Symphony on the Grammis Award-winning recording Aulin, Moberg, Andrée: Orchestral Works wich was recorded in August 2020.

She has been called "an artist who aims straight for the heart and never misses". Since 2019, Canadian Barbara Hannigan has been the first guest conductor for the Gothenburg Symphony, a contract she extended in September 2022 through the summer of 2025. She performed her first concert with the Gothenburg Symphony in 2013 – already a success – and was the orchestra's Artist in Residence in the 2015-2016 season. As a singer and conductor, she collaborates with leading orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the French Radio Philharmonic where she is Première Artiste Invitée, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Barbara Hannigan's debut album as a singer and conductor, Crazy Girl Crazy, was released in 2017 and received both a Grammy and a Juno for Best Vocal Album. In 2021, Barbara Hannigan was appointed an honorary scholarship holder by the Stenastiftelsen and received a scholarship amounting to SEK 300,000. In September 2022, Barbara Hannigan performed the acclaimed La Voix Humaine by Poulenc together with the Gothenburg Symphony. Her commitment to the younger generation of musicians led her to create the mentor initiative Equilibrium Young Artists 2017.

The 15-year-old cellist Inez Karlsson won Polstjärnepriset Award 2023, this being the first time the competition was open to all Nordic countries. Inez Karlsson is a Swedish citizen but lives in the English county of Surrey and is studying with Michal Kaznowski at London’s Royal College of Music. She says about Polstjärnepriset: “Polstjärnepriset 2023 was a fantastic experience for me – it was incredibly stimulating to meet so many fantastic musicians from the entire Nordic region, and I still can’t quite grasp that I won. It’s given me the inspiration to continue to develop as a cellist.”

Tomas von Brömssen presenter

Questions? Contact the ticket office
Percussionist vid pukor med stockar i handen, omgiven av röd sammet.

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