Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Johannes Gustavsson
Biography Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Johannes Gustavsson
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra was founded as a radio orchestra in 1925 in connection with the start of the Danish broadcasting corporation DR, and today consists of 99 musicians. Since 2004 its chief conductor has been Thomas Dausgaard, the fi rst Dane to hold the post. The orchestra is based in the DR Concert Hall, one of Europe's most spectacular venues, which opened in 2009. It was the work of the French architect Jean Nouvel with acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota. The combination of the fantastic concert hall and Thomas Dausgaard's dynamic, innovative leadership has initiated a new era for the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Earlier conductors of the orchestra include Gerd Albrecht, Leif Segerstam and Lamberto Gardelli. The orchestra's honorary conductor is Herbert Blomstedt, who was principal conductor in 1967-1977. The orchestra's most recent principal guest conductors have been Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Schønwandt and Dmitry Kitayenko. Two legendary conductors built the orchestra up in its early years: Fritz Busch and the Russian Nicolai Malko, whom the orchestra honours with the international Malko Competition for Young Conductors. Other major conductors with whom the orchestra has worked regularly are Sergiu Celibidache, Kurt Sanderling, Marek Janowski, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Gary Bertini, Christopher Hogwood and Paul McCreesh. The orchestra's strong, straightforward musical personality has its roots in its close relations with Danish and Nordic music. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra is the leading Carl Nielsen orchestra in the world, and often takes Nielsen's music on tour abroad. For half a century the orchestra's Carl Nielsen recordings have been normative. The leading Scandinavian symphonist of our time, Per Nørgård, has had most of his symphonies premiered by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Nørgård is also the only honorary member of the orchestra. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra tours both in Denmark and abroad. In recent years the orchestra has appeared in China and Korea and has toured to Europe's fi nest concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and has performed at festivals like the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival and Prague Spring. It has recorded innumerable CDs for labels like Dacapo, Decca and Chandos and has received honours for its recordings from all over the world.
Danish National Vocal Ensemble
Since their debut in 2007 the Danish National Vocal Ensemble’s 18 full-time professional singers have grappled with everything from early music and the Baroque to Romantic works and demanding contemporary music. Works that require strong individual performances stand high in the repertoire of the Danish National Vocal Ensemble. The 18 singers are all experienced soloists who bring expression and life to the music. Their work is all about personal commitment and razor-sharp precision, whether they are singing works like Messiaen’s Cinq Rechants for 12 solo voices or Orlando di Lasso’s polyphonic masterpieces from the 16th century. The Danish National Vocal Ensemble has close ties to Danish and other Nordic music – for example the Danish Per Nørgård and the Swedish Sven-David Sandström have written music specifically for the Danish National Vocal Ensemble. The DNVE is a flexible choir which performs fully manned or in smaller groupings. The choir can be expanded with the 56 singers of the Danish National Choir, and the DNVE will often join forces with other choirs. The ensemble has sung with among others Concerto Copenhagen, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic and NDR in Hamburg, as well as concerts with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. The DNVE collaborates with several guest conductors including Paul Van Nevel, Peter Dijkstra, Marcus Creed and Olof Boman.
Johannes Gustavsson - Conductor
Johannes Gustavsson, born in 1975, is one of Sweden's leading young conductors. He is a versatile artist and conducts both symphonic and operatic repertoire at a high level with a number of leading Scandinavian orchestras and opera companies including the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Royal Swedish Opera, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Opera and the Oslo Philharmonic; he conducts orchestras all over Sweden, Finland and Norway on a regular basis. Since 2009 Johannes Gustavsson has been on of four First Conductors for Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra in Finland and from autumn 2012 he will be Artistic Partner for Oulu Symphony Orchestra, also in Finland. He is first guest conductor of the Västerås Sinfonietta and Artistic Advisor for the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. Johannes Gustavsson has premiered more than 30 orchestral works written by Nordic composers. Gustavsson has received several awards and prizes; he is the first recipient of the Swedish Conductor's Award and the first to receive the Herbert Blomstedt Conductor's Award. Originally, Johannes Gustavsson studied viola and took his diploma in conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music after studies with Lars Anders Tomter, Ole Kristian Ruud and Olav Anton Thommessen.
