Event has already taken place. A magical musical experience where the Side by Side camp's over 2000 young musicians and singers play together with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in a powerful musical manifestation in Scandinavium.
Welcome to take part in a magical musical experience where over 2,000 young musicians and singers perform together with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. At Festival Concert, you’ll meet the participants from the international music camp Side by Side, who will showcase what they have learned during camp. There will be everything from classical symphonic music to magnificent choral songs and a premiere of a whole new piece of music.
The international music camp Side by Side creates meeting places where children and young people from different cultures and backgrounds can play and sing together, side by side with professional musicians. Side by Side is organized by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra every summer and is open to participants aged 6-23. The camp promotes the spread of classical music and works for tolerance, cooperation, and equality.
During Festival Concert, the over 2,000 participating singers and musicians form massive choirs and orchestras in various combinations for a powerful musical manifestation together with the entire Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. All under the direction of conductors Ron Davis Alvarez, Emilia Hoving, Marjolein Vermeeren, Birgitta Mannerström-Molin, and Ida Rosén Hamrå,
A Musical Experience to Remember
This year’s program includes, among other things, Alice Tegnér’s beloved Ute blåser sommarvind (A Summer Wind Blows Outside) for choir and orchestra, classical pieces by Mozart, Bernstein and Brahms, as well as gradiose film music in Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise. In addition to this, the traditional sailor’s song Wellerman makes a fond return together with Zara Larsson’s Symphony.
The concert also boasts the premiere of Två hjärtan slår samma slag (Two Hearts Beat the Same Beat) composed by Tormod Tvete Vik. He wrote the basic melody for the performance Bubblor (Bubbles), which was performed in 2023, but now the music has been rearranged for the massive Side by Side orchestra and given a beautiful text by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s own Mats Kjelbye.
Tuesday, 17 June 2025: The event ends at approx. 16.30
Participants
The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Göteborgs Konserthus, the funk gem at Götaplatsen that has gathered music lovers since 1935. Since the 2019-2020 season, Barbara Hannigan is Principal guest conductor. We are also a proud partner of Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium mentoring program focusing on young singers at the start of their careers. The title Principal Guest Conductor is shared by Pekka Kuusisto effectively in 2025-2026.
Wilhelm Stenhammar was the orchestra's chief conductor from 1907 to 1922. He gave the orchestra a strong Nordic profile and invited colleagues Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius to the orchestra. Under the direction of conductor Neeme Järvi from 1982-2004, the orchestra made a series of international tours as well as a hundred disc recordings and established themselves among Europe's leading orchestras. In 1996, the Swedish Riksdag appointed the Gothenburg Symphony as Sweden's National Orchestra.
In recent decades, the orchestra has had prominent chief conductors such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Mario Venzago and Gustavo Dudamel, following Kent Nagano as Principal Guest conductor. Anna-Karin Larsson is CEO and artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel honorary conductor and Neeme Järvi chief conductor emeritus. The orchestra's owner is the Västra Götaland Region.
The Gothenburg Symphony works regularly with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Joana Carneiro, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Christian Zacharias and Anja Bihlmaier.
“Ron Davis Alvarez is a man accustomed to making miracles” (The New York Times).
The Venezuelan Ron Davis Alvarez, who in 2017 was named one of the world's 50 best teachers by the Varkey Foundation, part of the Global Teacher Prize, specializes in training teachers for children's and youth orchestras. He has lectured at conferences and masterclasses with teachers from Colombia, Mexico, USA, Chile, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Germany, France, Greenland, Sweden, Turkey, South Korea, Ecuador, Finland and Greece. In the latter, he taught in a refugee camp.
He is chief conductor of the international music camp Side by Side by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, he created the Dream Orchestra in Gothenburg for children and young people aged 8 to 19 who are on the run. The orchestra has more than 50 members and has made a series of high-profile performances, including abroad, and is now emulated in several European countries.
Formed by the famous Venezuelan musical and social program El Sistema, Alvarez trained in Miranda State, Venezuela as a violinist, orchestra conductor, teacher and cultural director. His main mentors and inspirations are maestro José Antonio Abreu, Franka Verhagen, Igor Lanz, Gregory Carreño, Ruben Cova, Ann Andreasen, Victor Vivas and Tupac Amaru.
In 2024, Ron Davis Alvarez was recognized by the news channel CNN when he was named a CNN Hero.
Deltagare från musiklägret Side by Side
Emilia Hoving has emerged as one of most exciting young Finnish conductors of today. She was the winner of the Finnish critics’ prize 2021 for the Best Newcomer in the Arts. Her assignments as Assistant to Hannu Lintu at the Finnish Radio (2019) and to Mikko Franck at Radio France (2020-22) both led to international appearances with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Orchestre National de Lille as well as with the Helsinki Philharmonic.
Emilia Hoving has conducted at Wiener Konzerthaus and made her German debut with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in their Berlin Philharmonie concert 2022 at only a few hours’ notice. In 2023-2024 she debuted with Swedish Radio Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Tonkuenstler Wien, Bournemouth Symphony and Tenerife Symphony orchestra. She also led the closing concert of Side by Side Music camp 2024 and the school concert Bubbles at the Gothenburg Symphony in 2023. In november 2024 she led the Gothenburg Symphony in Dvoráks symphony no 9.
In summer 2022 she made her Tokyo debut at Suntory Hall conducting the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and her UK debut conducting the Philharmonia, where she has now become a regular guest. Hoving has conducted many works by living (particularly Finnish) composers, and last season gave the Australian premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Procession at the Adelaide Festival.
Hoving studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Professors Sakari Oramo, Atso Almila and Jorma Panula.
Marjolein Vermeeren made her successful professional conducting debut with the Gothenburg Wind Orchestra in May 2022 and she has been back as guest conductor several times since then. She has worked with professional orchestras such as Östgötamusiken, Marinens Musikkår and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and has led El Sistema concerts with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In the 2024-2025 season, she will make her debut with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Gotlandsmusiken.
Marjolein Vermeeren is flutist in the Gothenburg Symphony and grew up in the southern Netherlands where wind music is big. She has worked a lot with youth orchestras and participated for several years at Side by Side as a conductor and instructor for the oldest participants.
Birgitta Mannerström-Molin is a choir conductor and singing teacher. She also teaches at the University of Stage and Music in Gothenburg and is involved as a course instructor and choir conductor at national level. She has also been involved in the development of El Sistema in Sweden and is the conductor and artistic advisor for Side by Side by El Sistema, which is performed every year by the Gothenburg Symphony. In 2016, Birgitta Mannerström-Molin was appointed Children's and Youth Choir leader of the Year.
She is also a teacher at Hvitfeldtska Musikgymnasiet and project leader for young people at Sweden's Church Song Association.
Ida Rosén Hamrå has worked at the Gothenburg Opera since 2009 when she was hired to form a children's choir at the Opera. Today, Ida Rosén Hamrå is musical director of the Create department and conductor of Gothenburg Opera's Children's and Youth Choirs, which consists of three choirs with members aged 9–25. She has previously also worked with adult choirs, but now focuses entirely on work with children and young people.
Ida Rosén Hamrå is trained in viola and choral conducting at Ljungskile Folk High School, Uppsala University and the University of Stage and Music in Gothenburg.
031-726 53 00
biljett@gso.se