Göteborgs Konserthus Vibrant Violin Concerto with Bahari

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Göteborgs Konserthus, the funk gem at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2017-2018 season, Santtu-Matias Rouvali has been Chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony. 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. 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 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.

The violinist Ava Bahari is Artist in Residence at Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for her second Season 2025-2026. She gave her first solo concert at age eight in the Gothenburg Concert Hall. She studied at the Oslo Music Academy's Young Artist Program under the tutelage of Prof. Terje Moe Hansen and 2011 to 2015, she continued her studies with Prof. Per Enoksson in Gothenburg Symphony. Ava Bahari has studied Bachelor and Master at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin under the guidance of Prof. Kolja Blacher and received her Diploma in May 2024. In 2021, she also completed a degree at the Accademia Stauffer in Cremona, Italy. Ava Bahari has received numerous awards including 3rd Prize at the Premio Paganini Competition in Genova, 4th Prize at the Concours International Tibor Varga in Sion in 2021, and 1st Prize at the Aurora Music Competition in Stockholm in 2019. Bahari has worked with conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Pekka Kuusisto and Ryan Bancroft and performed with esteemed orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova, Baden-Baden Philharmonie, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Some of her more notable recital performances include a Paganini recital at the Seoul Arts Center, a recital on the "Stauffer" Guarneri del Gesù 1734 in museo del Violino Cremona and a recital in Konzerthaus Berlin. Ava Bahari has also received music and culture scholarships from Sten A Olsson's Foundation for Research and Culture, Royal Society of Science and Knowledge in Gothenburg and the Willinska Foundation. With the Gothenburg Symphony, she made her soloist debut in January 2023 in Schönberg's violin concerto. She plays a 1694 Stradivarius Ovcharov on generous loan from Anders Sveaas Almennyttige Fond.