Norrköping Symphony Orchestra & Karl-Heinz Steffens
Biography Norrköping Symphony Orchestra & Karl-Heinz Steffens
The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (SON)
has the reputation of being one of the most exciting orchestras in Scandinavia. Through foreign tours and extensive recordings, SON has developed a large following and a well deserved respect on the international stage.
SON was founded in 1912 and today comprises 85 musicians. Through its long and rich history it maintains a special place in the region’s cultural life. SON’s history is dominated by both tradition and new thinking.
The orchestra’s main repertoire consists of the great Romantic-era composers from Beethoven to Mahler, but places equal importance on performing 20th-century music and Swedish/Nordic music.
The orchestra has undertaken a project to perform and record all of Allan Pettersson’s symphonies together with conductor Christian Lindberg, an effort that has achieved great international acclaim. Karl-Heinz Steffens has been chief conductor since 2020.
Karl-Heinz Steffens
Now in his fifth season as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, German conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens is recognised as a conductor of great distinction in both the symphonic and operatic worlds. In great demand as a guest conductor, recent seasons have seen Steffens work with ensembles such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony and Zurich Tonhalle Orchestras and with the Radio Symphony Orchestras of Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig and Stuttgart. He is also a frequent visitor to the UK, making multiple appearances with the Philharmonia with whom he conducted a Brahms cycle in the Royal Festival Hall, as well as the BBC Scottish Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony and the Hallé Orchestra. He recently relinquished his post as Music Director at the Prague State Opera, where productions included Der fliegende Holländer and Schreker’s Der ferne Klang, amongst others. Elsewhere in the opera house, Steffens has appeared several times at the Teatro alla Scala leading performances of Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Götterdämmerung, and has been regularly invited to the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden. He led the Norwegian premiere of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Norwegian National Opera where he has also conducted Così fan tutte, Fidelio and Calixto Bieito’s production of Tosca.
In his previous position as Music Director of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, he and the orchestra were honoured with many accolades; they received the ECHO award for Best Orchestra in 2015 for their recording of works by B.A. Zimmermann and in 2016/17 were nominated prizewinners of the Best Concert Programme of the Season by the Deutsche Musikverlegerverband, the German Music Publishers’ Association. Their recording of works by George Antheil, an addition to their extensive Modern Times series featuring an array of 20th century composers, was designated Concert Recording of the Year by the Opus Klassik awards.
Prior to his conducting career, Steffens was a highly respected solo clarinettist who also held several orchestral positions culminating in the successive posts of Principal Clarinet with the Bavarian Radio and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Steffens has recently been awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz in Germany for his services to music.
