Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestras
The Oslo Philharmonic can trace its roots back to the times of Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen, and was in 1919 established under its present name. At its home venue, Oslo Concert Hall, the orchestra is annually giving 60-70 concerts, most of which are broadcast by Norwegian National Radio. The concert programme has a high international profile, as for the repertory as well as the performing artists; with its international reputation, the orchestra attracts many distinguished conductors and soloist.
With Mariss Jansons, Music Director 1979-2002, the orchestra achieved great international fame. Touring activities from 1982 and on include regular visits at most of the major venues in Europe, including a residency at Vienna Musikverein, and festivals such as BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Lucerne and Salzburg, as well as significant venues in North- and South America and East Asia. In 2002 Mariss Jansons was succeeded by André Previn, and in 2006 the orchestra signed a five years contract with Jukka-Pekka Saraste as Music Director. In 2009 this contract was prolonged until 2013. In February 2011 Vasily Petrenko was introduced as Chief Conductor designate, taking up his leadership from the season 2013-2014. With Maestro Saraste the orchestra has had highly successful concerts for instance at the BBC Proms (RAH) and Barbican Hall in London, Vienna Musikverein, Berlin and Cologne Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, as well as the Rheingau-, Grafenegg- and Baltic Festival and venues in Italy, Roumania, Switzerland and Be-Ne-Lux. In 2011 the orchestra did its first tour with Maestro Petrenko, with concerts in Berlin, Vienna, Bratislava and Paris.
As recording orchestra the Oslo Philharmonic reached world fame in the 1980s, with their Tchaikovsky cycle on Chandos. In 1986 they signed the by then most extensive orchestra recording contract in the history of EMI, resulting in more than 20 acclaimed releases during the next decade. Today the orchestra’s discography include more than 70 titles within a wide range of repertory, and among later releases are a Brahms symphony cycle (Simax), Mahler’s symphonies no. 1, 6, 7 and 9 (Simax), soloist recordings with Hillary Hahn, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Daniel Müller-Schott and Christian Lindberg, a wide selection of Norwegian contemporary music and the album Norwegian Heartland – Norwegian national romantic treasures (Grieg, Halvorsen, Svendsen, Saeverud and Tveitt, Simax). In 2008 the orchestra launched its first DVD with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, in its final version as well as sequences from the ‘forbidden’ 1915 version. Conductor and narrator is Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Spring 2010 this was followed by another DVD and also Blu-ray, with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 (Saraste). The most recent release with Saraste is Mahler’s symphony no. 6, launched in November 2010.
SEASON 2011/2012
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Conductor
With the beginning of the 2006-2007season, Jukka-Pekka Saraste started his new position as Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1987 to 2001, he was Music Director of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and created an orchestra much admired by audiences and critics throughout the world. From 1994 to 2001, Saraste held the post of Music Director of the Toronto Symhony Orchestra. From 2002 to 2005 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. For the Finnish Chamber Orchestra he founded the annual summer festival Tammisaari.
Jukke-Pekka Saraste has established himself as one of the exceptional conductors of his generation, demonstrating considerable musical depth and integrity. Having brought the music of Nordic composers such as Kaja Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen to greater prominence in the active concert repertoire, Maestro Saraste also has a strong affinity with the sound and style of late romantic music.
Recent guest engagements have included orchestras such as the Filarmonica della Scala in Milan, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, The Bavarian Radio Symphony and Philharmonic orchestras in Munich, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Chicago and Boston Symphony and the National Orchestra of France.
The biography of Jukka-Pekka Saraste includes most notably the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Nielsen with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as works by Bartók, Dutilleux, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, all on the Finlandia label, and a wide selection of contemporary music on Ondine.
SEASON 2010/2011
