The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra ( no, Stavanger Symfoniorkester, SSO) is a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

based in

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. The SSO principal venue is the Stavanger Concert Hall (Stavanger konserthus), performing in the

Fartein Valen Olav Fartein Valen (25 August 1887 – 14 December 1952) was a Norwegian composer, notable for his work in atonal polyphonic music. He developed a polyphony similar to Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer ...

concert hall.

History

The

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the larges ...

founded the orchestra in 1938 as the ''Stavanger musikerforenings orkester'', for radio broadcasts. The orchestra's first artistic leader was the violinist Gunnar Knudsen, from 1938 to 1945. In 1965, the orchestra's name was changed to the ''Symfoniorkestret i Stavanger'', and again in 1982 to its present name. Past artistic leaders of the orchestra have included

Susanna Mälkki Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki (born 13 March 1969) is a Finnish conductor and cellist. Early life and education Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki was born on 13 March 1969 in Helsinki. She began to learn the violin, piano, and cello in her yout ...

(2002–2005), and more recently the American conductor Steven Sloane (2007–2013).

Christian Vásquez Christian Vásquez (born 1984, Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. Vásquez began to study violin at age 9, after being accepted to the '' El Sistema'' program in Venezuela, and he played in the ''Sinfónica Infantil de ...

was chief conductor from 2013 to 2019. In addition to its chief conductor, the SSO has appointed conductors with a formal principal responsibility for early music programming, including Frans Brüggen (1990–1997),

Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster. Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Re ...

, and since 2006, Fabio Biondi. In June 2019, the SSO announced the appointment of Andris Poga as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2021–2022 season. Tianyi Lu became the SSO's conductor-in-residence for the 2021-2022 season. The SSO has recorded commercially for such labels as BIS, including music of

Harald Sæverud Harald Sigurd Johan Sæverud (17 April 1897 – 27 March 1992) was a Norwegian composer. He is most known for his music to Henrik Ibsen's ''Peer Gynt'', '' Rondo Amoroso'', and the ''Ballad of Revolt'' ( no, Kjempeviseslåtten). Sæverud ...

, Geirr Tveitt and

Artistic leaders and chief conductors

* Gunnar Knudsen (1938–1945) * Karsten Andersen (1945–1963) * Bjørn Woll (1963–1989) * Aleksandr Dmitriev (1990–1998) *

Ole Kristian Ruud Ole Kristian Ruud (born 2 October 1958) is a Norwegian conductor. Ruud was born in Lillestrøm. He studied clarinet with Richard Kjelstrup at the Norwegian Academy of Music. He studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy and made his debut in Os ...

(1999–2002) *

(2002–2005) * Steven Sloane (2007–2013) *

(2013–2019) * Andris Poga (2021–present)

Early music programme directors

* Frans Brüggen (1990–1997) *

* Fabio Biondi (2006–2017)

References

External links

Official orchestra site

Store Norske leksikon entry on the orchestra

* ttp://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/Apr09/Valen_biscd163242.htm Music Web International review of BIS CD-1632, "Fartein Valen: Orchestral Music, Volume 2", 9 April 2009. {{Authority control Norwegian orchestras Symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1938 1938 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Stavanger