The Swedish Radio Choir turns 100 – Daniel Harding's finale – Berwaldhallen releases new concert season

A new concert season with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir in Berwaldhallen is coming up, with theme of “Love and Death” running like a common thread throughout. Daniel Harding makes his last season as Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Choir celebrates its 100th jubilee.

The season begins with the Baltic Sea Festival, featuring world-renowned artists such as pianist Yuja Wang, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Visions and dreams are recurring themes in the festival programme. See separate release about the Baltic Sea Festival.
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The theme of “Love and Death” includes music from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, whose passionate but forbidden love has a fatal outcome; Pelléas and Mélisande meet the same fate in both Debussy’s and Sibelius’ musical settings; Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloé fortunately ends with the lovers finding each other in the end, in spite of their ordeals; in The Ring of Fire and Love, Outi Tarkianen describes with music how a small child is brought to life in great agony.

The 2024/2025 season will be Daniel Harding’s final season as Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

— The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s long-term collaboration with Daniel Harding has been a great success in every respect. For 18 years, since 2007, he has been responsible for the orchestra’s artistic development, a number which is almost unique in today’s music world. Daniel Harding's last season as Music Director includes many concerts that bear his signature, says Staffan Becker, Director at Berwaldhallen.

During the season, Daniel Harding will conduct several exciting performances, including the world premiere of composer Jesper Nordin’s Silhouettes & Shadows, and a concert version of Wagner’s last opera, Parsifal. Daniel Harding has collaborated with French music journalist, Aliette de Laleu, whose book “Mozart Was a Woman” discusses women in the history of classical music. In Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Radio Choir will perform music by Valborg Aulin, Lili Boulanger, Mel Bonis, Kaija Saariaho, Britta Byström, Stacy Garrop, Missy Mazzoli, and a world premiere by Emmy Lindström.

The Swedish Radio Choir celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025 with a number of jubilee concerts, starting in February 2025. The ensemble was founded in 1925 as an important part of the Swedish Radio’s music offering and has for decades been regarded as a world-class choir.

— Radiokören is a world-famous ensemble that paves the way for new music and new musical encounters, while at the same time maintaining a long choral tradition and its large audience. The fact that the choir was founded at the same time as the Swedish Radio in 1925 shows the central role of music in the public service programme, right from the start. I am incredibly proud of having the Swedish Radio Choir as a very important part of the Swedish Radio’s cultural activities, says Cilla Benkö, CEO of Swedish Radio.

In the 2024/2025 season, the Swedish Radio Choir will perform noteworthy works including Britta Byström’s Another Part of the Wood and Alfred Schnittke’s 12 Penitential Psalms. The next Eric Ericson Award finals await in October 2024. Out of nearly 100 candidates from 30 countries, eight will come to Stockholm to compete for the grand prize in one of the most prestigious competitions for young choral conductors. In the final, the three finalists will lead the Swedish Radio Choir in Berwaldhallen.

Jazz legend Nils Landgren has been the jazz radio’s Artistic Director since 2023. In the upcoming season, he will guest the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a concert featuring new and old jazz stars such as Joe Sample, Kurt Weill, and Michael Wollny.

Baritone David Risberg has been appointed the next Classical Artist in P2 for the 2024/2025 season. This involves participating in several concerts with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir during the year. In addition, the young singer will have a unique opportunity to commission a musical work by a composer active in Sweden together with P2.

Berwaldhallen is hosting some of the foremost international soloists of our time: violinist Joshua Bell, mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, pianist Anna Vinnitskaya, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Gautier Capuçon, and violinist Daniel Lozakovich are just a few of them.

Children’s favourites Niklas & Radioapan, who introduce classical music to children in thrilling adventures, return, as do the sing-along concerts for the youngest. During the season, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra's close collaboration with Stockholm’s El Sistema music school and the Stockholm Youth Symphony Orchestra (SUSO) continues.

The popular video game music concert SCORE with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and cicerone Orvar Säfström is also back in Berwaldhallen next year. Further crossover artist collaborations in the upcoming season will be announced in May.

Several of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s own musicians will appear as soloists during the season, including flutist Laura Michelin in Jaques Ibert’s flute concerto, bassoonist Daniel Handsworth in Mozart's bassoon concerto, and violinist Henrik Naimark Meiers in Ravel’s Tzigane.

Read more about the concerts on berwaldhallen.se, they can be found chronologically under "Tickets". Tickets for the Baltic Sea Festival will go on sale April 25th at 12 noon CEST, simultaneously with sales of 2024/2025 concert series. Single tickets for the 2024/2025 season will be released May 29th. Concerts from the Swedish Radio’s concert hall are broadcast on Swedish Radio P2, often live, and a selection is also streamed on Berwaldhallen Play.

For more information, see berwaldhallen.se from April 25 at 12 noon.
For press information, please contact

Karl Thorson
Press- & PR-ansvarig / Press & PR Manager
Berwaldhallen | Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester | Radiokören
karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se
08-784 18 30 | 070-431 18 93

Sveriges Radios konserthus Berwaldhallen
SE-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden
Besök/Visiting address Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 3
berwaldhallen.se