Mit großer Freude geben wir die Ernennung unseres neuen Ersten Dirigenten und Künstlerischen Beraters bekannt: John Storgårds wird uns ab Herbst 2026 mit fundierter musikalischer Expertise, frischen künstlerischen Impulsen und konzeptioneller Weitsicht zur Seite stehen. Nach unserer gemeinsamen Tour im Frühjahr 2024 wurde er von der Mitgliedschaft in diese Position gewählt und unterzeichnete Anfang diesen Jahres seinen Vertrag.
Der Chief Conductor des BBC Philharmonic Orchestra und Principal Guest Conductor des kanadischen National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa blickt auf eine Doppelkarriere als Dirigent und virtuoser Geiger zurück. Von Publikum und ritiker:innen wird er insbesondere für seine kreative Gestaltung von Konzertprogrammen, musikalische Vielseitigkeit und mitreißenden Auftritte gefeiert. Seit über 25 Jahren ist er künstlerischer Leiter des Lapland Chamber Orchestra und Chefdirigent des Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Unser Orchester erlebte ihn während der gemeinsamen Arbeitsphase als einen Dirigenten mit hohem Anspruch, dessen energetische Art ansteckend wirkt. Im Interview sprachen wir mit ihm über seine Pläne für die programmatische Zusammenarbeit, darüber, wie seine Erfahrungen als Instrumentalist sein Dirigat prägen und wie er mit der Verantwortung seiner neuen Position umgehen will.
We are very excited and truly honoured to welcome you as our new Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor soon! We went on tour together in spring 2024, so you already know the orchestra quite well. We’d love to know: How are you preparing for your new role – and is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to?
I love working with young people and I enjoyed our collaboration in so many ways. The whole process of working, rehearsing, discussing together and of course the focus on what we were doing – I think the concerts were fantastic. Not only a lot of energy, but also good preparation and attitude. So for me, working with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie was a very positive experience.
You have worked with renowned professional orchestras around the world, but also with young ensembles like ours. From your experience, what are the main differences – and what makes working with a young orchestra special?
Of course young people don’t have the same level of experience as professional and established musicians. As a conductor, it gives me a lot of possibilities but also a responsibility to get the best out of everyone involved – to encourage them and inspire them to go on with what they already are and to believe in what they are doing. To believe that there are possibilities and goals to achieve and that it is worth all the hard work that is involved in becoming a professional instrumentalist. It is very important that as a professional and experienced conductor you let young musicians keep their curiosity and inspiration and their openness to work with different ways of making music, different styles and different composers.
Do you have any particular composers or styles in mind that you would like to explore together with the orchestra?
Well, I have quite a wide repertoire as a musician. That has always been my way of working, even before I was a conductor: As a violinist, I jumped into different directions, trying this and that, so I have a large knowledge of styles and composers. And of course, I have many favourites within different fields. But I want to give the ensemble a chance to make their own experiences, even with composers or styles that are not as close to me. That’s why I am going to be very flexible in discussions about what kind of music we want to make. Of course I will bring in all my knowledge, but I don’t want to be too demanding about what we should do. In that sense, I want to try and keep myself young and open-minded.
As you know, our orchestra is democratically organised and one important committee is our programme committee, which you will be working with closely. You are renowned for your creative programme designing – how do you usually approach putting together a programme?
This is a good and big question. You have to trust that you can combine pieces in a way that is exciting for both – audiences and musicians. I grew up with the kind of thinking that it should be totally natural and normal that within a concert something that everyone is familiar with is combined with a piece that is unknown. And then think about why that particular piece fits into the package. When I worked with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie for the first time, I was very glad and happy about what was suggested to me, the whole concept was very close to my way of thinking and I could see that they were very engaged with the programme and were very innovative and open-minded towards combining in a way that makes it a good fit for everybody in the end. That is exactly what I think we are going to do now too.
You’re not only a conductor, but a renowned violinist as well. How does this instrumental background influence your conducting?
I think it is an advantage, especially when working with young musicians. I have grown up being an orchestra and ensemble musician and that experience is very much with me all the time. I still take the violin everywhere I go and practice in between rehearsals. From what I have heard from musicians here and there is that they feel seen and understand my way of conducting and that there is a closeness. String musicians often say “you seem to really know what you do with your hands and you say what you want from the string players” – the details, sounds and technical aspects, it helps with everything I do as a conductor. I can point out “go two centimetres to the left with the bow” and then they say “he knows what he wants, because he exactly knows how to do it as an instrumentalist too.” I think it is a good thing and personally, it keeps me feeling very much like myself. I wouldn’t feel the same way, as a person and as a musician, if I wouldn’t have both sides with me in everything I do.
Do you think there is a special responsibility a conductor needs to take on?
Well, I think it is a very psychological thing too and it relates to everything we have discussed so far. I believe that musicians feel and do better, are more relaxed and able to focus on the right things if they have a conductor who is easy to communicate with – both in terms of speaking and just being in the same room with. I don’t want to be a conductor who is somehow far from or outside of the orchestra. I am definitely a part of the whole community and together with everybody in the same situation.
Foto: Giorgia Bertazzi