The Royal Swedish Orchestra completes 500 years and makes 2026 a year filled with celebrations

It is a vital 500-year-old who meets the audience, both in the Royal Swedish Opera House in Stockholm and on tour through Europe. Few other orchestras in the world have been active for as long. The Royal Swedish Orchestra stays constantly curious about its time and still strongly connected to its history.

»I was aware of the orchestra’s long history, but its magnitude really hit home when I started working with them. There is such a wonderful history that is a true honor to be part of. And the fact that we have such good chemistry is a real joy«, says Royal Court Kapellmeister Alan Gilbert, who did not hesitate when the opportunity arose to lead the Royal Swedish Orchestra and at the same time take on the role of Music Director of the Royal Swedish Opera:

»I am responsible for anything that has to do with music, and at an opera house that’s a lot! I manage by trying not to micromanage and rather standing for and hopefully embodying the level I expect. There is certain work that falls to a music director, work that guest conductors can’t and really shouldn’t deal with.«

2026 starts off with an Anniversary concert that will be given over two evenings, 17 and 18 of January, on the Royal Swedish Opera's main stage, where the audience will enjoy Beethoven's magnificent Symphony No 9 and also the world premiere of the newly written piece Time Weave, composed by the Royal Swedish Orchestra's violistTorbjörn Helander. During the year, the audience will also have the chance to experience the Royal Swedish Orchestra together with spectacular vocal soloists, such as Nina Stemme, Michael Weinius and Sofie Asplund on the main stage,  and meet them in a smaller and more intimate format in the Golden Foyer, where the successful concepts Blue Hour and Gold Concerts continue.

On 14 of May, we welcome all children to a large family concert in the Stockholm Royal Swedish Opera House and on 21 of May, the audience is invited to another anniversary concert, 500 years of the Royal Swedish Orchestra. Both concerts are visited by the Royal Guards' Dragoon Music Corps, as the music unit of the Swedish Armed Forces also celebrates 500 years and has the same ancestry as the Royal Swedish Orchestra. Presenters are former opera soloist Marianne Eklöf and actor Eric Stern.

In August, the Royal Swedish Orchestra will go on tour to Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, a tour that will conclude with a concert at the Opera House in Stockholm on 29 of August with Nina Stemme as vocal soloist. Iconic pieces by Richard Wagner and Wilhelm Stenhammar are performed with Alan Gilbert conducting. The tour is made possible through four major donations.

The celebrations will continue throughout the autumn of 2026, when the Royal Swedish Opera's audience will have the chance to hear, among other things, Stravinsky's modernist classic The Rite of Spring, and will conclude with a concert filled with American gems. The concert From Gershwin to Bernstein – Alan Gilbert's homage to the classical music of his native USA – will be given on the main stage on two occasions, on 21 and 26 of November.

Tickets for this upcoming spring's concerts with the Royal Swedish Orchestra will be released on 28 of October on the operan.se website, at the same time as all tickets for the spring's performances at the Royal Swedish Opera. Tickets for concerts in the autumn of 2026 will be released for sale during spring 2026.  

Ahead of the anniversary concert on 17 of January, a premiere talk will be held in the Royal Swedish Opera's Golden Foyer at 18:00 on the same day, where Torbjörn Helander and music professor Mattias Lundberg will talk to the Royal Swedish Opera's dramaturg Katarina Aronsson about the concert and the history of the Royal Swedish Orchestra.

CONCERT PROGRAMME DURING THE ANNIVERSARY YEAR 2026

In addition to the concerts, the Royal Swedish Orchestra also participates in opera and ballet performances given at the Royal Swedish Opera.

The Royal Court Orchestra 500 years.

Concert on the main stage 17 & 18 of January 2026

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Overture to Egmont

TORBJÖRN HELANDER
Time Weave (world premiere)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Participants ROYAL COURT ORCHESTRA Royal Swedish Opera Chorus Soloists Matilda Sterby, Miriam Treichl, Michael Weinius, Ola Eliasson CONDUCTOR Alan Gilbert

Strauss with the Royal Swedish Orchestra.

Concert on the main stage 8 of May 2026

FELIX MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night's Dream, Overture

RICHARD STRAUSS Three Hymns by Friedrich Hölderlin, op. 71

RICHARD STRAUSS  Don Quixote

Starring

ROYAL COURT ORCHESTRA SOLOISTS Sofie Asplund (soprano), Håkan Olsson (viola), Erik Wahlgren (cello)

CONDUCTOR Thomas Guggeis

Family concert with the Royal Swedish Orchestra

Concert on the main stage adapted for children and families, 14 of May of 2026

500 years of the Royal Danish Orchestra

Concert on the main stage 21 of May 2026

At both concerts, 14 and 21 of May, beloved works by Wagner, Rossini, Mozart and Tchaikovsky, among others, will be played.

Starring

ROYAL SWEDISH ORCHESTRA, DEFENCE MUSIC SOLOIST Jens Persson Hertzman and others PRESENTERS Marianne Eklöf, Eric Stern CONDUCTOR André Callegaro

Blue Hour 7 of February and 25 of April 2026

Starring

MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ORCHESTRA

Gold Concert 26 March 2026 - The Unbearable Lightness of Being

ARVO PÄRT Tabula rasa BÉLA BARTÓK Divertimento for string orchestra

Starring

MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ORCHESTRA

The Royal Swedish Orchestra on tour: Concertgebouw Amsterdam 17 of August, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg 18 of August, Schloss Kiel 19 of August, Stockholm (Royal Swedish Opera) 29 of August

RICHARD WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser WILHELM STENHAMMAR Serenade op. 31 RICHARD WAGNER Prelude and Liebeconsisted of Tristan und Isolde RICHARD WAGNER Mourning march and final scene from Ragnarök

Starring

ROYAL SWEDISH ORCHESTRA SOLOIST Nina Stemme (soprano) CONDUCTOR Alan Gilbert

The Royal Swedish Orchestra on tour: Palacio de Festivales in Santander on August 20

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Overture to The Magic Flute

MAX BRUCH Violin concert no. 1 in G minor op. 26

WILHELM STENHAMMAR Serenad op. 31

RICHARD WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser

Starring

KUNGLIGA HOVKAPELLET SOLOIST María Dueñas (violin) CONDUCTOR Alan Gilbert

The Rite of Spring with the Royal Orchestra

Concerts on the main stage 25 & 26 of September 2026

BENJAMIN BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes BENJAMIN BRITTEN Serenade for tenor, horn and strings op. 31

IGOR STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

Starring

KUNGLIGA HOVKAPELLET SOLOIST Michael Weinius (tenor), Stefan Dohr (horn) CONDUCTOR Alan Gilbert

Blue Hour 17 of October and 14 of November 2026

Starring

MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ORCHESTRA

From Gershwin to Bernstein

Concert on the main stage 21 & 26 of November 2026

AARON COPLAND  Appalachian Spring

SAMUEL BARBER  Knoxville: Summer of 1915 op. 24

LEONARD BERNSTEIN   Symphonic dances ur West Side Story

GEORGE GERSHWIN  An American in Paris

Starring

KUNGLIGA HOVKAPELLET SOLOIST Elin Rombo (soprano) CONDUCTOR Alan Gilbert