Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Returns to Carniege Hall

Ray Chen Violin

Winner of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition (2009) and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (2008), Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. His premiere album Virtuoso, released worldwide on Sony Classical in 2011, won the prestigious Echo Klassik Award. The second recording, featuring the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn violin concertos, was the result of Ray Chen’s artistic partnership with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Ray Chen continues to win the admiration of fans and fellow musicians worldwide. Last year’s Verbier Festival and La Scala Philharmonic performances resulted in immediate re-engagements. He received standing ovations at Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein Festivals, where the Munich Philharmonic featured him. In December, Ray Chen will perform at the Nobel Prize Concert in Stockholm with Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Other highlights of the upcoming season include his Carnegie Hall and Musikverein debuts, Israel Philharmonic and Gewandhaus Orchestra tours and recitals in Paris, Brussels, Rotterdam, London and Tokyo.

Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray Chen was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 15, where he studied with Aaron Rosand. He plays the 1702 “Lord Newlands” Stradivarius violin on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Sakari Oramo Conductor

Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo is the Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Oramo was appointed in 2008, with his present contract lasting until spring 2015.

Oramo has been appointed as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Jirí Belohlávek. Oramo's first performance in this role will be at the 2013 BBC Proms, followed by four concerts in the orchestra’s 2013–14 Barbican season. He is also Principal Conductor of the West Coast Kokkola Opera in Finland.

Sakari Oramo has led performances with a number of prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Wiener Philharmoniker, Dresden Staatskapelle, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, London Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic. Guest conducting highlights of the 2012/13 season include the Wiener Philharmoniker, the NDR Sinfonie-orchester and Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Sakari Oramo started his professional career in the early 1990’s as violin soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was subsequently appointed as the orchestra’s Associate Principal Conductor. Since 2003, Oramo held the position as Music Director. 1998 he become Sir Simon Rattle’s successor at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for a decade.

Oramo has received Honorary Doctorates from both the University of Central England and Birmingham. In 2009 he received an Honorary OBE from HRM Queen Elizabeth in recognition of his contribution to music.

Elin Rombo Soprano

The Swedish soprano Elin Rombo made a spectacular Salzburg Festival debut in 2009 in Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher. Since then she has returned to Salzburg in the world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Dionysus and Honegger’s Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher. She has appeared under the baton of Riccardo Muti in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as in Schubert’s Mass no 2 in G major with Orchestre National de France in Paris. Recent engagements have included Mozart’s Requiem with Colin Davis in Paris and the role of Agnès in Gerorge Benjamin’s Written on Skin with the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam. In her native Sweden Ms. Rombo is a frequent guest at the Royal Swedish Opera where her roles have included Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Musetta in La Bohème and Blanche de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites. Elin Rombo studied at the Brandon University Queen Elisabeth II in Canada and at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. In 2009 Elin Rombo received the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Scholarship.

Program

ROLF MARTINSSON: Open Mind

A dashing orchestral show-piece that certainly will catch your ear, composed by highly skilled and internationally renowned Swede Rolf Martinsson.

NORDIC ORCHESTRAL SONGS

Romantic songs performed by Sweden's latest soprano star Elin Rombo. Edvard Grieg: Våren (Spring) Wilhelm Stenhammar: Fylgia Wilhelm Stenhammar: Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte (The Maid Returned from Meeting her Lover)

MAX BRUCH: Violin Concerto No 1 G minor

A romantic masterpiece and one of the most popular violin concertos of all time – with rising star and Nobel Prize Concert soloist Ray Chen making his Carnegie Hall debut.

JEAN SIBELIUS: Symphony No 2

Finnish Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo knows, perhaps better than anyone, what Sibelius' music is all about.

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