The Swedish Chamber Orchestra is a tightly knit ensemble of 38 regular members. The orchestra made its United States and United Kingdom debut with Thomas Dausgaard in 2004, performing at the BBC Proms in London and at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. Since then the Swedish Chamber Orchestra has toured regularly throughout Europe and the US and made its debut in Japan.

Recent highlights include a performance in 2017 at Lincoln Center, and a major European tour in 2018. The Swedish Chamber Orchestra made its third appearance at the BBC Proms in 2018.

Photo: Nikolaj Lund

Mario Venzago was born in Zurich, and studied there and in Vienna with Hans Swarovsky before starting his career as a pianist with Swiss Radio in Lugano. From 1986 to 1989 he was music director of the Heidelberg Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and later served as chief conductor of the German Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Graz Opera, the Basque National Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish National Orchestra in Gothenburg. He was Artistic Director of the Baltimore Summer Music Fest and from 2002 to 2009 Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 2010 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Northern Sinfonia in Newcastle and in the same year chief conductor of the Bern Symphony Orchestra, as well as Artist in Association with the Tapiola Sinfonietta. He is also Schumann Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and holds the position of Conductor Laureate of the Basel Symphony Orchestra. Mario Venzago’s distinguished conducting career includes engagements with major orchestras throughout the world among them the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra and has brought a series of acclaimed recordings.

The London-born composer Sally Beamish has, since 1989, centred her career in Scotland. Trained as a violinist and viola player, she has drawn on Scottish sources, notably in her oboe concerto Tam Lin and her piano trio Piobaireachd. Her compositions include concertos for violin and for viola, and chamber music for varied ensembles. Her songs draw on an eclectic series of texts, from Emily Dickinson to Robert Burns, and her Magnificat intersperses poems by Elizabeth Jennings.

Among composers in Soviet Russia, Sofia Gubaidulina was able to tackle more experimental forms of music, leading to the use of serial techniques and electronic devices.

Instrumental Music

Gubaidulina’s Seven Words draws on Christian inspiration, as does the symbolism of In Croce. Here, as in Silenzio, she made use of a solo cello, and scores also for the traditional Russian accordion, the bayan. Her music in general retains a strong Russian element, without the aridity that can inform the music of the avant-garde.