From the open-air tradition at Gärdet to the centennial celebration of the City Hall organ, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra offers a diverse array of concerts this summer. Music enthusiasts in Stockholm are treated to a spectrum of genres, from orchestral grandeur to family-friendly performances, all featuring renowned conductors, vocalists, and musicians.

A Melodic Summer with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

When Prokofiev composed his Fifth Symphony in the summer of 1944, the war in Europe was still raging. He described it as a tribute to “the generosity, strength and spiritual purity of the free and happy man.” For Prokofiev personally, it was a time of great creativity – but perhaps he sensed what lay ahead for his homeland, the Soviet Union. The symphony’s playful, fast-paced movements are set in stark contrast to the slow third movement, steeped in unease and anxiety. After the war ended, tensions between East and West escalated, and the Cold War soon took hold.

Lindberg and Prokofjev

Stockholm City Hall

Herbert Blomstedt is Sweden’s most internationally renowned conductor – ever. Among the many orchestras he has worked with are the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and not least the San Francisco Symphony, where he served as Music Director for ten years. He has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on more than 200 occasions. In connection with his 90th birthday in 2017, Konserthuset Stockholm named its main conductor’s dressing room in his honour.

Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony

András Schiff is one of the world’s most distinguished concert pianists. He brings the music into the sharpest possible focus – without ever losing its magic. He often appears as both conductor and soloist, as in this concert, which features Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 – one of his most frequently performed and beloved works.

Bach, Mozart and Schumann

Bach and Mozart

Klas Torstensson’s magnificent opera The Expedition tells the story of Andrée’s ill-fated Arctic journey – a subject that has fascinated Torstensson since his early teens. We hear Intermezzo and Epilogue from the opera – two sections that vividly reflect the contrasts in his music. The beautiful epilogue, a kind of aria based on letters and diary entries, comes strikingly close to Puccini in its lyrical depth.

Composer Festival – The Expedition

Volcanic forces, but also the most tender and heartbreakingly emotional music – Klas Torstensson moves between extremes. Born in Sweden but long based in the Netherlands, he is a composer with significant international reach. This year’s Composer Festival focuses primarily on his work from the past two decades, but also includes music from the early 1970s, making the festival a wide-ranging retrospective.

Composer Festival – Opening Concert

When Anton Holmer conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra last year in Ravel’s Bolero and music by Debussy, Dagens Nyheter’s Camilla Lundberg gave the concert a top score – five out of five! Holmer is without doubt one of Sweden’s most prominent young conductors, also making his mark internationally.

Mozart and Schubert

When Anton Holmer conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra last year in Ravel’s Bolero and music by Debussy, Dagens Nyheter’s Camilla Lundberg gave the concert a top score – five out of five! Holmer is without a doubt one of Sweden’s most prominent young conductors, with growing international recognition. Now he returns to the podium to lead the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in music by Franz Schubert and Tebogo Monnakgotla.

Schubert and the Song of the Robin

The Birgit Nilsson Prize is the classical music world’s most prestigious award. It is presented to a singer, musician or institution that has made significant contributions and left a major international mark within classical music. This year, the Prize honours the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for its outstanding artistic achievements, with special recognition given to the 2021 world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera Innocence.

Birgit Nilsson Prize

Meet a great virtuoso: violinist Clara-Jumi Kang! Born in Germany and of South Korean heritage, she was recognised as a prodigy at an early age. Both her parents are professional singers, and she began playing the violin at the age of three. At just four, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the Mannheim University of Music.

Shostakovich – First and Last

When it comes to festivity and elegance in the world of music, few names shine brighter than Johann Strauss II. This year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth – celebrated with a concert brimming with sparkling waltzes and whirling polkas.

Masters of the Waltz

Clara – No One Silences Me Now! is a brand-new production aimed at schoolchildren in the middle years (ages 10–12). The Clara in question is the renowned pianist and composer Clara Schumann. She lived and worked in the 19th century, but now she travels through time to the present day on a mysterious mission. Clara finds herself at a concert in Konserthuset, with Ayla Kabaca as presenter. Before returning to the 1800s, Clara is determined to hear music by both her friends and herself.

Family concert – Clara – No One Silences Me Now!

School Concert – Clara – No One Silences Me Now!

Tchaikovsky’s sixth and final symphony glows with light and passion, but also holds undercurrents of anxiety and uncertainty. In a letter to his brother Anatoly, Tchaikovsky wrote: “I am completely preoccupied with the new work and find it difficult to tear myself away from it. I believe it will be one of my best. I must finish it as soon as possible.” And he was right – it is a true symphonic masterpiece.

Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has never before performed Gustav Mahler’s major early work Das klagende Lied – The Song of Lamentation – for vocal soloists, choir and orchestra. Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft is thrilled to finally take on Mahler’s youthful masterpiece. “It’s a rare and remarkable piece that should be a real draw for Mahler lovers out there,” says Bancroft.

The Young Mahler

School concert – high school and secondary school students

Just one hour of music – yet a concert brimming with energy and musical variety. That’s what this one-off after-work concert has to offer. Fredrik Burstedt conducts the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and we meet the young cellist Hugo Svedberg as soloist – winner of the prestigious Polstjärnepriset in 2024. Konserthuset CEO Susanne Rydén is your host.

After Work with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Barbra Streisand – the singer, the actress, the feminist, the icon. This lavish gala show pays tribute to the multifaceted artist through music and storytelling. At the same time, it warmly embraces an era – the orchestral splendour and grandeur of classic Broadway.

Movies, Memories and Broadway

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra makes a summer guest appearance at Stockholm City Hall this Sunday afternoon in August, marking the centenary of the City Hall organ in the Blue Hall – the largest pipe organ in Scandinavia. The instrument was inaugurated in 1925, two years after the building itself was completed.

Philharmonic celebration of an organ

It’s time once again for a true summer highlight! The open-air concert at the Maritime Museum on Gärdet is a cherished tradition in Stockholm, delighting audiences for decades. Hugely popular and always well attended, the event often includes sing-alongs and children’s activities – a “must” for many in the Stockholm summer calendar.

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The open-air Gärdet concert

Stockholm Concert Hall

Konserthuset Stockholm – the Blue House at Hötorget – is moving out to Järva, bringing with it a taste of the music that fills the house almost every day of the year. Come and say hello – we’ll tell you more about Konserthuset and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Järva Week with philharmonic wind players

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.

Also sprach Zarathustra

A Finnish program featuring the young Finnish conductor Emilia Hoving. She was named Newcomer of the Year by the Finnish critics in 2021, the same year she made her debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She has studied with Sakari Oramo, the Conductor Laurate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and former chief conductor.

Sibelius Third Symphony

Finnish-Swedish Moses Pergament (1893–1977) was a prominent and well-known figure in the music scene, active both as a composer and as a music critic for Svenska Dagbladet, but sadly now largely forgotten. He was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Helsinki but moved to Stockholm in his twenties.

The Jewish Song

Icelandic Víkingur Ólafsson is currently one of the world's most acclaimed and sought-after pianists. The New York Times coined him ”Iceland's Glenn Gould”, and his recordings are showered with five-star reviews. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset Stockholm.

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto

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.

Sibelius and Schumann

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.

Schumann's second symphony

Franz Schubert was only around 17–18 years old when he wrote his second symphony. Yet it is an impressive work in the spirit of Beethoven. In other words, it is music full of contrasts and captivating melodies.

An Alpine Symphony

In a completely new manner from before, Beethoven infused his second symphony with surprising effects. The orchestra swiftly switches between the faintest of whispers to thunderous outbursts in sudden turns. Here, wild humor and dramatic mood abound. Portuguese conductor Dinis Sousa leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in this symphonic milestone.

Beethoven and Price

Composer Mats Larsson Gothe has had significant success in recent years, including with the opera Löftet ("The Promise") at the Royal Swedish Opera. Already in 2016, he was the focus of Konserthuset’s Composer Weekend Festival. Here, we hear the world premiere of a new cello concerto, featuring internationally renowned Torleif Thedéen as the cello soloist. "The cello concerto for Torleif captures everything that a cello can convey: longing, dreams, pain, and melancholy – but also anger and resignation. I have used the full range of expression", Mats Larsson Gothe explains.

Stenhammar's second symphony

Sibelius's violin concerto is now the most performed of all violin concertos from the 20th century. Yet its musical 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. In this way, the violin concerto can be seen as a farewell to the youthful dreams of a career as a violin virtuoso. It is among the more challenging in the genre, as many violinists have attested.

Sibelius and Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky composed his fifth symphony during a few summer months in 1888. He had complained of lacking inspiration in the spring: "Am I burned out? No ideas, no desire?" But the fifth became a vital, emotionally charged, and in many respects brilliant symphony. It premiered under the composer's direction at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in November of the same year.

Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony

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.

Demons, Sorrow and a Duel

With humour and imagination, several of Beethoven's most famous pieces are presented. Alexander Hanson leads the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and the presenter is Madeleine Wittmark (replacing the previously announced Ayla Kabaca).

Family concert – Ludde B

Maurice Ravel's imaginative and even humorous La valse is a tribute to the waltz and Johann Strauss II. Originally, the working title for this music was "Vienne", then he changed it from the French spelling to German, "Wien", before finally deciding that the fitting title would be La valse. Ravel and Argentine Alberto Ginastera frame the program, the latter with fiery dance in the form of Malambo.

Waltz and malambo

Pavel Haas (1899–1944) and Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) emerged from similar roots in the Bohemia that is now Czechia: Haas from Brno and Mahler from Kaliste, 120 kilometers away. Both were Jewish, but Haas hailed from a Moravian-Jewish family and Mahler from an Austrian-Jewish one.

Haas and Mahler

Beethoven was drawn to characters, fictional or real, who dared to stand up against injustices. Egmont in Goethe's drama of the same name was one such fictional but clear role model for Beethoven. In the overture, he encapsulates the drama, from the slow introduction through tragedy to a triumphant conclusion. The orchestra is led by the young and increasingly renowned Czech conductor Jirí Rozen, making his debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1

Beethoven was drawn to figures, fictional or real, who dared to stand up against injustices. Egmont in Goethe's drama of the same name was one such fictional but clearly influential figure for Beethoven. In the overture, he summarizes the drama, from the slow introduction through tragedy to a triumphant conclusion.

Beethoven and Pejacevic

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.

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

The Jussen brothers made a splash at Konserthuset in 2023 when they debuted with a program for four-handed piano. "Something quite extraordinary in front of a packed hall with an unusually young audience," wrote the reviewer for Dagens Nyheter, giving the concert the highest rating.

Romeo and Juliet

Philharmonic Day concludes with a varied concert program. First, drama and beauty in the music from Ethel Smyth’s On the Cliffs of Cornwall, taken from her opera The Wreckers. Then … well, what exactly is this so-called “Ambulance Music”? You’ll find out, but we can tell you it’s not about blaring siren, quite the opposite. Finally, it’s time for film music, as the master John Williams takes us to the Wild West. The music was written for the 1972 film The Cowboys. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Andreas van Tol, with Konserthuset Stockholm’s CEO Susanne Rydén as host.

Philharmonic Day – Concert featuring Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

A perfect opportunity to meet musicians of the woodwind section. These members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra play and tell us about the instruments.

Philharmonic Day – Concert with woodwind

A perfect opportunity to meet musicians of the brass section. These members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra play and tell us about the instruments.

Philharmonic Day – Concert with the brass

A perfect opportunity to meet musicians of the percussion section. These members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra play and tell us about the instruments.

Philharmonic Day – Concert with percussion

Have you always dreamt of singing in some of the greatest hits of classical music? This is your chance! With the help of our luxurious ”backing band”, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, it’s time for you to participate and sing along in well-known music pieces. We dare to promise you a powerful experience.

Philharmonic Day – Sing-along with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

The humorous and captivating story of Peter and the Wolf is undoubtedly the most beloved musical tale ever created. Based on a Russian folktale, Sergei Prokofiev's remarkable music has entertained generations of children and adults since its premiere in 1936.

Philharmonic Day – Peter and the Wolf

A perfect opportunity to meet musicians of the string section. These members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra play and tell us about the instruments.

Philharmonic Day – Concert with strings

Clara Schumann's piano concerto is stunningly beautiful and a sparkling fireworks display. She was one of the most admired and influential pianists of the 19th century, performing in the same league as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. In the concerto, we also hear the inspiration from Chopin, whom she preferred over Liszt. Clara Schumann was only 16 years old when she premiered the virtuosic concerto herself in Leipzig in 1835.

The Schumann Couple and Felix

In the entertaining Epiphany Concert, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is led by the British conductor John Wilson. He is an authority on film music and has reconstructed and arranged many classic soundtracks for concert settings. Since 1994, Wilson leads his own hand-picked orchestra, specializing in film and musicals, and performs annually at The Proms summer festival.

Twelfth Night Concert and Dance

Experience Johann Sebastian Bach's magnificent Christmas Oratorio! To the thunder of timpani and jubilant trumpets, it is proclaimed in the magnificent opening that Jesus is born.

Christmas Oratorio

Sing along to Christmas classics with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra! It's time to warm up and exercise those vocal cords, and get ready for the perfect prelude to the holiday celebrations. Of course, it's perfectly fine to just listen as well, and let yourself be enveloped by the orchestra and voices that fill every corner of the Main Hall.

Family christmas sing-along

Sibelius' Fifth Symphony is his most performed and beloved. He already felt during its composition that he was creating something great. ”Have received a wonderful theme”, he noted in a diary entry. He had seen sixteen swans, which gave him the idea for the magnificent theme in the final movement. ”One of the great experiences of my life! My God, what beauty.”

Nordic beauty

Mozart's twenty-first piano concerto is one of his most beloved and performed works. Since Bo Widerberg used its enchantingly beautiful second movement in his film about the tightrope walker Elvira Madigan, many refer to the concerto as Elvira Madigan. It is also one of Mozart's most majestic and virtuosic concertos. The soloist is the acclaimed young French-Albanian pianist Marie-Ange Nguci, who in recent years has been praised by critics and has thrilled audiences in concert halls worldwide.

Elvira Madigan

Beethoven's overture to Heinrich Joseph von Collin's tragic drama about the Roman general Coriolanus is grandiose and dramatic, yet also enchantingly beautiful. It is written in the key of C minor, which Beethoven often used in his most intense and heroic works.

Beethoven and Nielsen

This year's International Composer Festival at Konserthuset Stockholm is dedicated to the Scottish composer James MacMillan. His music combines raw emotional power with spiritual focus, rooted in his Catholic faith.

International Composer Festival

The slow third movement in the Gran Partita is among the most beautiful and poignant pieces of music Mozart ever wrote. In Milos Forman's film Amadeus, the music is used in a key scene: when Salieri describes the music and realizes that Mozart is a genius. The masterpiece Gran Partita consists of seven movements that alternate between dance-like joy and contemplation. The music is composed for 12 wind instruments and double bass, and is performed by members of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mozart, Bartók and Tchaikovsky

Many are looking forward to this exciting encounter: John Beasley and Magnus Lindgren join forces with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in the Blue House Jazz series, with special guest Michael Mayo!

Blue House Jazz with orchestra – Portraits

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's violin concerto ranks among the priceless masterpieces of classical music. He wrote it for his childhood friend and violin virtuoso Ferdinand David, and the result was extremely successful – for with its spiritual airiness and melodic beauty, the violin concerto is one of the most beloved works of all time.

Mendelssohn and Bruckner

Stare into the abyss and let the terrors wash over you. Horror is one of mankind’s oldest sensations, as strongly connected to our genetically programmed survival instinct as our sexual urges. Through the ages we have been fascinated by the horrid, ghastly and grotesque.

The Horror – Film Music

Due to illness, cellist Amalie Stalheim has been forced to cancel. This also results in a programme change for tonight's concert. Instead of Grażyna Bacewicz’s First Cello Concerto, we will hear the German cellist Julian Steckel perform Haydn’s First Cello Concerto.

Haydn and Dvorák

The oceans, lakes, streams, and rivers have always been important sources of inspiration for artists, poets, and composers. In the famous Moldau by Smetana, celebrating its 200th anniversary, we hear how the babbling smaller streams wind their way through the landscape before flowing together into the mighty river. The melody comes from an old folk song that we recognize as Ack Värmeland, du sköna. Perhaps Smetana heard the melody when he was working as a conductor in Gothenburg in the 1850s?

Smetana and Dvorák

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is one of the most acclaimed soloists in the classical music world. With his warm touch and passionate musicality, he attracts huge audiences. This season, he is the Artist-in-Residence at the Concert Hall.

Víkingur plays Brahms

With a massive orchestra, boys' choir, girls' choir, and alto solo, Mahler paints vivid pictures in his Third Symphony. He himself described it as "something like never before: a symphony that depicts creation, from the insensitive stiff, purely elementary existence to the delicate creation of the human heart, which reaches beyond itself. It goes far, far beyond natural size, and in comparison, everything human shrinks."

Mahler Symphony No. 3

Herbert Blomstedt is Sweden's internationally most recognized conductor – ever. Among the orchestras he has worked with are the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and notably the San Francisco Symphony, where Blomstedt was chief conductor for ten years. Blomstedt has also conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on well over 200 occasions, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2017, Konserthuset named its grand conductor's dressing room after him.

Herbert Blomstedt conducts

For the show My Heart Wants Out, young students have written poetry, and readings are interspersed with classical music. This is a collaboration with Läsfrämjarinstitutet (”The Reading Promotion Institute”) and the community group Livet Bitch! Scenkonst, with whom the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has previously worked on the production of Romeo and Juliet (2021 and 2022).

My Heart Wants Out

Helena Munktell’s romantic Suite for large orchestra is a piece that the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has never before performed in its entirety. The music was composed in 1895, and like the now often performed Bränningar, this suite was premiered in Monte Carlo in the late 19th century.

Summer Concert with Wagner

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 music and perhpaps a sing-along on the green grass.

The open-air Gärdet Concert

Mozart's 27 piano concertos are all musical highlights. Here's a unique opportunity to hear the only one he composed for two pianos and orchestra. An exquisite dialogue unfolds between the two soloists, who are the young and increasingly acclaimed pianists Sebastian Iivonen and John Nalan, both from Sweden.

Summer Concert – Enigma Variations

A secret concert then, somewhat unlikely in its content. After 21 years as Executive and Artistic Director of Konserthuset Stockholm, Stefan Forsberg is retiring. This is commemorated with a concert that unfortunately we can’t say much about. It's all hush-hush and antics when a beloved director is bid farewell in grand style with music.

Hush – an unlikely concert

With these concerts, Ryan Bancroft completes his first season as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. And he does so with a key number that is close to his heart: Stravinsky’s The Firebird – not the often-played suite, but the complete ballet music from 1910. “It’s an enormous orchestra and the best version,” says Bancroft.

Mozart and Stravinsky

Millesgården Museum, in collaboration with the Stockholm Concert Hall, organises outdoor concerts at Millesgården over four evenings in May. Experience music, art, and good food in perfect harmony.

String quartet from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at Millesgården

Millesgården Museum

Sibelius’ Violin Concerto is one of the most played of all violin concertos composed in the twentieth century. Sibelius, himself a violinist, may have composed the concerto he would have wanted to play himself – even if it was at a technical level that far exceeded his own – in a farewell to his youthful dream of a career as a violin virtuoso. With the unparalleled Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, we can await a captivating, intense and emotional adventure.

Janine Jansen plays Sibelius

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen is a beloved and frequent performer at Konserthuset. With such empathy and intensity, few can captivate an audience like Jansen. At this concert, Janine Jansen and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra perform a new violin concerto by Britta Byström.

Janine Jansen plays Byström

Serge Rachmaninoff was strengthened by the success of Piano Concerto No. 2, which led him to attempt the symphonic form yet again – thank goodness. The brilliant Symphony No. 2 is deeply emotional, with a warm, overflowing flood of melodies.

Rachmaninoff Second Symphony

Be prepared: this is a programme that traverses emotional extremes. It begins gently and melancholic – sorrow can be beautiful – and concludes with the emotional outbursts that arise when the thunderous blows of the orchestra's thirteen hammers resonate through history, to the bone and marrow. It’s music that shakes you to the core.

Dream and confession

Since winning the famous Chopin Competition in 2015, South Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho has been one of the most in-demand soloists in the world. At this concert, he performs Saint-Saëns’ colourful Piano Concerto No. 5. Saint-Saëns himself remarked that this piece is reminiscent of a voyage on the sea. The concerto was composed in Luxor and because of those influences, it is often referred to as The Egyptian.

Rachmaninov and Saint-Saëns

In Rachmaninoff’s very last work, Symphonic Dances, he dreams of the Russia of his childhood. In addition, we hear American Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw’s dreamy and imaginative Entr’acte – music inspired by a string quartet by Joseph Haydn. Caroline Shaw describes how some music can transport the listener to another world, like the minuets of Haydn’s op. 77, “in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolour transition,” she says.

Symphonic Dances

Lisa Streich’s original scores are like maps of sound. The music is sometimes reminiscent of the aural worlds of nature or the city, and the composition emerges as a “sound conductor”. She sees this as sculpting with an orchestra or ensemble, and a sort of choreography emerges from the sound, inviting not only listeners, but viewers as well. She has gained more and more international attention.

Composer Weekend

Not only is this programme infused with France and French music – Swedish conductor Anton Holmer also has a link to the French music scene: during 2021–23, he was been assistant conductor with the Orchestre National de Lyon. He debuted with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at a summer concert in 2022 and was promptly invited to return.

Bolero

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, nicknamed “Eroica” – Heroic – is a large, fascinating listening adventure. The surprises come one after the next: Beethoven developed the opening theme in a way that had never been done before.

The Eroica Symphony

The young violinist Johan Dalene (born 2000) took home first prize at the prestigious Carl Nielsen International Competition in 2019. Dalene and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra recently released an album of Sibelius’ and Nielsen’s violin concertos. He was then named Young Artist of the Year by the leading magazine Gramophone, and the cd was also awarded a Swedish Grammy.

Sibelius’ seventh symphony

Of the finale to his fourth symphony, Tchaikovsky said that there is still happiness: simple, naive happiness. “Deriving happiness from others allows one to live longer.” This idea is also reflected in the effervescent and exhilarated music. But the symphony is also about his feelings after his brief, catastrophic marriage. The introductory theme which recurs several times in the symphony is the core – an obliterating force that stands in the way of happiness.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of England’s best-known and most significant composers. His atmospheric music contains everything from passionate drama to explosive charges and a reflective sense of calm. Performing the solo in his Suite for Viola and Orchestra is American Vicki Powell, who has been section leader and a member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2018.

English moods

Since the world premiere by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on the radio, at the height of the war in 1940, Lars-Erik Larsson’s God in Disguise has become a Swedish concert classic. It is a work that tells the story of humanity and instils hope, which is as urgent now as it was then.

God in Disguise

American cellist Alisa Weilerstein has won awards for her incredibly personal interpretations, which are reminiscent of soloists of a bygone era. We hear her in fellow countryman Samuel Barber’s passionate Cello Concerto. The music was composed in the latter half of World War II and was completed when the war ended in 1945. It has long been considered one of the most challenging works of the repertoire and baffled audiences initially, even if their hearts always melted upon hearing the dreamy, melodic second movement.

Barber and Strauss

In 2017, French pianist Lise de la Salle made her jubilant debut at Konserthuset Stockholm with a recital in the Main Hall. Now she returns as soloist with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, one of his most beloved piano concertos.

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20

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. The soloist is German Arabella Steinbacher – one of the world’s leading violinists, who is praised for her colourful and flourishing approach to playing.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

In his second symphony, Brahms paints captivatingly beautiful scenes from nature. The melodies of this bright music have been compared to trickling streams in the picture-perfect village in Austria where Brahms was staying when he composed this symphony.

Brahms Symphony No. 2

English composer William Walton’s ”coronation march” was written for the coronation of King George VI, and performed in conjunction with this event in Westminster Abbey in 1937. But surely it also sounds a bit like film music? Like a joyful scene from Star Wars perhaps.

Philharmonic day – Concert featuring Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra 2024

The four brothers Konrad, Kasper, Mauritz and Max Agnas started their own jazz group many years ago – at the home where they grew up together. They have so far released four CDs and played in concert halls all over Europe, as well as at summer festivals and jazz clubs around Sweden. We hear Kasper Agnas on the guitar, Max Agnas on the piano, Mauritz Agnas on the double bass and Konrad Agnas on the drums.

Philharmonic Day – Philharmonic jazz

Philharmonic Day – Concert with the brass 2024

Have you always dreamt of singing in some of the greatest hits of classical music? This is your chance! With the help of our luxurious ”backing band”, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, it’s time for you to participate and sing along with the Beethoven ninth, the Toreador song and more. We dare to promise you a powerful experience.

Philharmonic day – Sing-along with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Rita is the hero of the tale. She is on the hunt for the Wolf, a super-villain who has stolen the enormous Crocodiamond. The audience must figure out who the wolf is by listening very carefully to the musical clues – which will help Rita find the diamond.

Philharmonic day – Crocodiamond

Philharmonic Day – Concert with strings 2024

A new piano concerto by Anders Hillborg! The Max Concerto is written for and dedicated to the outstanding American pianist Emanuel Ax – known among friends as “Manny Ax,” resulting in the title Max. Ax gave the world performance of Hillborg’s second piano concerto in November 2023 with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen. This is the European premiere, led by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s chief conductor Ryan Bancroft.

Mozart Jupiter Symphony

We are brought to Vienna, the Vienna of the late 1800 and early 1900; to the city of great art and paradoxes, to the city of elegance and walzes, to the city of eroticism and psychoanalysis. It was an age of great discoveries and creativity, of deep introspection and wild expressionism. Wien, wien, nur du allein has shown this kind of light-heartedness and profoundness at the same time.

Epiphany Concert

Already in the 1970s, Semyon Bychkov – among the most esteemed and respected conductors of our time – left Russia for the United States. Many musicians, composers, authors and academics have undertaken similar journeys in search of a creative home. One such figure is the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, whose much-loved Ninth Symphony From the New World was written during his time as a professor of composition in the US. In this symphony, Dvořák allows the musical roots of his beloved Bohemia to meet the sounds of Native American traditions.

Nobel Prize Concert

Back by popular demand! Welcome to join in as we sing beloved Christmas classics together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. So clear your throats, warm up your vocal cords and get ready for the perfect start to the festive season. Of course, you're just as welcome to sit back and listen – and let yourself be enveloped by orchestra and voices filling every corner of the Main Hall.

Christmas Sing-along

Hearing Handel’s Messiah performed by choir, orchestra, and four vocal soloists is always a profound experience. It is Handel’s most famous work, filled with exquisite arias and magnificent choruses – including the celebrated Hallelujah chorus. In this performance, we hear the German-language version created nearly 50 years after the English original. By then, the Baroque era had given way to Classicism, and Mozart expanded the orchestration while making several minor adjustments in line with his own instincts and the musical ideals of his time.

Handel’s Messiah – by way of Mozart

Twelfth Night is a time for splendour and celebration – and what could be more festive than the fiery passion of Italian opera? The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra invites you to a concert filled with some of the most beloved arias and duets in the Italian operatic repertoire.

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Dec 8, 2025

Nobel Prize Concert

Dec 13, 2025

Christmas Sing-along

18 - 20 Dec, 2025

Handel’s Messiah – by way of Mozart

Jan 5, 2026

Twelfth Night Concert – Italian Opera Gems

Jan 10, 2026

Philharmonic Day

26 - 27 Nov, 2025

Lindberg and Prokofjev

20 - 22 Nov, 2025

Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony

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Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra