The Swedish Chamber Orchestra (SCO)
was founded in 1995 and was joined by Thomas Dausgaard as chief conductor only two years later. For the following twenty-two years Dausgaard and the ensemble worked closely together to create their own dynamic sound which has contributed to placing them on the international arena. As of August 2019, the orchestra’s chief conductor is Martin Fröst, but Dausgaard continues his relationship with the orchestra as its conductor laureate.

The tightly knit ensemble of 39 regular members has become established internationally as a unique voice with a wide range of repertoire and styles. The orchestra made its UK and USA débuts in 2004, performing at the BBC Proms and the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Since then the SCO has toured regularly throughout Europe, made its debut in Japan and been invited to the Salzburg Festival. Recent highlights include performances at New York’s Lincoln Center (Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis) in 2017, the BBC Proms in 2018 (The Brandenburg Project) and in the spring of 2019 a mini-residency at the Vienna Konzerthaus.

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra continues to expand its repertoire and open doors to new challenges; together with Dausgaard the ensemble has recorded the complete Schubert, Schumann and Brahms symphony cycles, but it is also dedicated to performing contemporary works and regularly collaborates with conductor/composers H K Gruber and Brett Dean. Through its high level of commitment, the orchestra has additionally built up an impressive list of visiting artists, including Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Michael Collins, Isabelle Faust, Andrew Manze, Nina Stemme, Jörg Widmann, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Thomas Zehetmair, Tabea Zimmermann and James Ehnes.

Thomas Dausgaard
Renowned for his creativity and innovation in programming, the excitement of his live performances and an extensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings, Thomas Dausgaard is music director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He is also honorary conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, having served as principal conductor from 2004 until 2011, and conductor laureate of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, having served as chief conductor from 1997 until 2019. In the early part of his career he studied with Leonard Bernstein and assisted Seiji Ozawa, and he now regularly appears with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Vienna, London and BBC Symphony Orchestras, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Dausgaard began his North American career as assistant conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has since appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony and the Baltimore, Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras. He is also a regular visitor to Asia and Australia. Festival appearances have included the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, Mostly Mozart, the George Enescu Festival and Tanglewood. Thomas Dausgaard has been awarded the Cross of Chivalry in Denmark. He is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, and an Honorary Doctor at Örebro University in Sweden.

Michael Collins
is one of the most complete musicians of his generation. With a continuing, distinguished career as a soloist, he has in recent years also become highly regarded as a conductor. Orchestras with which he has appeared include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. From 2010 until 2018 he was principal conductor of the City of London Sinfonia. Michael Collins has been committed to expanding the repertoire of the clarinet for many years. He has given premières of works by John Adams, Elliott Carter, Brett Dean and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Collins received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year Award in 2017.

In great demand as a chamber musician, Collins performs regularly with the Borodin, Heath and Belcea quartets, András Schiff, Martha Argerich, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Lars Vogt, Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis. His ensemble, London Winds, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2018 and the group maintains a busy diary with high calibre engagements such as the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Festival, City of London Festival, Cheltenham International Festival and Bath Mozartfest. Michael Collins has recorded an extraordinarily wide range of solo repertoire. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2015, he was awarded an MBE for his services to music.