New record for Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's Digital Concert Hall

Although public concerts are not possible during these troubled times, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra has reached more people than ever via its streaming service GSOplay. In the two month period March-April, nearly 300,000 viewers attended one of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s concerts online. 

Conditions have led to developments of new digital concert forms. Says Sten Cranner, General Manager and Artistic Director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra:“We have met the challenges of the corona restrictions and found new forms to create content. I’m happy to say that we are now able to invite the audience to a number of live concerts.”

Whilst audiences cannot attend the Concert Hall in person, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra invites them to six live concerts on the web instead. Starting today, GSOplay will stream concerts to all who long for live music. First out is leading Swedish pianist Roland Pöntinen, who plays two of Mozart's finest piano concertos, No 20 and No 21, "Elvira Madigan".

Says Sten Cranner: “We start with two concerts from our regular season programme and are very happy to be able to offer them to our loyal audience and everyone else who may be in quarantine and have limited contact with the outside world.”

Following Roland Pöntinen's two concerts with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on April 22 and 23, four concerts follow in May. The first one with Antonin Dvorák's beautiful Serenades for strings and winds, respectively. As a season finale in May, the orchestra’s Chief Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali is back with three programmes. As an added bonus, the concerts are introduced by interviews and studio talks led by Andreas Lindahl, orchestra manager and music journalist.

Sten Cranner: “The concerts are our homage to the audience for being with us, albeit remotely, during this time. Santtu-Matias Rouvali is really looking forward to meeting both the orchestra and the audience again. There will be varied programs with everything from classics such as Lars-Erik Larsson's spring-like Pastoral Suite to symphonies by Schubert and Beethoven, an Overture by Fanny Mendelssohn and Copland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man”.

Friday, May 15 at 6 pm, the digital season with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra ends the orchestral season with a concert dedicated to all those affected and those who are struggling in these difficult times.

All concerts on GSOplay are free and can be viewed via the app and on gsoplay.se.

CONCERT PROGRAMME:

Wednesday, April 22 at 8pm

Mozart Piano Concerto No 20

Thursday, April 23 at 8pm

Mozart Piano Concerto No 21

Roland Pöntinen piano

Thursday, May 7 at 8pm

Dvorák Serenade for winds

Serenade for strings

Saturday 9 May at 3 pm

L-E Larsson Pastoral Suite

Ravel Tombeau de Couperin

Schubert Symphony No 6

Wednesday, May 13 at 8pm

Fanny Mendelssohn Overture

Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks

Beethoven Symphony No 7

Friday, May 15 at 6 p.m.

Copland Fanfare for the Common Man

Tower Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman

Copland Quiet City

Barber Adagio for strings

Beethoven Symphony No 8

SANTTU-MATIAS ROUVALI conductor

The Gothenburg Symphony's digital concert hall GSOplay has established itself as one of the leading streaming services for classical music over the past eight years. During the last month, the number of visits per week on GSOplay has increased from approximately 170,000 to nearly 300,000. Every Tuesday and Friday new music is uploaded, including the new GSOplay Sessions where the audience comes really close to artists and ensembles from the orchestra.

When Gothenburg Symphony's then chief conductor Gustavo Dudamel led his farewell concert in 2012, the crowd pressure was great - many couldn’t get a ticket. Then the idea was born to digitize the orchestra's concerts. SEK 2.2 million from Stena financed the installation of cameras and control rooms and the Gothenburg Concert Hall became the first Swedish cultural institution to be digitized.