Göteborgs Symfoniker

Gothenburg – the Swedish city whose musical identity was also shaped in the 1860s by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana (1824–1884). Today this is the home of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Göteborgs Symfoniker), one of Scandinavia’s finest and most intriguing orchestral ensembles, whose musical qualities are attributable to a series of exceptional conducting names: Neeme Järvi (1982–2004), Gustavo Dudamel (2007–2012), Kent Nagano (2013–2019) and Christoph Eschenbach (2019–2022). The ensemble, which prides itself on its title National Orchestra of Sweden, celebrates its 120^th anniversary in 2025. The orchestra has played to audiences at the BBC Proms, the Salzburg and Lucerne festivals, Vienna’s Musikverein and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Their appearance at the Prague Spring marks their Prague Spring debut under Chief Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Together they will present the third of Bedřich Smetana’s Swedish symphonic poems, Håkon Jarl, inspired by the life of Norwegian King Haakon Sigurdsson, and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Fryderyk Chopin (1810–1849), a piece filled with Romantic fervour, elegance and profound melancholy. The concert will then culminate in a performance of an essential masterpiece of the 20^th century – the spectacular Concerto for Orchestra by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881–1945). In the hands of a “magician with his wand”, as Rouvali is sometimes known, this work promises an explosion of rhythm and colour. The concert’s soloist will certainly also be a huge draw, one of the most respected performers of Fryderyk Chopin, Canadian pianist with Polish roots Jan Lisiecki.

When Gramophone included Jan Lisiecki’s recording of Chopin’s Études among fifty of the best Chopin albums in existence in 2023, the young pianist suddenly found himself placed alongside such greats as Martha Argerich, Arthur Rubinstein and Murray Perahia. “Lisiecki gives us tone poems first and studies second, his technique as unobtrusive as it is effortlessly fluent, lissom and precise,” wrote the prestigious British magazine, while The New York Times described his performance as “pristine, lyrical and intelligent”. Lisiecki is a true phenomenon. Only twenty-nine, he has collaborated with some of the world’s most distinguished conductors, among them Claudio Abbado, Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Manfred Honeck. When he was only fifteen he signed an exclusive contract with the coveted label Deutsche Grammophon. When he appeared at the Prague Spring for the second time in 2019, he stunned audience and critics alike. “Everything he plays sounds uncommonly sincere; we believe Lisiecki’s every note, his every phrase. What’s more, the obvious enjoyment he gets from performing transforms itself to his listeners,” wrote Harmonie magazine. The youngest holder of Gramophone’s Young Artist Award, Lisiecki will perform a concerto, whose second movement Chopin described as “resting on a beloved landscape that calls up in one’s soul beautiful memories – for instance, a fine, moonlit spring night”. The pianist’s return to the Prague Spring thus promises something truly exceptional.