Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft

Full of inspiration, Robert Schumann began work on his second symphony in early December 1845. However, his depressions, poor health, and constant tinnitus meant that it wasn't until the following autumn that the symphony was completed. Yet, his severe personal condition has not left its mark on the music at all; instead, the symphony is bright and forward-looking, a resounding triumph over the darker aspects of life.

The concert begins with the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's hypnotically evocative Ciel d’hiver, Winter Sky – an arrangement of a part of her orchestral work Orion. The music is inspired by the Greek myth of the hunter Orion, who was transformed into a constellation. Saariaho's music possesses a strange beauty that makes her unique, and she is considered one of the most significant composers of our time. Saariaho passed away in 2023, and ten years earlier, she was awarded the Polar Music Prize.

Learn more about Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft

Sibelius' Violin Concerto is one of the most performed violin concertos of the 20th century. However, its tonal language belongs to the late 19th century, and the music is warm and lyrical, dramatic and melancholic. Sibelius, himself a violinist, possibly wrote the concerto he himself would have wanted to play – albeit on a technical level far beyond his own. It is among the more challenging in the genre, as many violinists have attested.

Taking on the challenge is the Russian-born Israeli violinist Maxim Vengerov, one of the greats of our time, who has only performed with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra once before, and that was 30 years ago! He is ranked among the world's finest, and in addition to performing concerts on the major classical stages, he is a guest professor at both the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland and the Royal College of Music in London.

Full of inspiration, Robert Schumann began work on his second symphony in early December 1845. However, his depressions, poor health, and constant tinnitus meant that it wasn't until the following autumn that the symphony was completed. Yet, his severe personal condition has not left its mark on the music at all; instead, the symphony is bright and forward-looking: a resounding triumph over the darker aspects of life.

The concert begins with the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's hypnotically evocative Ciel d’hiver, Winter Sky – an arrangement of a part of her orchestral work Orion. The music is inspired by the Greek myth of the hunter Orion, who was transformed into a constellation. Saariaho's music possesses a strange beauty that makes her unique, and she is considered one of the most significant composers of our time. Saariaho passed away in 2023, and ten years earlier, she was awarded the Polar Music Prize.

Learn more about Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft

The Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's music is familiar to many from the delightful Sabre Dance of the ballet Gayane, and the Adagio from the ballet Spartacus, from which the swooning theme music for the TV series The Onedin Line was borrowed. Khachaturian unquestionably wrote music that captivates listeners.

Unfortunately, his other works have rarely been performed at Konserthuset. Here, it is Jean-Yves Thibaudet who takes on the vibrant and powerful piano concerto, with a beautifully flowing and dreamlike middle movement where the strings are accompanied by a flexatone (imagine playing on a saw!). The distinguished French pianist Thibaudet has been a champion of Khachaturian's music for many years.

Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft then leads the orchestra in the classic Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. This tone poem, with its powerful – not to mention iconic – opening, is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel. It is well known, of course, that Strauss's music was used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Stanley Kubrick actually also placed music from Khachaturian's ballet Gayane in the same film.

The concert opens with the world premiere of a newly written work by the young Swedish composer Zacharias Wolfe (born 1996). Here begins a new collaboration with the Royal College of Music in Stockholm: each season a newly written work by a master's student will be performed. Wolfe's orchestral work Held by Threads is the first.

Learn more about Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft

The Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's music is familiar to many from the delightful Sabre Dance of the ballet Gayane, and the Adagio from the ballet Spartacus, from which the swooning theme music for the TV series The Onedin Line was borrowed. Khachaturian unquestionably wrote music that captivates listeners.

Unfortunately, his other works have rarely been performed at Konserthuset. Here, it is Jean-Yves Thibaudet who takes on the vibrant and powerful piano concerto, with a beautifully flowing and dreamlike middle movement where the strings are accompanied by a flexatone (imagine playing on a saw!). The distinguished French pianist Thibaudet has been a champion of Khachaturian's music for many years.

Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft then leads the orchestra in the classic Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. This tone poem, with its powerful – not to mention iconic – opening, is inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel. It is well known, of course, that Strauss's music was used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Stanley Kubrick actually also placed music from Khachaturian's ballet Gayane in the same film.

The concert opens with the world premiere of a newly written work by the young Swedish composer Zacharias Wolfe (born 1996). Here begins a new collaboration with the Royal College of Music in Stockholm: each season a newly written work by a master's student will be performed. Wolfe's orchestral work Held by Threads is the first.

Learn more about Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft