Aalborg Symfoniorkester

The Aalborg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1943 and since then has had the following principal conductors: Jens Schrøder (1943-79), Janos Fürst (1980-83), Peter Erös (1983-89), Owain Arwel Hughes (1995-99), and in 1999 Moshe Atzmon who was succeeded in 2005 by Matthias Aeschbacher. Throughout the period 1959-81 Alf Sjøen was also permanently engaged as a conductor. Many world-famous soloists have appeared with the orchestra, including Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yehudi Menuhin, Birgit Nilsson, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Victor Borge, Pierre Fournier, Paul Tortelier, Kyung-Wha Chung, José Carreras, David and Igor Oistrakh, and Kiri Te Kanawa. The Aalborg Symphony Orchestra has 65 full-time musicians – many of whom are also music teachers at educational institutions in the region. The Aalborg Symphony Orchestra meets the musical requirements of northern Jutland in many areas, first and foremost with large symphonic concerts in the Aalborg Hall and around the region. The orchestra also plays an important role as an opera and ballet orchestra at guest performances by the Royal Danish Opera and Ballet and the Danish National Opera in Århus. The youngest music audiences are catered for with group concerts at schools and children’s and family concerts at the ‘Symphony’ hall and in the Aalborg Hall. The Aalborg Symphony Orchestra has toured all over Denmark, including Copenhagen, and its tours abroad have included Roubaix in France and Montreux in Switzerland. The orchestra has made several CD recordings, mainly of Danish music, but also of works by Siegfried Wagner and George Gershwin, and first recordings of Carl Nielsen’s theatre music.