Biography
More than 100 exceptional musicians make up the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists.
Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2007, and since 2019 also the orchestra’s first ever Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. “It is increasingly rare for the relationship between a conductor and an orchestra not only to last for more than a decade, but to keep growing,” Harding says about working with the orchestra. On his 15th anniversary with the orchestra, he described it as his musical family. “I’ve never conducted a concert in which the orchestra hasn’t played as if its life depended on it.”
The first radio orchestra was founded in 1925, coinciding with Sweden’s first national radio broadcasts. Throughout the 20th century, chief conductors like Sergiu Celibidache and Herbert Blomstedt furthered the orchestra’s musical development and international renown. Two of the SRSO’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to make regular appearances with the orchestra.
Performances and Global Reach of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT, as well as globally through the European broadcast alliance EBU. During the pandemic, its much-appreciated on-demand streamed concerts on Berwaldhallen Play brought further worldwide attention to the orchestra.
Recent international performances and recordings of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The orchestra tours regularly, receiving invitations from all over Europe and the world. In March 2023, Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performed two programmes at the Musikverein in Vienna, with highlights including Robert Schumann’s Manfred performed with the Wiener Singverein and actor Cornelius Obonya, and Schumann’s Violin Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff. In September 2023, Harding and the orchestra played an all-Sibelius programme at the Sibelius Festival in Lahti, Finland, featuring María Dueñas in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto.
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue. Recent releases include Jesper Nordin’s triptych Röster, works by Britten featuring Andrew Staples and the SRSO’s solo hornist Chris Parkes, and Eduard Tubin’s Double Bass Concerto with the SRSO’s solo bassist Rick Stotijn. Daniel Harding’s other noteworthy recordings with the SRSO include Schönberg’s Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem featuring Christiane Karg and Matthias Goerne, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
- Music Director Daniel HardingDaniel Harding, Chief Conductor
Harding has been the Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2007, and since 2019, also the orchestra's first Artistic Director. The 2024/2025 season will be his last in these roles
- Musicians in the OrchestraMembers of th Orchestra
Want to know who plays in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra? Here, you can find all the members and see which instruments they play.
More About the Swedish Symphony Orchestra
About the Orchestra
One of Europe's foremost and most versatile orchestras.Known as the Radio Symphonics in everyday speech, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has left a major mark on the music world.Collaboration with Kulturskolan
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is passionate about giving children and young people the opportunity to discover symphonic music. Therefore, we collaborate...Work in Berwaldhallen
Do you dream of playing in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, singing in the Radio Choir, becoming part of our marketing team, providing excellent service to concertgoers or working with the Berwaldhallen administration?Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra members
Contact details for members of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Upcoming Concerts
- Few seats remaining30 April130 - 475 krSchumann's Spring SymphonyNature takes center stage when Magnus Fryklund leads the Swedish Radio Choir and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a romantic spring program imbued with the transformative power of poetry.Read more & tickets
- No tickets left7, 8 & 10 May130 - 475 krCarmina BuranaCarl Orff’s iconic cantata Carmina Burana with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Choir and soloists Karolina Bengtsson, Tobias Westman, and David Risberg conducted by Yi-Chen Lin.Read more
- No tickets left9 May130 - 475 krCarmina Burana & Emmy Lindström’s RösaringCarl Orff’s iconic cantata Carmina Burana and world premiere for Emmy Lindström’s Rösaring – Concert for Orchestra.Read more
- 14–15 May100 - 420 krDaniel Handsworth in Mozart’s Bassoon ConcertoDaniel Handsworth in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s bassoon concert in B-flat major. First concert master Malin Broman performs with and conducts the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.Read more & tickets
- Few seats remaining17 May180 krNiklas & Radioapan: den flygande mattanJoin Radioapan on a truly monkey-like musical adventure in Berwaldhallen! Note: In swedish.Read more & tickets
- Few seats remaining22–23 May170 - 560 krJoshua Bell in Mendelssohn’s Violin ConcertoDaniel Harding’s final performance as Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Berwaldhallen with internationally renowned violinist Joshua Bell in Felix Mendelssohn’s violin concerto and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.Read more & tickets
- 6 SeptemberSchubert's Octet with Janine JansenStar violinist Janine Jansen invites you to an evening entirely devoted to Schubert's magnificent octet at Musikaliska Kvarteret in Stockholm.Read more