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Sakari Oramo trains his focus on firmly established international guest conducting relationships throughout the 2026-27 season

Conductor’s carefully constructed schedule includes world premiere of Brett Dean’s Phantoms and Sibelius with the Berliner Philharmoniker, revival of music by Heidi Sundblad-Halme, Busoni’s Piano Concerto in Hamburg, Bacewicz and Nielsen in Stockholm and concert performances of Berg’s Lulu in Cologne

Sakari Oramo combines symphonic landmarks by Britten, Brahms, Debussy, Dvořák, Mahler, Shostakovich and Stravinsky with revelatory companion pieces at this year’s BBC Proms and throughout the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 season.

Conductor’s repertoire explorations include the world premiere of Gwilym Simcock’s Triple Concerto, the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen Suite, Anders Hillborg’s Viola Concerto, and a rare outing for Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht

Oramo’s seventh time conducting the Last Night of the Proms with Yuja Wang and Nicky Spence as soloists.

Finnish/American conductor, Aku Sorensen, impressed the five-strong panel at the final with his outstanding conducting ability and excellent communication with the orchestra. More than 200 conductors applied to take part, and eight semi-finalists were selected for the competition days on 29 and 30 March. Presented by BBC Radio 3’s Tom McKinney, the final on 31 March was a public concert at The Bridgewater Hall in which the finalists were put through their paces in front of an enthusiastic live audience.

The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is delighted to announce the appointment of Tabita Berglund as its Chief Conductor. She begins her official tenure in August 2026 as Chief Conductor Designate, before assuming the post of Chief Conductor in August 2027. Berglund, who succeeds Edward Gardner, becomes the first Norwegian conductor to take charge of the Bergen Philharmonic since Karsten Andersen’s long relationship with the orchestra ended in 1985, and the first Norwegian female chief conductor of a major Norwegian symphony orchestra. She will conduct the orchestra in 10-12 programmes each season, lead them on international tours and add new recordings to the award-winning discography. Her initial tenure is set to run until July 2031.

Apollo’s Fire and its founder-director Jeannette Sorrell to join forces with members of the English Baroque Soloists for a thrilling musical fencing match during weekend residency at St-Martin-in-the-Fields (Friday 24 & Saturday April 2026)

American period-instrument ensemble’s latest UK tour also includes a recreation of music made in the four quarters of Jerusalem’s Old City, the imagined sounds of a 17th-century pub and a visit to a Middle Eastern café of c.1700

Tour ends with a repeat of Fencing Match programme at Snape Maltings Concert Hall (Sunday 26 April), including double concertos by Vivaldi, Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach

VBPR features in International Arts Manager

Sakari Oramo’s guest conducting engagements in 2025-26, comprising dates in Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg and Leipzig, reinforce his fruitful creative association with Germany’s leading orchestras

Finnish conductor marks his 60th-birthday year with Mendelssohn and Elgar with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in debut performances with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra

Season includes six concerts as Artistic Partner of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne and a visit to Paris to perform monumental works by Saariaho and Mahler with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France

The Norwegian National Opera & Ballet’s recording of Richard Wagner’s Der fliegende Höllander has won the 2025 Opera Award from Gramophone, the world’s leading magazine for classical record reviews. The coveted accolade, chosen from a formidable shortlist of six nominees, was awarded to the Company by an expert panel of Gramophone critics.