Tabita Berglund
©Photo: Nikolaj Lund
Tabita Berglund
©Photo: Nikolaj Lund
Tabita Berglund
©Photo: Nikolaj Lund
Tabita Berglund
©Photo: Siv Dolmen
Elisabeth Tonnesen Talent Norge
©Photo: Elisabeth Tonnesen Talent Norge
Siv Dolmen
©Photo: Siv Dolmen

Tabita Berglund

Conductor
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“One of Europe’s greatest promises”

(Helsingin Sanomat, September 2021)

Principal Guest Conductor: Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra

Hailed as ​“one of Europe​’s greatest promises” (Helsingin Sanomat), Tabita Berglund is one of today​’s most exciting, talented young conductors who is fast gaining a reputation for her alert, charismatic and inspiring style which elicits ​“exceptional music-making” (The Arts Desk). Berglund is currently Principal Guest Conductor of Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, appointed to this post following her debut engagement with the orchestra in 2020.

Symphonic highlights of the 2023/24 season include Berglund​’s debuts with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berner Symphonieorchester, Orchestre National de Lyon, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, Dresdner Philharmonie, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Musikkollegium Winterthur, and Grafenegg Festival where she joins forces with Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich for the second time and ahead of further performances later in the season. Working together again with Philharmonia Orchestra, Berglund makes her Garsington Opera debut conducting a revival production of Mozart​’s Le nozze di Figaro. Other return highlights during the season include Berglund​’s final concerts as Principal Guest of KSO, as well as engagements with Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Trondheim Symfoniorkester and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Tabita Berglund
Tabita Berglund © Nikolaj Lund

Throughout 2023/24, Berglund collaborates with internationally-renowned soloists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leila Josefowicz, Truls Mørk, Camilla Tilling, Benjamin Beilman, Paul Lewis and Johan Dalene. She continues to champion the music of Nordic compatriots such as Sibelius, Stenhammar, Tveitt, Nordheim and Thorvaldsdottir, as part of a wide-ranging repertoire from Mozart and Beethoven through to Prokofiev, Boulanger and Lutosławski, among others.

Previous season highlights include Berglund’s US debut with Detroit Symphony Orchestra as well as engagements with Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony and Stavanger Symphony orchestras, Luzerner Symphonieorchester, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Hallé, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Tapiola Sinfonietta, among others.

Berglund graduated in 2019 from the Orchestral Conducting Masters course at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied under Professor Ole Kristian Ruud. She originally trained as a cellist and studied to Master​’s degree level under Truls Mørk, performing regularly with the Oslo and Bergen philharmonic orchestras as well as the Trondheim Soloists before conducting became her main focus in 2015. She was the 2018–20 star of the Talent Norway programme and is a past recipient of the Gstaad Conducting Academy​’s Neeme Järvi Prize. Berglund​’s debut CD, on which she conducts the Oslo Philharmonic with violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde, was released in 2021 (LAWO) and subsequently nominated for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) in the 2022 Classical Music category.

HarrisonParrott represents Tabita Berglund for worldwide general management.

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Tabita Berglund – Thorvaldsdottir (Metacosmos) © Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Tabita Berglund – Sibelius (Symphony No.1) © Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Tabita Berglund – Wagner (Siegfried Idyll)
Tabita Berglund – Wagner (Siegfried Idyll) © The Hallé
Tabita Berglund – Beethoven Symphony No.7 (1st movement) ©  The Hallé

“Tabita Berglund’s conducting style – alert, encouraging and inspiring – seems to bring out exceptional music-making.”

(Robert Beale, The Arts desk, March 2022)

“(Berglund) is considered one of the most talented conductors of her generation and after this concert it is not difficult to understand why. She has an equally emotional and analytical relationship with the material and the communication with the musicians seems frictionless.”

(Hufvudstadsbladet, September 2021)

“… at the helm here was the young Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund, whose unfussy interpretation held poise and vigour. This is her second appearance with the Hallé, and her smiling warmth matched the Idyll’s radiance perfectly. The boundless energy that underpins her approach was best suited to the Beethoven that closed the concert. […] There was room for a rich Allegretto, too, in as athletic a Seventh as you’ll hear, leaving an appreciative if reduced Manchester audience invigorated.”

(Hugh Morris, The Guardian, June 2021)

“(Berglund is) very capable of taking an orchestra with her in her ideas of how music should sound: she smiles encouragingly at the players a lot and makes constant eye contact […] She exudes confidence, and so does her music-making.”

(Robert Beale, The Art Desk, June 2021)

“We take advantage of the somewhat disconcerting habit of giving hurricanes personal names to sum up the experience of what it means to see Tabita Berglund direct. Only, in this case, the metaphor alludes only to her overwhelming momentum and energy, without any of the negative connotations […] The result [in Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony] was forceful and jovial, brilliant but without being strident or tiresome […] The orchestra let itself be carried away and excelled at an extraordinary level of virtuosity and good sound. If the reports of the time detail that at its premiere the symphony was applauded to ecstasy, here the audience was able to renew their amazement and enthusiastic ovation.”

(José Manuel Ruiz Martínez, Scherzo, April 2021)

“Berglund led the four dozen or so [Royal Scottish National Orchestra] musicians with confidence, masterful direction, and expressions of pleasure and encouragement. Conducting with a baton, she has a very vigorous style, moving her arms energetically in conspicuous arcs. This works well in electrifying the orchestra as she transforms individual passages into a cohesive musical unity. In the physically smaller orchestra, the woodwinds and brass could have easily over-shadowed the strings, but Berglund never let the balance tip too far in their favour.”

(Linda Holt, Bachtrack, November 2020)

“[But] Tabita Berglund managed to give this relatively heavy work new life! Powerful string sound, beautiful woodwind solos, shiny brass instruments […] Certain passages were actually reminiscent of film music, and the experience was completely different compared to hearing the work through the speakers at home – a feat of the young conductor!”

(Fædrelandsvennen, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, September 2020)
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