Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

About Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

The Bergen Philharmonic, a Norwegian national orchestra, is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to 1765. Edvard Grieg was its artistic director from 1880 to 1882. Edward Gardner was Chief Conductor from 2015 to 2024 and is now Honorary Conductor. Sir Mark Elder is Principal Guest Conductor, Jan Willem de Vriend is Artistic Partner and Rasmus Hella Mikkelsen is Assistant Conductor.

The orchestra enjoys a high international standing through recordings, touring and commissions. Gramophone nominated it Orchestra of the Year in 2020 and 2025, and in 2021 it won two Gramophone Classical Music Awards: Recording of the Year and Opera Award for Britten’s Peter Grimes. In recent seasons it has played at the Concertgebouw, the BBC Proms, the Wiener Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie and the Berlin Philharmonie. Its Peter Grimes production was acclaimed at the Edinburgh International Festival (2017) and the Royal Festival Hall (2019), and its 2022 Salome was hailed as a highlight in Edinburgh.

The orchestra’s recordings include Messiaen’s Turangalîla, Stravinsky’s ballets, Prokofiev, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Nielsen and the complete orchestral music of Grieg. Under Gardner it recorded Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (Grammy-nominated), Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Bartók and Brahms. A 2023 recording of Delius’s Eine Messe des Lebens with Sir Mark Elder won a Spellemannprisen. 

Through the free streaming service Bergenphilive.no, audiences can hear the orchestra with leading conductors and soloists.