The Swedish Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1995, numbers 38 musicians. The orchestra is committed to developing the ‘surprising’ and ‘fresh’ sound ascribed to it and is constantly expanding its repertoire and opening doors to further challenges together with Thomas Dausgaard, its music director since 1997. The chamber-musical qualities that a smaller orchestra brings to its music making, even in works usually associated with the full-size symphony orchestra, can be experienced in the SCO’s symphony cycles of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms.
The SCO also pursues an active role in contemporary music, as exemplified by its long-standing collaboration with composer/conductor HK Gruber (artist-in residence since 2006). Two recent projects in partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are also noteworthy: a shared composer-in-residency for Karin Rehnqvist and Sally Beamish during the years 1998-2004 and a British/ Swedish composer competition. To increase its versatility the orchestra has furthermore established a long relationship with the baroque violinist and conductor Andrew Manze (artist-in-residence since 2003).
The SCO has been touring internationally since 1998, including performances at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (2003), the BBC Proms in London, the New York City Mostly Mozart Festival and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago (all in 2004). 2005 marked the orchestra’s first visit to Asia - a five-city tour of Japan.