Göteborgs Konserthus A path to peace – Beethoven 9

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) Paths Paths was first performed by trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger at a memorial concert for composer Witold Lutoslawski. It was held at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in September 1994. Few contemporary composers have been respected in such wide circles as the Japanese Toru Takemitsu. He was a mostly self-taught composer who always went his own way and composed an impressive amount of music in most genres. But perhaps you can say that he found his special niche as a film score composer. In 1956 he wrote his first film score and until his death 40 years later he had provided music for 93 films! He was also a devoted cineaste and considered a day without a film screening as lost. His work often contains an attractive mixture of old Japanese folk tradition and European avant-garde, united in a fine-tuned synthesis. He was engaged as guest professor, lecturer and house composer in a number of music metropolises, also in Europe and the USA. Takemitsu was a composer who was very highly regarded around the world and many musicians were eager to have music written by him. Stig Jacobsson

Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016) A Requiem in Our Time Hymnus Credo et dubito Dies Irae Lacrymosa “I was still a student at the Sibelius Academy when I wrote this ‘breakthrough work’ that won an international composition competition in Cincinnati. The work is not a collective and apocalyptic 'Requiem for our time’, as the title has sometimes been rendered. It is in fact a very personal work dedicated to my mother, who died during the war; it explores the borderline between belief and doubt and concludes more in sorrow than in declamation. The ensemble prescribed for the competition -- four horns and trumpets, three trombones, baritone horn, tuba and percussion -- was so new and strange for me at that stage in my development that I still wonder at how confident the instrumental writing is. Einojuhani Rautavaara 2003

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No 9 Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso Molto vivace Adagio molto Presto A masterpiece - but sometimes impossible to play, impossible to sing. Beethoven's famous 9th is a display of the genius that came to characterize an entire symphonic world, and a magnum opus turned upside down. There has been speculation as to what he actually meant by certain episodes. Regardless, a performance is unforgettable for all participants. Now the work turns 200 years. Commander Beethoven lines up all imaginable effects to keep you awake for 65 minutes. The designation "Maestoso" is an understatement. Those who listen carefully hear how the first movements prepare the melodic climax that awaits in the last movement, like an eager, self-paced prequel to an adventure film. But what happens before the chorus can be unleashed in Ode to Joy (An die Freude)? Beethoven took on the task of stretching the symphonic form to its breaking point. The first movement has two contrasting themes, which are then via a fugue repeated in a massive coda towards the end. The ambition led Beethoven to compose the longest symphonic movement ever written at this time. The second movement is a scherzo with an eager theme in D minor. Beethoven twists the classic three-beat form so that it sounds like four beats. When the theme eventually changes to major, we get a foretaste of the light that awaits later in the symphony. Movement three is slow and profound with lyrical variations. Beethoven is playing call-and-response with strings and brass. Towards the end, the timbre rises to fanfares as if to say: life is not over yet. Not the party either. The last movement opens with the "Terror Chord", as Wagner called it. Now the melody for An die Freude is finally presented. Beethoven lets the double bass and cello start, everyone else gets to listen and learn. Then the powerful text by Friedrich Schiller takes over, a poem Beethoven had loved since his youth. The movement lasts for a full 24 minutes and ends with choir, orchestra and soloists united in an indelible glow from the spark of the gods.

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 2024-2025 season is Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s final as a Chief Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony following a successful eight-year tenure. He continues as a Principal Conductor of Philharmonia Orchestra and a Honorary Conductor of Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra close to his home in Finland. In 2023, Rouvali toured with the Gothenburg Symphony and violinist Arabella Steinbacher in Salzburg and Vienna. Concerts in Gothenburg in the 2023-2024 season included music by Boulanger, Saariaho, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven. He also led the Gothenburg Symphony in the European premiere of Julia Wolfe's choral drama Fire in My Mouth, as well as sold-out concerts with Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto. Deepening his strong relationship with New York Philharmonic, summer 2024 marked Rouvali’s first appearance at Bravo! Vail Festival with the orchestra and soloists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Augustin Hadelich. The summer also saw Rouvali and Philharmonia Orchestra continue their residency in Mikkeli, Finland, and return to Edinburgh International Festival, performing Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. Throughout this season and last, he continues his relationships with top-level orchestras and soloists across Europe, including Munich Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and he returns to North America for concerts with New York Philharmonic. This season, he also appears with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Rouvali works with many international soloists including Bruce Liu, Lisa Batiashvili, Seong-Jin Cho, Nicola Benedetti, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Nemanja Radulovic, Stephen Hough, Augustin Hadelich, Nikolai Lugansky, Christian Tetzlaff, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride and Ava Bahari. Rouvali’s end of tenure with Gothenburg Symphony is marked by a tour to Germany and Czech Republic, followed up by a celebration concert in Gothenburg. He completes his Sibelius Cycle recording with Alpha Classics, the previous releases of which have been highly acclaimed with awards including Gramophone Editor’s Choice award, the Choc de Classica, a prize from the German Record Critics, the prestigious French Diapason d’Or ‘Découverte’, and Radio Classique’s ‘TROPHÉE’. Rouvali also has an extensive record production with Philharmonia Records. Another prominent CD – Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicola Benedetti and Sheku Kanneh-Mason – was released on Decca in May 2024.

The trumpeter Per Ivarsson has been principal trumpet in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since 2011. He was recruited to the Malmö Symphony Orchestra even before he graduated from the Academy of Music in Karlsruhe, where he studied for six years. Per Ivarsson was born and raised in Malmö and started playing the trumpet when he was six years old. He has studied with Björn Lovén, Reinhold Friedrich and Håkan Hardenberger. Per Ivarsson is also a devoted chamber musician. With the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Per Ivarsson has, among many other things, been a soloist in Jolivet's Heptade for trumpet and percussion and in Jolivet's second trumpet concerto. He has also made several recordings for GSOplay.

Karolina Andersson is educated at HSM in Gothenburg and has performed roles such as Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, Ninetta in La Gazza Ladra, The Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring, Blonde in Il Seraglio and two premieres; Annette in Faust (Philippe Fénelon) and Ophelia in Hamlet (Christian Jost). 2007-2009 she was employed at Komische Oper in Berlin, where she also returned as a guest in several productions. She has had engagements at the Opéra National de Paris, Staatsoper Berlin, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Gothenburg Opera, Royal Opera in Stockholm and Drottningholm Palace Theatre. 2014-2015 Karolina Andersson was at Wermland Opera. Among her engagements in recent years, Andersson has been seen in The Phantom of the Opera both in Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as the parade role of Queen of the Night again at the Komische Oper Berlin and the Royal Opera and at the Turku Musikfestspel. She has received the Royal Academy of Music's Christina Nilsson scholarship and the Sten A Olsson cultural scholarship.

The Finnish-Swedish mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt has made a career on major opera stages around the world. After studying at the Sibelius Academy and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she joined the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt. She particularly focused on Mozart roles, including operas such as Tito, Idomeneo, La Finta Giardiniera and La Finta Semplice. She has also been acclaimed for roles in The Adventures of Hoffmann, The Ring and The Cunning Little Vixen with directors and conductors such as Christof Nel, Keith Warner, Hans Neuenfels, Christof Loy and Sebastian Weigle. Jenny Carlstedt made her US debut in 2015 as Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during the Esa-Pekka Salonen. In addition, she sang Idamante at the opening concert of the Stuttgart International Festival with the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart in autumn 2015. Recent engagements include Irina Gyllen in the world premiere of Jää (Ice) by the Finnish composer Jaakko Kuusisto based on Ulla-Lena Lundberg's novel and Tereza in Kaija Saariaho's Innocence, all at the Finnish National Opera. In 2023 she was a soloist at the BBC Proms in Mahler's 3rd with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. She also sang the lead role as The Waitress in Kaija Saariaho's acclaimed masterpiece opera Innocence at the Finnish National Opera. In the spring of 2025, she will guest star at the Adelaide Music Festival in Australia in the same role. In 2026, she also sings the role of Katrine in the premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund's new opera Morgonstjärnan in Helsinki.

Daniel Frank began his career at Folkoperan in Stockholm in 2009, where he performed a series of acclaimed roles. He subsequently appeared on several famous opera stages, including in productions such as Tannhäuser in Düsseldorf and Colombia, Jenufa in Kiel and Peter Grimes in Bern. At Malmö Opera he has performed Aida in 2015 and at Wermland Opera he has performed Fidelio and Die Tote Stadt. In 2017 he sang Siegfried in Ragnarök in Karlsruhe's Ring cycle and established himself as a Wagner singer on a number of stages. He has made Ring performances in, among other places, Stockholm, Dortmund, Kassel, Düsseldorf and at the Wiener Staatsoper. In 2024, he has been seen at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Die Walküre and at the Wiener Staatsoper in Ariadne auf Naxos and in the title role in Parsifal.

Henning von Schulman is a freelance singer and was a member of the soloist ensemble at the Opera in Copenhagen 2013-2017. There he played the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Banco in Verdi's Macbeth and Sarastro in The Magic Flute. He is also a sought-after soloist in oratorios such as Mozart's Requiem and Verdi's Requiem. With his wide vocal repertoire, he has also done several concert programs including Schubert's Winterreise and his personal favorite, Songs and Dances of Death by Mussorgsky. With his obvious stage presence, he has won prizes at international competitions such as the Wilhelm Stenhammar competition in Norrköping in 2014 and the Otto Edelman competition in Vienna in 2013. He was awarded the 2016 Birgit Nilsson scholarship.

The Gothenburg Symphony Vocal Ensemble (GSVE) was formed in 2016 and consists of 12 professional singers. The ensemble works both as part of the Gothenburg Symphony Choir in major symphonic works performed together with the Gothenburg Symphony, and as an independent ensemble under the direction of Katie Thomas. GSVE is a group of experienced and versatile singers, who perform varied programs and explore a wide repertoire, from medieval music to newly commissioned works. The ensemble has previously collaborated with, among others, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Barockakademin Göteborgs Symfoniker and performs regular vocal programs both in Gothenburg's Concert Hall and around the Västra Götaland region.

The choir was founded in 1917 by cousins Elsa and Wilhelm Stenhammar. Elsa Stenhammar was one of the driving forces in turn-of-the-century choir life in Gothenburg and became the choir's first rehearser. On December 8, 1917, the choir debuted in Beethoven's Choir Fantasy with Wilhelm Stenhammar as soloist at the grand piano. As the country's oldest symphonic choir, they were able to celebrate their 100th anniversary in 2017 with a big celebratory concert where Mozart and Brahms as well as Stenhammar, Elfrida Andrée and Björn & Benny were on the program. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir is a non-profit association that is linked to the Gothenburg Symphony. The choir participates in concerts and performances under both the orchestra's and its own auspices. The music is mixed and the repertoire extensive. The Gothenburg Symphony Choir has participated in concerts in, among other places, the Royal Albert Hall and Canterbury Cathedral in England, as well as participated with the Gothenburg Symphony in the annual music festival in the Canary Islands and on a tour to China.