Norwegian soprano Kine Sandtrø is originally from Stjørdal, Norway, but now lives in Stockholm and studies at the University College of Opera with vocal instructor Anita Soldh. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, and has spent a year at Stockholm Operastudio and folk high school Birka Folkhögskola.

William Davis Lind is a tenor from Härnösand who is studying at the University College of Opera in Stockholm with tenor Erik Årman. Before the University College of Opera, he studied in the vocal performing arts program at folk high school Kapellsbergs Folkhögskola in Härnösand. His singing career began in the rock/pop genre.

Since 1965, the association for parks and festivals Folkets Hus och Parker has awarded a scholarship to a young vocal student. Our great opera star Jenny Lind (1820–1887) donated the funds to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music that now comprise the Jenny Lind Scholarship. This year’s Jenny Lind Scholarship recipient is soprano Kine Sandtrø.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s very first Skansen concert took place back in 1918 in Friluftsteatern, the open-air theatre. After a pause, the orchestra moved its summer concerts to Solliden in the 1930s and 40s. Even during the 1970s and early 1980s, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra regularly appeared on the stage of Solliden.

Last summer, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra restored the lovely tradition of giving concerts at Skansen, the world's oldest open-air museum.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 is one of his most beloved and most played. Since Bo Widerberg used the beautiful second movement in his movie about tightrope walker Elvira Madigan, many people refer to the concerto precisely as Elvira Madigan. The soloist will be David Huang, one of Sweden’s most acclaimed young pianists and winner of the prestigious Soloist Prize in 2014.

The programme also includes Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on a story by Goethe. The music became a global hit when Disney used it in the 1940 film, Fantasia. Mickey Mouse plays an apprentice who loses control of his magical powers when the maser Yen Sid – or ‘Disney’ spelled backward – leaves him alone in the castle.

Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is also based on a story: a Russian folk tale. The premiere in 1910 at the Paris Opera was an enormous success and already the following year, Stravinsky had turned the music into an orchestral suite. In it, he used the same large orchestra as for the ballet, which posed a challenge for presenting many performances. Therefore, in 1919, he reworked the music for a more traditional orchestral composition, which is what will be performed here.

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 a sing-along on the green grass.

This year’s soloist is Peter Mattei. Mattei has established himself as one of the most sought after singers of his generation and has worked with conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Chailly, James Levine, Antonio Pappano, Zubin Mehta, Herbert Blomstedt, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Gustavo Dudamel, Jeffrey Tate, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Harding and others.

This concert is arranged in partnership with the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is one of the true great masterpieces of music history. Beautiful themes, overwhelming virtuosity and rhythmic energy make it one of the most popular of the major concertos. Performing this demanding solo section is the young but already multi-award-winning Swedish violinist Johan Dalene.

We will also hear Tchaikovsky’s warm Symphony No. 5. After four months of work on the symphony he wrote a letter to his patron, the wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck, in which he said he was nearly finished with what he called his “fate symphony”. In notes he left behind, he compares the symphony to “a total resignation to fate”. Unlike the brutality of the previous symphony, this one has a new sense of humility, and the stealthy fate motif which is first heard in the low register of the clarinets recurs in all four movements.

Finally, we will also hear more music by Helena Munktell (1852–1919), one of many female Swedish composers played far too seldom. That said, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has performed her piece Bränningar (Breakers) multiple times since 2010. This dreamy, colourful music conveys a powerful intensity and frothy orchestral movements. It is also one of the very earliest of many depictions of the sea in Swedish music.