Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (in Swedish, Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester) is based in Stockholm and associated with Sveriges Radio or the Swedish Radio network. The group took its present shape and name in 1948 under the leadership of conductor Sten Frykberg, who introduced matinee radio programs in which he introduced the music to listeners himself. Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache took up the baton in 1965, and since then the orchestra has been a reliable incubator of international star talent, including Herbert Blomstedt (1977-1982), Esa-Pekka Salonen (1984-1995), Evgeny Svetlanov (1997-1999), Manfred Honeck (2000-2006), and Daniel Harding (since 2007). In addition to its regular radio broadcasts, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has performed at international festivals and concert halls, presenting its own Baltic Sea Festival but also appearing at the BBC Proms, the Turku Music Festival, and the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence, France. The orchestra’s recordings, some of them appearing on Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi, and BIS, have won major awards from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and other publications. In 2017 the orchestra, under Harding, backed baritone Matthias Goerne on his anthology release The Wagner Project. That year, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra toured with violinist Joshua Bell, making stops at La Scala in Milan as well as in Vienna, Salzburg, and Frankfurt. ~ James Manheim