Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

In 2005, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, The National Orchestra of Sweden and one of Europe’s most distinguished ensembles, celebrated its centenary. During Neeme Järvi’s leadership from 1982 to 2004, the orchestra became a major international force, a development taken further by Mario Venzago and his successor Gustavo Dudamel who became the orchestra's Music Director in 2007. Christian Zacharias and Peter Eötvös are the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductors.

Wilhelm Stenhammar, the great Swedish composer and conductor of the early 20th century, contributed strongly to the Nordic profile of the orchestra. He invited his colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to conduct their own works. Since then the orchestra has performed with legendary conductors such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Pierre Monteux and Herbert von Karajan. Several of today’s most in-demand conductors work regularly with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra: Kent Nagano, Gianandrea Noseda, Vladimir Jurowski and Herbert Blomstedt, among others.

'One of the world's most formidable orchestras,' (The Guardian) it has toured the USA and the Far East and has appeared at major musical centers and festivals throughout Europe. Among the orchestra’s recordings, many of them award-winning, are the complete symphonies of Sibelius, Nielsen, Stenhammar, Berwald, Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov, operas and symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, and the complete orchestral music (6 CDs) of Edvard Grieg.

During the last few years, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Neeme Järvi have recorded the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky (BIS), four volumes released so far, and the complete symphonies of Sibelius (4 SACDs on DG) which were released in 2005. The orchestra’s recording of Berio’s Sinfonia with Peter Eötvös and London Voices (DG) received the BBC Music Magazine’s Award for “Technical excellence in recording” in 2006. The latest recordings are trumpet concertos of HK Gruber, Eötvös and Turnage with Håkan Hardenberger and conducted by Peter Eötvös (DG), and a trumpet recital recording with Alison Balsom and conducted by Edward Gardner (EMI).