Göteborgs Konserthus Pekka Kuusisto & Anne Sofie von Otter

Ellen Reid (b 1983) Body Cosmic American composer Ellen Reid is dedicated to opera, sound art, avant-garde pop and film music. Her works are commissioned by the largest orchestras in the United States. In 2019, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for her opera Prism. She tells about her music: "Body Cosmic is a meditation on the human body as it creates life and gives birth. The first movement, Awe | she forms herself unspools a melody against the pulse of an ostinato, reflecting the surreality of creating new life, so common and yet so astonishing. Dissonance | her light and its shadow explores the conundrum of bringing new life into the simultaneously beautiful and crumbling world, moving between big splashes of smearing brass and tumultuous percussion and moments of warmth and blazing beauty. This piece was written in response to my own experience with pregnancy and childbirth, a period of time that coincided with my dual residency at the Concertgebouw concert hall and with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Spending time in Amsterdam, working in the Concertgebouw’s storied halls, activated over a hundred and forty years of music-making, is a looming presence in this work. Thank you to the incredible musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, whose generous artistic contributions rang loudly in my mind’s ear as I wrote this piece." (Ellen Reid)

Mikael Karlsson (b 1975) So We Will Vanish, Orchestration: Michael P. Atkinson, Mikael Karlsson, Text: Royce Vavrek Doggerland - Firehawk - Saint Helena Olive So We Will Vanish is a song cycle about natural destruction in nature, narrated by three trees that have either already perished or are about to perish. The title is a quote from director Werner Herzog: “Life on our planet has been a constant series of cataclysmic events, and we are more suitable for extinction than a trilobite or a reptile. So we will vanish. There’s no doubt in my heart.” Herzog predicts that we, like trees, and like so many species, are suited for extinction. The three trees in the song cycle tell us how they disappeared to show how natural it is to cease to exist. Mikael Karlsson

With his broad musical experience (he played cornet, percussion and violin), Nielsen has always been popular with orchestras: he is a "musicians' composer" whose parts are almost always rich in content and challenging. The Fourth Symphony (1916) is dense and intense, but there are also peaceful islands of recovery. The symphony opens with a powerful, completely surprising first movement, moves through a graceful allegretto (in which the wind instruments initially dominate) and a glowing third movement before ending with a blazing finale in which two drummers duel violently - incited and supported by the rest of the orchestra. This is how Nielsen himself described the symphony: "The title (The Inextinguishable) suggests something that only music itself can express: the elementary will to live. /.../ Life is indelible and inextinguishable, yesterday, today and tomorrow, life was, is and will exist in struggle, conflict, generation and annihilation."

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.

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto is known for his artistic freedom and innovative approach to repertoire. He is the artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and, since 2023, principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He is also a partner with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Season 2025-2026 he joined as Principal Guest Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He has also been appointed as chief conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 2028. In season 2024-2025 Kuusisto appeared with Helsinki Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra as soloist and conductor, play-conducted the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He conducted the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Sinfonia and Ostrobothninan Symphony as well as appeared soloist with Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the NSO Dublin, Brussels Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon with André de Ridder, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Kuusisto continues his collaboration with Gabriel Kahane as Council following successful tours in the US and Australia. Kuusisto gets involved across the entire artistic spectrum. He has collaborated with musicians such as Hauschka & Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electro pioneer Brian Crabtree, jazz trumpeter Arve Henriksen, juggler Jay Gilligan, accordionist Dermot Dunne and folk artist Sam Amidon. In 2024, Kuusisto was featured in two releases on Sony – Bryce Dessner’s album SOLOS where he performed composer’s Ornament and Crime for solo violin, and on Anna Clyne’s and The Knights album Shorthand performing Prince of Clouds for two violins. In 2023, Kuusisto released an album for BIS as conductor in Jaakko Kuusisto's symphony, and one for Alba as violinist with Malin Broman and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra with works by Tarrodi, Byström, Larsson and Zinovjev. Composers who have written violin concertos for Kuusisto include Nico Muhly, Sebastian Fagerlund and Bryce Dessner. Pekka Kuusisto plays an Antonio Stradivarius from 1695 on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust.

An ever-changing repertoire has played a key role in maintaining mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter's international profile; from the early role of Octavian (Die Rosenkavalier) to her acclaimed Leonora in the world premiere of Thomas Adès' The Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera. Highlights of recent years include Dialogues des carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, The Marriage of Figaro at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Orpheus in the Underworld at the Salzburg Festival and Oedipus at the Opéra National de Paris. She has also made her role debuts as the Countess in The Queen of Spades and Adelaide in Arabella. Anne Sofie von Otter's versatility has led her to work with legendary artists such as Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Elvis Costello, Brad Mehldau and Rufus Wainwright. She has inspired several contemporary composers, in particular Mikael Karlsson. In 2023 she played Gaby in the world premiere of his opera Melancholia at the Royal Swedish Opera and the role of Justine in Fanny and Alexander, with world premiere at La Monnaie. The 2025-2026 season will include concert tours in North America with her long-time collaborator Kristian Bezuidenhout in Schubert's Schwanengesang, as well as Japan and Hong Kong with a trio program. She is also singing the Baroness in Barber's Vanessa with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.