Göteborgs Konserthus Polstjärnepriset Nordic Edition

Dvorák loved the folk music of his native Bohemia (Czech Republic) and drew inspiration from it in several of his works. His great interest in "the voice of the people" was one of the reasons why the wealthy Jeanette M Thurber invited him in 1891 to become rector of her new National Conservatory in New York and shape a future American national music. A famous statement by Dvorák during this time is also that indigenous and black songs should form the basis of "a great and noble musical tradition... They are the folk songs of America and your composers must adopt them." And so he began his ninth symphony, which he called "From the New World". The first performance took place in Carnegie Hall in December 1893 with conductor Anton Seidl and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a great success.

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.

Swdish conductor Andreas Patrik Hansson, 2021 winner of the Neeme Järvi Prize, holds the position of Assistant Conductor with the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in Switzerland. Andreas has a strong passion for the 20th century conducting tradition. His interpretations of the romantic symphonic repertoire are rich in both energy, passion and emotion. He also has a great interest in contemporary music and has premiered a number of new works such as Gàbor Barta's Jazz Concerto for Violin, Jazz trio and Chamber Orchestra together with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. As an opera conductor, Andreas Patrik Hansson makes his debut in 2023 with 25 performances of the critically acclaimed production Die Zauberflöte: The Next Generation together with Opera2Day and TheaterAlliantie on tour throughout the Netherlands. Andreas Patrik Hansson has conducted a large number of international orchestras, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orchester de Chambre de Lausanne, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Het Residentieorkest and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. Hansson has been the principal conductor of Polstjärnepriset for several years and was appointed as the orchestra's Artistic Director in 2023.

The Polstjärnepriset Symphony Orchestra was formed after the Polstjärnepriset competition had been running for a few years. One of the founders of Polstjärnepriset, Ulrich Kaatz, explains how it all started. "I looked at the entry list, saw all the instruments represented and realised that we had a whole symphony orchestra. All we had to do was provide the sheet music to play together. And that's what we did." The Polstjärnepriset Symphony Orchestra plays in symphony orchestra format, but also divided into strings and winds. The orchestra has played music from Bruckner's 7th Symphony, Dvorák's 9th Symphony, Farrenc's 3rd Symphony, Holst's The Planets and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Works performed by the strings include Elgar's Introduction and Allegro and Vaughan-Williams' Tallis Fantasia. The winds have played De Haan's Banja Luka, Jacobsen's Circus Suite and Strauss' Serenade.