The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1925, is the oldest radio symphony orchestra in the world. Two conductors in particular have largely been responsible for building up the orchestra from the start: the legendary Fritz Busch, and the Russian Nicolai Malko, who is still honoured by the orchestra every third year at the International Malko Competition for Young Conductors. Many of this century’s great conductors have conducted the orchestra, among them Paul Kletzki, Eugene Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter, Rafael Kubelík, Sergiu Celibidache, Vaclav Neumann, Daniel Barenboim, Paavo Berglund, Sixten Ehrling and Herbert Blomstedr. Other contemporary conductors of the orchestra include international top figures like Giuseppe Sinopoji, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yuri Temirkanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Evgeny Svetlanov as well as Kurt Sanderling. In 1995 the German conductor Ulf Schirmer took over as principal conductor of the orchestra. Leif Segerstam has been associated as honorary conductor, with Dmitri Kitaenko and Michael Schønwandt as principal guest conductors. Touring forms a major part of the orchestra’s activities and includes regular visits to the United States and several European countries. Throughout the years countless recordings of the orchestra have been issued, including complete cycles of symphonies by Sibelius and Mahler on the Chandos label as well as numerous Danish works on the label Dacapo. The orchestra collaborated with Decca and Ulf Schirmer on works by Carl Nielsen.

The Sparekassen Bikuben A/S (savings bank) sponsors the DNRSO and Choir.

Photo courtesy of Tine Juel

Thomas Dausgaard trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and the Royal College of Music in London. Dausgaard became Chief Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra / DR in August 2004 after three years as Principal Guest Conductor. Since 1997 he has been Chief Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra with which he has appeared at the Mostly Mozart and Ravinia festivals and the BBC Proms. Working regularly with the leading Scandinavian orchestras, he also often guest conducts leading orchestras in Europe and North America, e.g. Bayerischer Rundfunk, Leipziger Gewandhaus, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the orchestras of RAI Turin and Teatro alla Scala. He has as well recorded a long succession of CDs with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra/DR, including works by Liszt, Berwald, Per Nørgård and the symphonies of Rued Langgaard as well as the opera Antikrist.

The Danish composer and organist J.P.E. Hartmann, descendant of a family of musicians, played a leading part in the musical life of Copenhagen. He was organist of the principal church, the Vor Frue Kirk, and active in the Conservatory and in concert life, enjoying friendly relations with the leading European composers of the time.

Stage Works

Hartmann’s first opera, The Raven, or The Brother Test, was based on a libretto by Hans Christian Andersen and was favourably reviewed by Schumann; and a later opera based on the work of the same writer, Little Kirsten, was well received. He provided ballet music for his friend Bournonville and incidental music for plays by Adam Oehlenschlaeger, a leading literary figure in Danish Romanticism.

Orchestral Music

Hartmann’s orchestral music includes a number of concert overtures and two symphonies, all imbued with the spirit of Danish nationalism of the period.

Chamber and Keyboard Music

Hartmann added to the repertoire of popular Danish flute music and left three violin sonatas and a number of shorter pieces. His music for the piano includes two sonatas and a similar number of less demanding pieces, while his organ music includes a sonata, fantasia and funeral marches.