Artist-in-Residence

Meet a great virtuoso: violinist Clara-Jumi Kang! Born in Germany and of South Korean heritage, she was recognised as a prodigy at an early age. Both her parents are professional singers, and she began playing the violin at the age of three. At just four, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the Mannheim University of Music.

In the 2025/26 season, she is Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset and with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the first of her three productions with the orchestra during the season.

Clara-Jumi Kang last appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022, and now she returns as soloist in Shostakovich’s remarkable Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work of profound gravity combined with breathtaking beauty. Shostakovich also reveals his wonderfully sarcastic side here – as if thumbing his nose at Stalin’s cultural enforcers.

The concert also features Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony – his final symphony. While not technically demanding, it remains one of his most enigmatic compositions. In the playful first movement, we hear the famous William Tell theme from Rossini’s opera, but beneath the surface lies a skewed and unpredictable world. Shostakovich also quotes Wagner and some of his own earlier works. He knew his time was running out – and perhaps in this last symphony, we hear a Soviet artist’s life flashing before our ears.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Meet a great virtuoso: violinist Clara-Jumi Kang! Born in Germany and of South Korean heritage, she was recognised as a prodigy at an early age. Both her parents are professional singers, and she began playing the violin at the age of three. At just four, she became the youngest student ever admitted to the Mannheim University of Music.

In the 2025/26 season, she is Artist-in-Residence at Konserthuset and with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. This is the first of her three productions with the orchestra during the season.

Clara-Jumi Kang last appeared with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2022, and now she returns as soloist in Shostakovich’s remarkable Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work of profound gravity combined with breathtaking beauty. Shostakovich also reveals his wonderfully sarcastic side here – as if thumbing his nose at Stalin’s cultural enforcers.

The concert also features Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony – his final symphony. While not technically demanding, it remains one of his most enigmatic compositions. In the playful first movement, we hear the famous William Tell theme from Rossini’s opera, but beneath the surface lies a skewed and unpredictable world. Shostakovich also quotes Wagner and some of his own earlier works. He knew his time was running out – and perhaps in this last symphony, we hear a Soviet artist’s life flashing before our ears.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Anders Hillborg’s Beast Sampler was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2014 Composer Festival, which was dedicated to Hillborg. Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft has conducted several of Hillborg’s works, but this is the first time he takes on Beast Sampler.

In this piece, Hillborg focuses more on sound itself than on traditionally structured tones. “I often refer to the orchestra as a sound beast” he has said. The title Beast Sampler plays on the word “beast” and the idea of sampling – borrowing elements from earlier works to create something entirely new.

German-born violinist Clara-Jumi Kang made her debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021. She has won numerous prestigious awards and performs with orchestras all over the world. She is Konserthuset’s Artist-in-Residence this season, and appears with the orchestra on three occasions – in Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, here in Édouard Lalo’s virtuosic Violin Concerto, and later in Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade. Lalo’s work is titled Symphonie espagnole due to its strong Spanish influence and melodic flair.

In his First Symphony, Gustav Mahler takes the listener both out into the natural world and deep into the painful recesses of the human experience. With remarkable brilliance, he portrays human complexity and restlessness. His inspirations included the German Romantic author Jean Paul’s novel Titan, which gave the symphony its original subtitle, and above all the folk poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), which deeply moved Mahler.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is Konserthuset’s Artist-in-Residence this season and returns to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra several times. This is her third production with the orchestra, each time under the baton of Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft, with whom she has frequently collaborated in recent years.

Born in Germany and of South Korean heritage, Clara-Jumi Kang was recognised early on as a prodigy. She began playing the violin at the age of three and was admitted to the Mannheim University of Music at four – the youngest student ever in the institution’s history.

This time, we hear Clara-Jumi Kang in Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade for violin, strings, harp and percussion, composed in 1954. It is a colourful work inspired by Plato’s Symposium, with each movement reflecting one of the philosophical speakers in the dialogue. Bernstein blends neoclassical clarity with jazz-inflected vitality. The Serenade is one of his most personal compositions and a central work in the violin repertoire – essentially a violin concerto in disguise.

Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is a work ablaze with energy, passion and feverish desire. It tells the story of a young, sensitive musician who, in despair, poisons himself with opium. The object of his love becomes a recurring melody – an idée fixe – that haunts him throughout the symphony.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft

Violinist Clara-Jumi Kang is Konserthuset’s Artist-in-Residence this season and returns to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra several times. This is her third production with the orchestra, each time under the baton of Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft, with whom she has frequently collaborated in recent years.

Born in Germany and of South Korean heritage, Clara-Jumi Kang was recognised early on as a prodigy. She began playing the violin at the age of three and was admitted to the Mannheim University of Music at four – the youngest student ever in the institution’s history.

This time, we hear Clara-Jumi Kang in Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade for violin, strings, harp and percussion, composed in 1954. It is a colourful work inspired by Plato’s Symposium, with each movement reflecting one of the philosophical speakers in the dialogue. Bernstein blends neoclassical clarity with jazz-inflected vitality. The Serenade is one of his most personal compositions and a central work in the violin repertoire – essentially a violin concerto in disguise.

Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is a work ablaze with energy, passion and feverish desire. It tells the story of a young, sensitive musician who, in despair, poisons himself with opium. The object of his love becomes a recurring melody – an idée fixe – that haunts him throughout the symphony.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft