Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

One of Europe's foremost and most diverse orchestras

One of Europe's foremost and most versatile orchestras

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is an established and leading force in the music world, with a broad repertoire and innovative collaborations. The orchestra has flourished under the leadership of Daniel Harding, and with Maxim Emelyanychev as its new principal guest conductor, the orchestra looks forward to a continued bright future.

Known as the Radio Symphonics in everyday speech, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra has left a major mark on the music world. Its repertoire includes both the great classical works and exciting new music, and in collaborations with many of the world's leading composers, conductors and soloists there is a constant striving to break new ground. The orchestra has received countless prizes and awards, their tours have been celebrated both in Europe and globally, and they can also boast an extensive and critically acclaimed catalog of records.

The 2024/2025 season marked the end of an era with Daniel Harding as Music Director. During the 2025/2026 season, the orchestra will host a series of fantastic conductors, and Maxim Emelyanychev is welcomed as principal guest conductor. Emelyanychev has worked with the orchestra many times before and expresses his admiration: “The quality of the musicians is incredible. Working with the orchestra is like a conversation about music, a detailed and interesting way of working that is rare in large symphony orchestras.”

Maxim Emelyanychev leder Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester och den tysk-franske cellisten Nicolas Altstaedt i Grażyna Bacewicz andra cellokonsert.
Maxim Emelyanychev conducting the orchestra and cellist Nicolas Altstaedt performing Grażyna Bacewicz second cello concerto. Photo: Arne Hyckenberg

Lasting relationships

Three of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt, Esa-Pekka Salonen, as well as Daniel Harding, have been honored with the title of Conductor Laureate. They continue to be guests of the orchestra, and Salonen will be Berwaldhallen’s Artist in Residence during the 2025/2026 season, a role he shares with violinist Janine Jansen.

  • Orchestra members

    Just over a hundred instrumentalists make up the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. You can find them here.

    Members of the Orchestra
  • Music Director

    After 18 years, Daniel Harding said goodbye to the role of Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the end of last season. In 2025/2026, the orchestra will welcome a string of fantastic guest conductors from near and far. We look forward to sharing who will lead the orchestra's artistic development next...

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  • Listen to the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

    You can often hear the orchestra play on Swedish Radio P2 and in the Sveriges Radio Play app. Below is a curated playlist from the record catalog. ↓

    To the playlist

”The orchestra has an incredible humility towards the music and a wonderful sense of musical imagination and inventiveness.” – Daniel Harding

Orkester och publik syns genom titthålet i dörren bakom scenen
View of Maxim Emelyanychev and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra through the peephole backstage.
Photo: Mattias Ahlm/Sveriges Radio

All of Sweden’s symphony orchestra

From its home stage in Berwaldhallen, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra reaches the entire country via Swedish Radio P2. Many concerts can also be seen on Berwaldhallen Play, SVT and SVT Play, and internationally the concerts are broadcast through the EBU, which means that the orchestra’s music reaches a global audience. In this way, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is the orchestra of all of Sweden.

Ahead of the orchestra’s guest appearance at the BBC Proms 2014, chief conductor Daniel Harding was asked why they stand out from the crowd: “The orchestra has an incredible humility towards the music and a wonderful sense of musical imagination and inventiveness,” he said. The orchestra has been recognized several times for the musicians’ rare feeling and sensitivity. With the orchestra members’ distinct interaction and musical inventiveness, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will continue to be at the musical forefront on the world’s great stages.

Music directors and Conductor Laureates

Music director:

Daniel Harding 2007-2025

Manfred Honeck 2000-2006

Jevgenij Svetlanov 1996-1999

Esa-Pekka Salonen 1984-1995

Herbert Blomstedt 1977-1982

Sergiu Celibidache 1965-1971

 

Conductor Laureates:

Daniel Harding

Esa-Pekka Salonenu

Herbert Blomstedt

Carlo Maria Giuliniu

A note on the orchestra's name and history

Orchestral music has existed in Swedish Radio since the very first day of broadcasting in January 1925. The radio orchestra has changed its name and form several times during its lifetime. In 1965, the then Radio Orchestra merged with Radio service's TV Orchestra to form a symphony orchestra with over 100 members under the Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache. In March 1967, the orchestra finally received the name it still bears today: Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester (Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra).

  • Maxim Emelyanchev - principal guest conductor

    Maxim Emelyanychev has been the Chief Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra since 2019 and the Chief Conductor of the baroque orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro since 2013. In the 2025/2026 season he will also take on the role of Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

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  • Work in Berwaldhallen

    Do you dream of playing in the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, singing in the Radio Choir, becoming part of our marketing team, providing excellent service to concertgoers or working with the Berwaldhallen administration?

    Vacancies
  • Orchestra biography

    Read the biography of the Radio Symphony Orchestra. More material is also available in the Berwaldhallen press room (scroll down for link).

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    • Follow the Radio Symphonics

      Follow the orchestra and their work! The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra can be found both on Facebook and Instagram under @sverigesradiossymfoniorkester.

      The orchestra on Facebook
    • Listen to musical highlights with our beloved ensembles

      On this page, we’ve gathered selected concerts featuring the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir.

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    Press

    Karl Thorson, press and PR Berwaldhallen
    Telephone: +46 70 431 18 93

    Email: karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se 

    Press releases and press photos from concerts are available in the Berwaldhallen press room.

    Upcoming concerts with the orchestra

    • 6 September

      Schubert's Octet with Janine Jansen

      Star violinist Janine Jansen invites you to an evening entirely devoted to Schubert's magnificent octet at Musikaliska Kvarteret in Stockholm.
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    • Few seats remaining
      7 September
      450 - 750 kr

      Salonen & Grigorian in music by Strauss & Bruckner

      A masterful encounter takes place as super soprano Asmik Grigorian and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen conclude the Baltic Sea Festival.
      Read more & tickets
    • 12–13 September
      130 - 475 kr

      Mahler & Brahms with Emelyanychev

      Music by Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler is on the program when principal guest conductor Maxim Emelyanychev leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and pianist Francesco Piemontesi.
      Read more & tickets
    • 25–26 September
      130 - 475 kr

      Adès, Gerstein & Sibelius

      The British conductor and composer Sir Thomas Adès visits the Swedish Radio concert hall Berwaldhallen with pianist Kiril Gerstein.
      Read more & tickets
    • 1 October
      100 - 420 kr

      Discover Mozart’s Gran Partita  

      Discover Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 Gran Partita with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Gregor Zubicky!
      Read more & tickets
    • 2 October
      100 - 420 kr

      Mozarts Gran Partita

      Musicians from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs Andrea Tarrodis Serenade in Seven Colours andMozarts Serenad no 10 "Gran Partita".
      Read more & tickets
    • 9–10 October
      130 - 475 kr

      Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony  

      Karina Cannellakis leads the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra along with soprano Johanna Wallroth in music by Mozart, Boulanger and Rachmaninov.
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    • Few seats remaining
      16–18 October
      350 - 650 kr

      Disco Inferno

      Finally time again for disco in Berwaldhallen! Take a dance step back to the sequin-studded and pulsating golden age of disco. When...
      Read more & tickets
    • 23–24 October
      130 - 475 kr

      Ravel’s Piano Concerto with Beatrice Rana 

      Lithuainian conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Italian pianist Beatrice Rana meets the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Maurice Ravel's jazzy and entertaining Piano Concerto in G major .
      Read more & tickets
    • 5 november
      175 kr

      Trio x 2 by Smyth & Beach

      A chamber music evening at the Finnish Institute where romance, temperament, and fire converge in two rarely heard masterpieces: Ethel Smyth’s trio for violin, horn and piano meets Amy Beach’s piano trio.
      Read more & tickets
    • 6–7 November
      130 - 475 kr

      Ravel, Salonen & Lutosławski

      The second part of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Artist in Residence, were we meet conductor Nicolas Collon and soprano Camilla Tilling in music by Debussy, Ravel, Salonen and Lutosławski.
      Read more & tickets
    • 19–20 November
      130 - 475 kr

      Porgy & Bess according to Hannigan  

      Barbara Hannigan returns to Berwaldhallen to perform George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess – Symphonic Picture with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
      Read more & tickets