With five new commissions and a strong focus on a new generation of distinctive voices, the season celebrates the breadth and vitality of Norway’s musical landscape, with performances both at home and on the international stage at the BBC Proms. …
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Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla opens the season (26 & 28 August) and leads the Oslo Philharmonic at the BBC Proms (29 August) in a programme featuring Øyvind Torvund’s Forest Morning, Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet and the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, with soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaya …
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The Oslo Philharmonic and chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä begin this year’s European tour with royal entourage, when Her Majesty Queen Sonja joins them in Paris for the first time. …
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Simon Halsey, one of the world’s most renowned choral conductors and three-time Grammy winner, has been appointed Choral Director and Artistic Advisor to the Oslo Philharmonic for the next five years …
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The Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä commence their 5th season with a special concert in August, celebrating the release of their first recording in a new Shostakovich series for Decca Classics, featuring symphonies nos, 4, 5 and 6. …
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The Oslo Philharmonic and Chief Conductor Klaus Mäkelä celebrate their fourth season together with seventeen concerts at home and twenty-five on tour, making 2023 / 24 the orchestra’s most ambitious season with Mäkelä to date. …
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Klaus Mäkelä launches the Oslo Philharmonic 2021/22 season on 18 August with a special concert featuring Bartok Divertimento, Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 with soloist Yuja Wang …
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March 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of Sibelius’ last visit to the Norwegian capital and the occasion he conducted the Oslo Philharmonic in a historic performance of his first symphony. A century later, Sibelius’ music remains core to the orchestra’s repertoire and is the main theme of Klaus Mäkelä’s first season …
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For three weeks the Oslo Philharmonic is resuming Mellomspill – a series of short concerts which will be streamed on the orchestra’s website, facebook and youtube channel …
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The Oslo Philharmonic recently launched its 101st season with new Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Klaus Mäkelä, with a performance of Mahler’s First Symphony …
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The Season programme of Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra with Klaus Mäkelä.
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The Oslo Philharmonic has announced a four-year contract extension with their new Chief Conductor and Artistic Adviser, Klaus Mäkelä, ahead of the start of his first season with the orchestra, taking the partnership to a total of seven seasons to come.
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Founded in 1919, the Oslo Philharmonic quickly established itself as one of Norway’s leading cultural institutions, attracting renowned conductors such as Jean Sibelius and Arthur Nikisch as early as 1921. Over the past century, the orchestra has built an international reputation through acclaimed recordings, extensive touring, and collaborations with distinguished chief conductors, including Herbert Blomstedt, Mariss Jansons, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Vasily Petrenko, and Klaus Mäkelä.
During Mäkelä’s tenure from 2020 to 2026, the Oslo Philharmonic toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia and performed at major international festivals, including the BBC Proms (2022), Lucerne Festival (2023), and Salzburg Festival (2024). With Mäkelä the orchestra also recorded the complete Sibelius symphony cycle, Shostakovich’s Symphonies Nos. 4–6, and a collaboration with violinist Janine Jansen featuring the violin concertos of Sibelius and Prokofiev on Decca Classics.
Today, the Oslo Philharmonic presents more than 130 concerts annually in Oslo and around the world. The 2026/27 season features five new commissions, with a particular focus on composer Øyvind Torvund and the appointment of Kristine Tjøgersen as composer-in-residence. Her works Wolpertinger, Ambra – receiving its world premiere – and Bioluminescence feature throughout the season, underscoring the orchestra’s commitment to contemporary Norwegian music and artistic innovation.
In his second season as Choral Director and Artistic Advisor, Simon Halsey leads major projects including Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and an open-air performance of David Lang’s The Public Domain. The latter brings together 1,000 voices as the culmination of Gåsehud (Goosebumps), a citywide choral initiative involving schoolchildren from across Oslo.
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