Göteborgs Konserthus Víkingur Ólafsson and Manfred Honeck

Allegro Larghetto Allegretto At the beginning of 1786, Mozart worked most intensively on the opera buffa The Marriage of Figaro. But as always, the work was interrupted now and then by other commissions and by other works that were begging to be written down. Mozart himself probably premiered his 24th piano concerto on April 7 at the Burgtheater in Vienna. After this very personal and open-hearted music, he was able to return to the comedy in Figaro and complete the opera without further interruptions. The main theme in the first movement is presented in unison in the orchestra and is allowed to play the role of a kind of chorus throughout the movement. When the piano enters, it takes up another theme, which nevertheless shows a certain kinship. Mozart had only used this method once before, and that was in the Piano Concerto in D minor, No. 20. He did not write any more concertos in minor! This first movement is more symphonic than concertante, and the orchestra is the largest that Mozart prescribed in both concerto and symphony contexts. To this challenge, the easy larghetto stands out as a bright contrast, even if the attentive listener notices the tears behind the smile.

Symphony No. 4 E minor Op 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato (Tema con variazioni) Brahms himself conducted the first performance of the work. This took place in Meiningen on October 25, 1885, but was not an immediate success, even though Brahms once again composed melodically accurate and thoughtfully orchestrated music. What made it all a bit dubious was that the music was not particularly easy to buy at all. The audience found too much melancholy and there was talk of autumn music. The simile is actually not so crazy at all, if you also consider that autumn is not only dark, but also has strong colors. It has been said that at this time Brahms was studying the ancient Greek tragedian Sophocles' drama Oedipus in detail, and possibly some of the moods from there have crept into the music. Today, Brahms's Fourth Symphony has a high status. It is regarded as the crown of a very symphonic creation, and as the testament of a master. It is a deep, gentle and slightly resigned music with rare well-balanced form and character. And the finale has been especially admired with its eight-bar passacaglia theme presented by the brass in rigorously executed and artful variations. STIG JACOBSSON

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.

Manfred Honeck has a long career as a leading conductor and during the 1990s had a close collaboration with the Gothenburg Symphony. Since 2008, he has been music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a frequently touring orchestra. In 2000-2006 he was Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Manfred Honeck's successful work in Pittsburgh has resulted in recordings on the Reference Recordings label with works by Strauss, Beethoven, Bruckner and Tchaikovsky. The recording of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 and Barber's Adagio won the 2018 Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance. Born in Austria, Manfred Honeck received his musical education at the University of Music in Vienna. His many years of experience as a member of the viola section of the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera have had a lasting influence on his work as a conductor. He began his conducting career as assistant to Claudio Abbado and as director of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra. He has been one of three principal conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, music director of the Norwegian National Opera, principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. He was recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra effective from 2028.

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s unique personality and strong musical conviction have taken the music world by storm, establishing him as one of the most sought-after artists of our time. He has made an indelible mark with his albums featuring the music of Philip Glass, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Rameau/Debussy (Deutsche Grammophon). In January 2025, he gave the world premiere of John Adams’s After the Fall with the San Francisco Symphony—a co-commission with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra—and subsequently performed the work in Gothenburg alongside Adams. This performance was also recorded for GSOplay. During the past season, Ólafsson toured the US with the Philharmonia Orchestra, returned to the Berlin Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic, and served as Artist in Residence at Cal Performances in Berkeley, California, and at Müpa Budapest. In November 2025, he presented his album Opus 109—centered on Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30—and continues to tour extensively with the accompanying solo program, performing at some of the leading concert halls across Europe and North America. Ólafsson won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his recording of the Goldberg Variations. He has also won the BBC Music Magazine Album of the Year award and the Opus Klassik Solo Recording of the Year award (twice).