Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft
The award-winning American conductor Ryan Bancroft is Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ryan Bancroft grew up in Los Angeles and first came to international attention in April 2018 when he won both First Prize and Audience Prize at the prestigious Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen.
Since 2023, Ryan Bancroft has held the position of Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, a choice met with acclaim across the music sphere. After just one season with the orchestra, it's evident that all expectations have not only been met but surpassed.
In his second season with the orchestra, 2024/25, Bancroft continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to Swedish music, featuring works such as Wilhelm Stenhammar's Serenade and two Swedish world premieres.
During his first season, he premiered a symphony by Daniel Börtz and conducted the European premiere of Anders Hillborg's The MAX Concerto. Noteworthy in a more standard repertoire was for instance the unanimously acclaimed interpretation of Mahler's Fifth Symphony in autumn 2023 (available on Konserthuset Play), and in the upcoming season, he will tackle Mahler's monumental Third Symphony.
In spring 2025, Ryan Bancroft and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra embark on their very first European tour together, joined by soprano Nina Stemme among others. Concerts are scheduled in Gothenburg, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Dortmund, Luxembourg, and Vienna.
Bancroft has recently debuted with numerous leading European and American orchestras, including the Philharmonia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Rai Orchestra in Turin, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony. He has also conducted all major Swedish orchestras, including the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
He has a passion for contemporary music and has performed with Amsterdam’s acclaimed Nieuw Ensemble, the French Ensemble Intercontemporain, assisted Pierre Boulez in a performance of his Sur Incises in Los Angeles, premiered works by Sofia Gubaidulina, John Cage, James Tenney, Anne LeBaron, and he has worked closely with improvisers such as Wadada Leo Smith and Charlie Haden.
Ryan Bancroft studied trumpet at the California Institute of the Arts, alongside additional studies in harp, flute, cello, and Ghanaian music and dance. He then went on to receive an MMus in orchestral conducting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. While studying in Scotland he played trumpet with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on many occasions.
He continued his conducting studies in the Netherlands and is a graduate of the prestigious Nationale Master Orkestdirectie run jointly by the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague. As a student, his main mentors were Edward Carroll, Kenneth Montgomery, Ed Spanjaard and Jac van Steen.
A number of filmed concerts with Ryan Bancroft and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra are available on Konserthuset Play.
Concerts
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraLeif Ove Andsnes is the piano soloist when Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts Nordic classics.
Thursday 23 January 2025 19.00
Photo: Helge Hansen
Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft. Photo: Yanan Li
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraGrieg’s Piano Concerto
Leif Ove Andsnes is the piano soloist when Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts Nordic classics.
Thursday 23 January 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
The link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/grieg-and-stenhammar/20250123-1900/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto is a classic among classics, constantly featured on concert programmes worldwide, and probably available in hundreds of recordings. Grieg was 25 when he composed the music, and the fact that it was his first work with an orchestra is astonishing. Taking on his compatriot's superhit is none other than Leif Ove Andsnes, one of the world's leading pianists.
The concert opens with the exciting premiere of Rocking Bodies by Chrichan Larson. Rocking Bodies plays with the idea of resonant bodies moving in waves around a centre – sometimes repelled, sometimes drawn in. Larson is active as a composer and cellist, a prominent musician who has often been seen in the cello section of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Concluding the concert, Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in Wilhelm Stenhammar's exquisite Serenade. Stenhammar got the idea for the music during a stay in Florence in 1907. In one of his letters, he wrote: ”I want to compose as beautifully and tenderly about the South as only a Nordic person can.” He succeeded, for the Serenade is a masterpiece.
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The music
Approximate times -
Chrichan Larson Rocking bodies (World Premiere of Commissioned Work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)15 min
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Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto30 min
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Intermission25 min
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Wilhelm Stenhammar Serenade in F major38 min
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Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Ryan Bancroft conductor
- Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Thursday 23 January 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Leif Ove Andsnes is the piano soloist when Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts Nordic classics.
Saturday 25 January 2025 15.00
Photo: Helge Hansen
Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft. Photo: Yanan Li
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraGrieg’s Piano Concerto
Leif Ove Andsnes is the piano soloist when Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft conducts Nordic classics.
Saturday 25 January 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
The link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/grieg-and-stenhammar/20250125-1500/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto is a classic among classics, constantly featured on concert programmes worldwide, and probably available in hundreds of recordings. Grieg was 25 when he composed the music, and the fact that it was his first work with an orchestra is astonishing. Taking on his compatriot's superhit is none other than Leif Ove Andsnes, one of the world's leading pianists.
The concert opens with the exciting premiere of Rocking Bodies by Chrichan Larson. Rocking Bodies plays with the idea of resonant bodies moving in waves around a centre – sometimes repelled, sometimes drawn in. Larson is active as a composer and cellist, a prominent musician who has often been seen in the cello section of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Concluding the concert, Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in Wilhelm Stenhammar's exquisite Serenade. Stenhammar got the idea for the music during a stay in Florence in 1907. In one of his letters, he wrote: ”I want to compose as beautifully and tenderly about the South as only a Nordic person can.” He succeeded, for the Serenade is a masterpiece.
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The music
Approximate times -
Chrichan Larson Rocking bodies (World Premiere of Commissioned Work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)15 min
-
Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto30 min
-
Intermission25 min
-
Wilhelm Stenhammar Serenade in F major38 min
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Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Ryan Bancroft conductor
- Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Saturday 25 January 2025 15.00
Ends approximately 17.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal musicNina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.
Wednesday 12 March 2025 19.00
Nina Stemme. Photo: Yanan Li
Chefdirigent Ryan Bancroft. Photo: Yanan Li
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal musicMahler and Nielsen
Nina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.
Wednesday 12 March 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
The link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/mahler-and-nielsen/20250312-1900/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.The concert begins with Demon by the British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989) – a co-commissioned work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra premiered in 2023 by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She found inspiration in old folk tales from the British Isles, chilling stories where a demon can manifest anywhere - here as both menacing and playful orchestral music.
Menacing indeed. Mahler's heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder – Songs on the Death of Children – has tragic points of connection with Mahler's own life, and the composition would also come to seem like a premonition: a few years later, Mahler's eldest daughter Maria died. The poems by Friedrich Rückert that Mahler chose deal with the parents' grieving process and the slow reconciliation with a painful reality. The world-renowned Nina Stemme is the soloist in this poignant music.
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in this program, which concludes with Carl Nielsen. Nielsen's Fourth Symphony is subtitled "Det uudslukkelige" (The Inextinguishable). It's dramatic music written in the midst of the First World War, famous in part for its duel between two timpanists.
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The music
Approximate times -
Freya Waley-Cohen Demon (The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras joint commisson)10 min
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Gustav Mahler Kindertotenlieder26 min
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Intermission25 min
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Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 4 ’’The Inextinguishable’’37 min
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Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Ryan Bancroft conductor
- Nina Stemme soprano
Wednesday 12 March 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
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Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal music
Nina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.
Thursday 13 March 2025 19.00 ●Watch for free on Konserthuset Play ●Watch for free on Konserthuset Play
Nina Stemme. Photo: Yanan Li
Chefdirigent Ryan Bancroft. Photo: Yanan Li
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Nadja Sjöström
Genre: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Vocal musicMahler and Nielsen
Nina Stemme together with Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft in dramatic and masterful music.
Thursday 13 March 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
● Livestream
Watch the concert at Konserthuset Play.
The link has been copied https://www.konserthuset.se/en/programme/calendar/concert/2025/mahler-and-nielsen/20250313-1900/The event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.The concert begins with Demon by the British-American composer Freya Waley-Cohen (born 1989) – a co-commissioned work by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra premiered in 2023 by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She found inspiration in old folk tales from the British Isles, chilling stories where a demon can manifest anywhere - here as both menacing and playful orchestral music.
Menacing indeed. Mahler's heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder – Songs on the Death of Children – has tragic points of connection with Mahler's own life, and the composition would also come to seem like a premonition: a few years later, Mahler's eldest daughter Maria died. The poems by Friedrich Rückert that Mahler chose deal with the parents' grieving process and the slow reconciliation with a painful reality. The world-renowned Nina Stemme is the soloist in this poignant music.
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor Ryan Bancroft leads the orchestra in this program, which concludes with Carl Nielsen. Nielsen's Fourth Symphony is subtitled "Det uudslukkelige" (The Inextinguishable). It's dramatic music written in the midst of the First World War, famous in part for its duel between two timpanists.
-
The music
Approximate times -
Freya Waley-Cohen Demon (The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras joint commisson)10 min
-
Gustav Mahler Kindertotenlieder26 min
-
Intermission25 min
-
Carl Nielsen Symphony No. 4 ’’The Inextinguishable’’37 min
-
Participants
- Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
- Ryan Bancroft conductor
- Nina Stemme soprano
Thursday 13 March 2025 19.00
Ends approximately 21.00Save in calendarThe event has been downloaded Open the file saved on your device to add it to your digital calendar.Price:
145-470 SEK50% discount for those 26 and under. 10% discount for students, pensioners and the unemployed. 15% discount for subscribers.The Main Hall currently has capacity for 1,770 people, spread across the stalls, first and second balconies and choir balcony. Each floor can be accessed by lift or the stairs. Due to the location of pillars, a number of seats have a fully or partially restricted view. These are indicated in the booking system. The hall has six wheelchair places.
● Livestream
Watch the concert at Konserthuset Play.
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