Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1905, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Göteborgs Symfoniker) now numbers 109 players. The great Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar was appointed Principal Conductor in 1907, contributing strongly to the Nordic profile of the Orchestra by inviting his colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to conduct their own works. Subsequent holders of the post include Sergiu Comissiona, Sixten Ehrling, and Charles Dutoit. During Neeme Järvi’s tenure (1982 – 2004), the Orchestra became a major international force. Described by The Guardian as ‘one of the world’s most formidable orchestras’, it has toured in the USA, Japan, and Far East, and in 1997 was appointed The National Orchestra of Sweden. During his celebrated tenure as Music Director (2007 – 12), Gustavo Dudamel took the Orchestra to major music centres and festivals in Europe, making acclaimed appearances at the BBC Proms and Wiener Musikverein, among others. The distinguished American Kent Nagano has been Principal Guest Conductor since 2013 and undertaken successful tours with the Orchestra in China and Germany. The list of prominent guest conductors has included Wilhelm Furtwängler, Pierre Monteux, Herbert von Karajan, Myung-Whun Chung, Herbert Blomstedt, Vladimir Jurowski, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, and Sir Simon Rattle. The Orchestra also runs extensive concert projects for children, and digital live concerts are available on www.gsoplay.com. For Chandos the Orchestra has recorded concertos and symphonies by Mieczysław Weinberg, a comprehensive two-disc set of orchestral works by Alban Berg, and a disc coupling Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Brahms’s Double Concerto. It is now engaged in a project to record the symphonies and other orchestral works by Kurt Atterberg, International Record Review praising its ‘full-blooded, life-asserting playing which ensures that the music leaps from the page as coercively and convincingly as one could wish’. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is a company owned by the Region Västra Götaland.