Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual Gärdet concert by the Maritime Museum is an indispensable tradition for Stockholmers. It’s a chance to pack a picnic basket or buy food on-site and enjoy sublime classical music and perhpaps a sing-along on the green grass.

Special guest is Swedish jazz singer Isabella Lundgren, who earlier in June was hailed for her Judy Garland tribute together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at Konserthuset Stockholm (this concert is available on Konserthuset Play). The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Swedish conductor David Björkman, who has worked with the orchestra on many occasions. Besides Judy Garland songs the programme includes classical pieces by for instance Copland, Ravel and Sibelius. 

After two years of pandemic the Gärdet concert is finally back in style, hosted by Konserthuset Stockholm’s Executive and Artistic Director Stefan Forsberg. ”I've been longing for this”, he says. ”Greeting an audience of tens of thousands, bringing their picnic baskets and blankets, sunbonnets or umbrellas, makes it one of the best work days of the year!”

In cooperation with Dagens Nyheter.

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Welcome early to Gärdet. The area opens at 11.00 with activities in the children's tent and sale of food and drink.

A summer concert with genuine hits from the repertoire, but beginning with a less common gem: César Franck’s The Accursed Hunter is a tone poem about a count who, while out hunting, is cursed to be eternally pursued by demons in the woods.

Perhaps one can imagine Spanish sun and flamenco steps in the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra – Rodrigo’s best-known work. The music was inspired by the gardens at the royal palace in Aranjuez, just south of Madrid. Here, Joaquín Rodrigo has captured “the scents of magnolias, the song of birds and the gushing fountains”. The acclaimed and internationally recognised Swedish guitarist Jacob Kellermann is the soloist. He recently released a recording (BIS) of Concierto de Aranjuez, together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Christian Karlsen. 

After intermission, we hear a newly composed piece by one of our top orchestral composers: Britta Byström. A Drama in the Air is inspired by Jules Verne’s novel about a dramatic hot air balloon journey. Britta Byström was featured at Konserthuset’s Composer Weekend in 2010.

We also hear Igor Stravinsky’s elegant The Firebird, the first of the three major ballets composed for Diaghilev’s Russian ballet in Paris. It is based on the Russian folktale about Prince Ivan, who gets lost in an enchanted garden. A large apple tree grows there, and each night, the majestic Firebird visits the garden to eat the golden apples that bestow eternal youth, beauty and happiness.  

The young Swedish conductor Anton Holmer makes his debut here with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied orchestral conducting at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik and has a background as an organist, which he studied in Sweden, Germany and France. 

This version of Romeo and Juliet was created by the community group Livet Bitch! Dramatic arts together with the El Sistema Södertälje chamber orchestra, led by director Linda Mallik. This is a dramatised concert, a dream play of sorts, merging music and words on the stage. 

The performance simultaneously marks the 10-year anniversary of the collaboration between El Sistema Södertälje and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, which both look forward to a continued collaboration. In autumn 2012, El Sistema Södertälje began working with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra’s musicians serve as role models and mentors to the students, and many close friendships have formed between the students and musicians over the years. 

To meet public demand, an additional performance will be presented of the dream play Romeo and Juliet. It will be held at Södertälje Stadsscen. Many attendees were prevented from attending the world premiere at Konserthuset Stockholm in October 2021, due to restrictions. 

This version of Romeo and Juliet was created by the community group Livet Bitch! Dramatic arts together with the El Sistema Södertälje chamber orchestra, led by director Linda Mallik. This is a dramatised concert, a dream play of sorts, merging music and words on the stage. 

The performance simultaneously marks the 10-year anniversary of the collaboration between El Sistema Södertälje and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, which both look forward to a continued collaboration. In autumn 2012, El Sistema Södertälje began working with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra’s musicians serve as role models and mentors to the students, and many close friendships have formed between the students and musicians over the years. 

To meet public demand, an additional performance will be presented of the dream play Romeo and Juliet. It will be held at Södertälje Stadsscen. Many attendees were prevented from attending the world premiere at Konserthuset Stockholm in October 2021, due to restrictions. 

Benjamin Ingrosso returns to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra after the success of the online National Day of Sweden concert in 2021, which is still available on Konserthuset Play.

In 2022, Benjamin Ingrosso performs three concerts, the last of which is at Konserthuset. “It’s a dream to make music with an orchestra like the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. I want to offer something extra, in which my own music becomes ‘classic’ and reminiscent of great pieces that have inspired me throughout my life.” 

Despite the pandemic, Benjamin Ingrosso has been among the most visible artists in the past two years. There have been countless televised performances, including the spectacular ‘The Allsång Stage is Yours’ at Skansen, as well as an acclaimed performance on the Swedish show ‘So Much Better’. But live concerts, his true strength as an artist, were absent, of course. 

On three carefully selected occasions, Benjamin Ingrosso performs live in 2022: a club performance at Fållan in the Slakthusområdet area of Stockholm on 8 April; a festival performance at Lollapalooza in Stockholm on 2 July; and this concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, in which the large orchestra gives his songs a new shape.

In collaboration with Live Nation

Benjamin Ingrosso returns to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra after the success of the online National Day of Sweden concert in 2021, which is still available on Konserthuset Play.

In 2022, Benjamin Ingrosso performs three concerts, the last of which is at Konserthuset. “It’s a dream to make music with an orchestra like the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. I want to offer something extra, in which my own music becomes ‘classic’ and reminiscent of great pieces that have inspired me throughout my life.” 

Despite the pandemic, Benjamin Ingrosso has been among the most visible artists in the past two years. There have been countless televised performances, including the spectacular ‘The Allsång Stage is Yours’ at Skansen, as well as an acclaimed performance on the Swedish show ‘So Much Better’. But live concerts, his true strength as an artist, were absent, of course. 

On three carefully selected occasions, Benjamin Ingrosso performs live in 2022: a club performance at Fållan in the Slakthusområdet area of Stockholm on 8 April; a festival performance at Lollapalooza in Stockholm on 2 July; and this concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, in which the large orchestra gives his songs a new shape.

In collaboration with Live Nation

Welcome to Konserthuset’s season opening, featuring Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana – one of the world’s most famous and beloved pieces for choir and orchestra. It is a mighty hymn to nature, longing, wine and love’s delights. The musicians are led by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor designate, the award-winning American Ryan Bancroft. “A dancing conductor bodes well for the musicians,” wrote newspaper SvD after the 2021 Nobel Prize Concert.

Carl Orff was born in the Bavarian city of Munich and described Carmina Burana as a dramatic cantata subtitled “secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.” The lyrics were found in the early nineteenth century in Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria and were named accordingly – Carmina Burana, Songs of Beuren. Most were written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and they include satire, parody, love songs, lyrics about nature, songs of spring, and dedicated religiosity. 

We also hear music by Austrian Franz Schreker, one of the most refined sound artists of the early twentieth century. His entire life, he was fascinated by sound and tones. Vorspiel zu einem Drama – prelude to a drama – is a reworking of the introduction to his opera Die Gezeichneten, The Branded, an expressionist and powerful psychological drama.

The concert begins with Swedish Lisa Streich, who is known for her beautiful and imaginative orchestral works. As we note in her Segel (Sail), she also gladly uses many as well as unusual percussion instruments – including an egg slicer! 

Welcome to Konserthuset’s season opening concerts, featuring Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana – one of the world’s most famous and beloved pieces for choir and orchestra. It is a mighty hymn to nature, longing, wine and love’s delights. The musicians are led by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor designate, the award-winning American Ryan Bancroft. “A dancing conductor bodes well for the musicians,” wrote newspaper SvD after the 2021 Nobel Prize Concert.

Carl Orff was born in the Bavarian city of Munich and described Carmina Burana as a dramatic cantata subtitled “secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images.” The lyrics were found in the early nineteenth century in Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria and were named accordingly – Carmina Burana, Songs of Beuren. Most were written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and they include satire, parody, love songs, lyrics about nature, songs of spring, and dedicated religiosity. 

We also hear music by Austrian Franz Schreker, one of the most refined sound artists of the early twentieth century. His entire life, he was fascinated by sound and tones. Vorspiel zu einem Drama – prelude to a drama – is a reworking of the introduction to his opera Die Gezeichneten, The Branded, an expressionist and powerful psychological drama.

The concert begins with Swedish Lisa Streich, who is known for her beautiful and imaginative orchestral works. As we note in her Segel (Sail), she also gladly uses many as well as unusual percussion instruments – including an egg slicer! 

Herbert Blomstedt is the absolute biggest Swedish conductor of the modern era. He has conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra well over 200 times since his debut in 1954. He is an international great, having worked with the Dresden Staatskapelle, Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and above all, the San Francisco Symphony, where he spent a decade as chief conductor. In conjunction with his 90th birthday, when he conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Konserthuset Stockholm named its large conductor’s dressing room after him. He turns 95 this year. 

At this welcome return, he leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Arthur Honegger’s third symphony, composed shortly after World War II. Here, in perhaps his best known work, Honegger describes human joy and despair. The music can be interpreted as a journey from brutality to hope and peace. 

Brahms’ fourth and final symphony is infused with melancholic anxiety. It also undergoes a transformation, from difficult twilight to dark night. The fact that Brahms’ symphonic role model was Beethoven is well known and is also evident in the fourth symphony. But this does not mean imitation. The last movement is a dense and striking passacaglia, in which a recurring line of melody in the bass part forms the foundation for the dramatic, passionate finale. 

Herbert Blomstedt is the absolute biggest Swedish conductor of the modern era. He has conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra well over 200 times since his debut in 1954. He is an international great, having worked with the Dresden Staatskapelle, Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and above all, the San Francisco Symphony, where he spent a decade as chief conductor. In conjunction with his 90th birthday, when he conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Konserthuset Stockholm named its large conductor’s dressing room after him. He turns 95 this year. 

At this welcome return, he leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Arthur Honegger’s third symphony, composed shortly after World War II. Here, in perhaps his best known work, Honegger describes human joy and despair. The music can be interpreted as a journey from brutality to hope and peace. 

Brahms’ fourth and final symphony is infused with melancholic anxiety. It also undergoes a transformation, from difficult twilight to dark night. The fact that Brahms’ symphonic role model was Beethoven is well known and is also evident in the fourth symphony. But this does not mean imitation. The last movement is a dense and striking passacaglia, in which a recurring line of melody in the bass part forms the foundation for the dramatic, passionate finale. 

This year, we celebrate the 150-year anniversary of Hugo Alfvén’s birth. With titles like Midsommarvaka (Midsummer Vigil), En Skärgårdssägen (A Legend from the Archipelago) and Dalarapsodi (Dala Rhapsody), he is one of Sweden’s most beloved composers. In his second symphony, which was his major breakthrough, the scene shifts from sunny morning to twilight and stormy night. Alfvén often used elements of folk music in his work, but in this passionate symphony, he has turned his ear out towards Europe. 

Hugo Alfvén was charming and full of life, with a personality that has been described as magnetic. He was a composer and artist, an orchestral and choir conductor – for nearly 40 years, he led the Orphei Drängar men’s choir. A recently published book by music specialist Tobias Lund entitled Speltoken: Hugo Alfvén och Rosens Klang (Gidlunds förlag) (Playing Wild: Hugo Alfvén and the Sound of the Rose) presents a new understanding of Alfvén and his music.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by Patrik Ringborg, an internationally active Swedish conductor who has worked a great deal in Germany. Over the years, he has regularly featured Swedish music, and conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stenhammar Festival in autumn 2021. In spring 2022, he also led GöteborgsOperan’s acclaimed staging of Gösta Nystroem’s opera, Herr Arnes Penningar. 

This year, we celebrate the 150-year anniversary of Hugo Alfvén’s birth. With titles like Midsommarvaka (Midsummer Vigil), En Skärgårdssägen (A Legend from the Archipelago) and Dalarapsodi (Dala Rhapsody), he is one of Sweden’s most beloved composers. In his second symphony, which was his major breakthrough, the scene shifts from sunny morning to twilight and stormy night. Alfvén often used elements of folk music in his work, but in this passionate symphony, he has turned his ear out towards Europe. 

With the cello concerto from 2020, composer Anders Nilsson won Musikförläggarna’s classical music prize, and one reviewer described it as a concert “with hit potential.” Anders Nilsson has had several major successes, including the opera Zarah at Folkoperan in 2007. At the Composer Weekend dedicated to his music the following year, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra performed several of his orchestral pieces. 

Now we hear his cello concerto, with Amalie Stalheim as soloist. She also performed the world premiere. After winning the Soloist Prize in 2018, Stalheim has become established as one of Sweden’s foremost cellists. As the prize jury wrote, she has “natural stage presence and a convincing, mature musical interpretation in interplay with the conductor and orchestra” and her “technical brilliance goes hand in hand with sensitivity and personal expression.” Patrik Ringborg leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.