Göteborgs Konserthus Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic

Oslo philharmonic orchestra In 1919, the orchestra was established under its current name, but the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra dates back to the 1870s when it collaborated with Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen. The orchestra gives 60-70 concerts annually in Oslo concert hall, several of which are broadcast by NRK, the Norwegian national broadcast. The programs have a high artistic profile and present many of the world's leading conductors and soloists. During Mariss Janson's long tenure as chief conductor (1979-2002), the orchestra grew in size and gained great international recognition. Other chief conductors who followed were André Previn, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vasilij Petrenko. Since 2020, Klaus Mäkelä is chief conductor. Since the 1980s, the Oslo Philharmonic has recorded a number of internationally acclaimed records, including Tchaikovsky's six symphonies (Chandos) and Rachmaninov's three symphonies and four piano concertos (EMI) with Mariss Jansons and the pianist Leif Ove Andsnes. Other solo recordings have included cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, trombonist Christian Lindberg, and violinists Hilary Hahn and Frank Peter Zimmermann. Under Klaus Mäkelä's direction, the Oslo Philharmonic has recorded all of Sibelius' symphonies for Decca Classics.

The Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä has through his fine musical communication with orchestras around the world been internationally celebrated. He took office in 2020 as chief conductor and artistic advisor for the Oslo Philharmonic. He is also from 2022 musical director of the Orchestre de Paris and Artistic Partner of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. At the age of 21, Klaus Mäkelä was appointed first guest conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he assumed in 2018. This season Klaus Mäkelä makes his first appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester and Wiener Symphoniker and returns to the USA to conduct the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mäkelä studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula and cello with Marko Ylönen, Timo Hanhinen and Hannu Kiiski. As a soloist, he has performed with several Finnish orchestras and as a chamber musician at the Verbier Festival, as well as with members of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Klaus Mäkelä has visited the Gothenburg Symphony several times, most recently in November 2020 when he recorded Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with Sol Gabetta for GSOplay.

Violinist Isabelle Faust's great artistic curiosity encompasses all eras and forms of instrumental collaboration. Highlights of the 2022-2023 season include concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, Oslo Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. She also tours with Il Giardino Armonico, English Baroque Soloists, AKAMUS Berlin, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. Chamber music involvement includes collaborations with Sol Gabetta, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Antoine Tamestit, Jörg Widmann, Alexander Melnikov and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. The season ends with solo concerts and Kurtág's "Kafkafragment" with soprano Anna Prohaska at the Musikverein Wien. Isabelle Faust was born in Germany in 1972. After winning the famous Leopold Mozart and Paganini competitions at a young age, she soon appeared with leading orchestras, among them the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. She developed close collaborations with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Giovanni Antonioni, Frans Brüggen and Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Isabelle Faust's recent recordings include Schönberg's Violin Concerto conducted by Daniel Harding with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Alexander Melnikov, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester. Isabelle Faust has also made popular recordings of the sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach as well as violin concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg conducted by Claudio Abbado.