Göteborgs Konserthus Spring Delight with Gershwin

Few have combined jazz and classical music as skillfully as the American composer George Gershwin. The year after the triumph of the free-form Rhapsody in Blue for solo piano and orchestra in 1924, he began a classically designed piano concerto in three movements. The jazz elements are unmistakable from the opening bars with explosive drum beats, and the concerto also contains clear elements of Charleston, blues and ragtime. The piano part is virtuoso and drives the piece rhythmically forward, while the orchestra acts as both support and counterpoint. George Gershwin himself was the soloist at the premiere in 1925, and the work has since become one of the most played and appreciated piano concertos in the American repertoire. The piano concerto has also left its mark on both popular culture and sports. In the 1951 musical film An American in Paris, a pianist dreams of playing all the instruments in the work at a gala, and South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim won an Olympic gold medal to the music in 2010.

Tobias Broström began his career as a percussionist, and is known for his rhythmically powerful music. In 2022, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra premiered his first symphony, called Albedo. About this new symphony, no 2, Broström says: “Here the listener is met with everything from sheer, ethereal parts, where strings and celesta create dreamy landscapes, to massive, rhythmically charged outbursts where the entire orchestral apparatus is set in motion. A sense of movement and transformation runs through the entire work; themes transform and sounds shift like the light across a landscape. Composed in the years 2024–2025, the work begins in the almost inaudible – calmo e dal niente (calm and out of nothing) – where a lone cello and bass clarinet present a theme characterized by its searching and somewhat melancholic character, reflected through a static, minor-keyed chord played by tremolo strings. Slowly it grows out of the silence to form a repetitive rhythmic pattern starting in the violins. The second movement starts considerably more rhythmically and has the instruction volante (flying). The music gradually slows down and fragments of the first movement’s theme/motive are heard again, building up to the same painful climax in B minor that rang out after only a minute or so into the first movement. This is followed by a reprise of the second movement’s introduction, culminating in an almost ecstatic climax (estatico). One could dare to call the last part, with the characteristic designation con moto (with movement), a third movement. Here a completely new form is presented with fast-playing sextuplets in violins commented on by equally rhythmic percussion and trumpets. It is music that demands its place and invites the listener on a journey through shimmering sound worlds and dramatic contrasts.”

The Gothenburg Symphony was formed in 1905 and today consists of 109 musicians. The orchestra's base is Gothenburg Concert Hall 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 from 2025. 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.

Andrey Boreyko has for many years been musical and artistic director of Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. This season, he returns to Chicago Symphony and Boston Symphony, and conducts the Mozarteum Orchestra and Vienna Radio Symphony. Other highlights include Spanish Radio Orchestra in Madrid, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra. He also led the concert at the International Chopin Piano Competition. Boreyko was for eight years Music Director of Artis — Naples in the US and has also been director of the Orchestre National de Belgique. He last guested the Gothenburg Symphony in 2017 when he performed music by Victoria Borisova-Ollas.

Through elegant musicality and an insightful approach to contemporary and established repertoire, Jean-Yves Thibaudet has earned a reputation as one of the world’s finest pianists. He is especially known for his diverse interests beyond the classical world, including numerous collaborations in film, fashion, and visual art. He is the first-ever Artist-in-Residence at the Colburn School, which awards several scholarships in his name. In 2026-2027 he will be Artist in Residence at Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This season, Thibaudet appears in concerts and recitals around the world in works ranging from Gershwin and Saint-Saëns to Bernstein, Scriabin and Messiaen. He is a major champion of Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, and performs the piece with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. In addition to his orchestral dates, Thibaudet joins violinist Lisa Batiashvili and cellist Gautier Capuçon on a fall trio tour, with stops throughout western Europe. He also continues his multi-season focus on Debussy’s Préludes. A prolific recording artist, Thibaudet has appeared on more than 70 albums and six film scores. Recent recordings include Khachaturian, a celebration of the Armenian composer including his Piano Concerto and several solo piano pieces; and Gershwin Rhapsody, a selection of Gershwin pieces recorded with Michael Feinstein, including four newly-discovered ones. He is the soloist on Dario Marianelli’s recently reissued score for Pride & Prejudice (2005). Jean-Yves Thibaudet's worldwide representation is HarrisonParrott and he records exclusively for Decca Classics.