Name: PULSAR Festinval 2026
Start: 2026-03-05T19:30:00
Location: The Royal Danish Academy of Music

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra is set to offer a series of captivating musical events in 2026, showcasing an impressive array of orchestral performances and talented soloists. From Wagner's epic operatic suite to Beethoven's dramatic compositions, audiences can expect unforgettable evenings at the renowned DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen. With contributions from star conductors and soloists, these events promise to explore the depths of musical storytelling and the enduring power of classical masterpieces.

A Symphony of Events: Danish National Symphony Orchestra's 2026 Highlights

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra is set to dazzle music lovers this season with a series of breathtaking performances. Featuring acclaimed musicians, enchanting compositions, and evocative storytelling, the orchestra's lineup promises an unforgettable experience. From the emotive strains of Elgar's Cello Concerto to the electrifying drama of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, each event offers a unique exploration of musical artistry. Join us as we delve into the remarkable talents and creative works that shape this season's offerings, celebrating both classical masterpieces and innovative interpretations.

A Symphony of Talent: Upcoming Highlights from the Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Danish National Symphony Orchestra

This season, several of the DR Symphony Orchestra's own musicians can be experienced as soloists in front of their orchestra, and for this concert it is 1st solo cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen, who has recently won both Danish and international awards for his playing. He is the soloist in Elgar's expressive cello concerto, which for this concert is surrounded by two eerie parties.

De la Parra & Sacre

DR Koncerthuset

PULSAR Festinval 2026

The Royal Danish Academy of Music

Nothing is as it seems in Bartók's only opera, Duke Bluebeard's Castle . The story is known from fairy tales by, among others, the Brothers Grimm, but in Bartók's work, the story of the murderous duke also becomes an inner drama. Because when the doors are opened and the secrets are revealed, we may see ourselves stepping onto the stage.

Saraste & Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Here is a rare opportunity to experience two of the DR Symphony Orchestra's own soloists as soloists: clarinetist Johnny Teyssier and violist Michael Grolid, who together with the orchestra play Bruch's beautiful and arch-romantic double concerto - full of Swedish melancholy with quotes from the folk melody Ack, Värmeland, du sköna.

Kochanovsky & Strauss

“I have written a very small and beautiful piano concerto” This is how Johannes Brahms described his second piano concerto for Clara Schumann. Brahms had a tendency to understate, because the “very small piano concerto” is in reality an enormous musical drama for piano and orchestra. It is music with an enormous range, from the fiery and thunderous to the intimate and lyrical, and everything in between.

Suisse Romande Orchestra

Like Mozart, the Spanish composer Juan Arriaga died far too early. Yet he left behind a large body of excellent music, including several vocal works. In the two vocal works for tonight's concert, the dramatic cantata Herminie and an aria from the opera Medée , Arriaga shows himself to be a surprisingly mature composer, with impressive dramatic sense. The soloist is the Norwegian soprano Berit Nordbakken, one of the Nordic countries' foremost interpreters of early music.

Mena & Mozart

"I would like to write you a violin concerto," wrote the composer Felix Mendelssohn to his friend, the star violinist Ferdinand David. "I have one in E minor in my head, and the beginning will not leave me alone." And the opening of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto is among classical music's most iconic, stormy and passionate, with the solo violin in the role of the ultimate romantic hero. Here, it is the DR Symphony Orchestra's 1st concertmaster Soo-Jin Hong who is allowed to be the soloist with his own orchestra.

Eun Sun Kim & Dvorak's 8th.

The story of Pelléas and Melisande is one of literature's greatest love stories, along with Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Isolde .

Luisi & Pelléas and Mélisande

The key of C minor represented something particularly dramatic in Beethoven, and this evening the key runs like a stormy, red thread through the program. In Symphony No. 5, fate itself knocks on the door, and the entire work seethes with energy and intensity, before the darkness is finally overcome and it all ends in bright triumph.

Manacorda, Andsnes & Beethoven

Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony is a work that has it all. Inspired by both Hindu scriptures and the medieval tale of Tristan and Isolde, the symphony is intoxicating and seductive, terrifying and beautiful in equal measure. The intensely colorful sound universe with a full percussion section, a virtuoso piano voice and the early electronic instrument ondes martenot is unparalleled in the history of music.

Esa-Pekka Salonen & Turangalîla

Richard Strauss could shock when he wanted to, and he did so to the fullest with the one-act Salome . In the opera, the young princess Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter, to music that is both seductive and disgusting. To get her way, she must dance the Dance of the Seven Veils for her stepfather, King Herod.

Hasan, Strauss & Mozart

With a broad repertoire and enormous musical energy, the Austrian Manfred Honeck has distinguished himself among the world's leading conductors. When he now returns to DR Koncerthuset, it is with both Viennese classical elegance and high romantic intensity – two of his specialties.

PULSAR Festinval 2026

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