K-Classic News GS,Tak |
Joachim Gustafsson is widely recognized as one of the major Scandinavian conductors of his generation. He is born in 1967 and started very early to play the violin. He studied for the concertmasters in The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and made his debut at the age of 12 years old. 16 years old he started his studies at the Music Academy in Gothenburg, Sweden.There he studied violin, harmony , composition and counterpoint.He did his diploma concert in 1987.in 1988 he was invited to study conducting with Professor Karl Österreicher in Wien.
He performs with virtually all of the Swedish and Danish orchestras, and has a close relationship with both The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Malmoe Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota since 2011,also taking part in the development of youth orchestras and teaching young conductors. Joachim Gustafsson is also regular guest conductor as well as Member of the Board at The Danish National Opera where he in 2014 conducted the world premiere of The Picture of Dorian Gray , an award-winning opera written by the Danish composer Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen.
This also resulted in a highly praised DVD on the Da Capo label. in 2019 he will return to The Danish National Opera to revive the late romantic opera Cleopatra by Danish-Italian composer August Enna in collaboration with german director/set-designer Ben Baur .This production will be released on Da Capo in the autumn of 2019. Coming recording projects with Da Capo includes the symphonies and symphonic poems by the Danish late-romantic composer Herman Sandby .
Joachim Gustafsson also record for the BIS-label.
Next release is devoted to the music of the prolific swedish composerTommie Haglund with the Malmoe Symphony Orchestra .Orchestras Joachim Gustafsson works regularly with includes Potsdam Kammerakademie , Gothenburg Symphony , Malmoe Symphony , Bogotá Philharmonic ,Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Copenhagen Phil , Odense Symphony , Aarhus Symphony , South Jutland Symphony , Nordic Chamber Orchestra ,Gothenburg Opera Orchestra , The Royal Navy Band , Gothenburg Wind Orchestra ,Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia, Filarmonica Juvenil de Bogota, Aarhus Sinfonietta to name a few.
He made his operatic debut with Verdi’s Otello in 2004 at The Royal Opera Stockholm where he also has lead numerous ballet performances .At the Malmoe Opera he made great success in both Der Rosenkavalier and Poulencs Dialogues de Carmelite .At Staatstheater Darmstadt Strauss Ariadne Auf Naxos and at Oper Ulm Cosi Fan Tutte .
Joachim Gustafsson has a very extensive repertoire .He has made cycles of the Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorak and Brahms symphonies .He has been especially appreciated in the Czech repertoire
,conducting also the lesser-known works by Dvorak, Smetana,Martinu, Janacek, Suk and 20:th century composers. His performance of the Dvorak Requiem with GSO was a tremendous success compared to performances by Vaclav Talich and Karel Ancerl.
Joachim Gustafsson is also Artistic Leader of the Tommie Haglund Festival in Halmstad ,Sweden .This is an orchestra/chamber music festival held biannually devoted to the music of Tommie Haglund.
Joachim Gustafsson is also a major champion for new music. As conductor and violinist he has premiered more than 200 new works. Notable premieres includes the operas Snow Whites Mirror
by Niels Martinsen and The Picture of Dorian Gray by AgerfeldtOlesen. He is also the major champion for the music of Tommie Haglund, and has been involved in the premieres of almost all of his
works since 1991.With the elite new music ensemble Aarhus Sinfonietta he has made
numerous productions and tours.
Their performances at the Susaa Festival in Denmark 2012 of music by the legendary composer Per Nörgård was highly lauded by composer,audiences and critics .Joachim Gustafsson is also teaching extensively. He has held Masterclasses both in Scandinavia, Denmark and in South America. In Sweden he is regularly holding classes at university level .He is one of the mentors in the project DIRIGENT, aiming to give female conductors the chance to develop their skills. He has also been engaged as guest professor in conducting at The Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen .He is very interested in collaboration between different department. For instance he has been engaged in exchange with the class of Professor Mario Diaz at Mozarteum .Arranging together with Professor Diaz possibilities for his students to come to Maestro Gustafssons orchestra in Sweden. Other initiatives is his urge to develop inter-departemental contacts between composition and conducting students, thus developing an understanding for their respective talents and needs.
Joachim Gustafsson is first winner of the AICE competition Jugend und Musik in Wien in 1988.
He studied conducting with Professors Karl Österreicher and Otmar Suitner in Wien. Other mentors have been Hofkapellmeister Siegfried Köhler , Professor Leif Segerstam and the Finnish conductor Okko Kamu.
