Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Appoints New Chief Conductor

American conductor Ryan Bancroft will begin his tenure from the 2023/24 season

32-year-old Bancroft came to international attention when he swept both First Prize and Audience Prize at the Malko Competition for Young Conductors in Copenhagen.

Winner of the Conductor Award at the 2021 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, Bancroft first worked with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019.

Bancroft complements the orchestra's four core areas of interest: honoring musical traditions, performing both contemporary and Swedish music, and continuing the orchestra’s pioneering work on a more gender-balanced repertoire.

“We struck gold, he’s a unique talent!" said the orchestra's Executive and Artistic Director Stefan Forsberg. "There is a fabulous chemistry and truly sparkling energy between Ryan and the Orchestra. His thoughtful readings of the score make every rehearsal and concert a revelation. With Ryan, we take off from an impressive and solid musical foundation built by his predecessors over the past 20 years, our Conductor Laureates Sakari Oramo and Alan Gilbert.”

Currently based in London, Bancroft is also the Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Artist in Association with the Tapiola Sinfonietta. He was raised in Los Angeles and studied at the California Institute of the Arts, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and in the Netherlands at the Nationale Master Orkestdirectie.

Bancroft's inaugural performance as Chief Conductor Designate took place on December 8 at the prestigious Nobel Prize Concert. Bancroft will also return to Stockholm in March 2022 to conduct music by Elgar and MacMillan and will conduct the opening of the 2022/23 season, featuring Carl Orff’s Carmin.

“It’s incredibly difficult to put into words what it means to be appointed Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra: moved, elated, overjoyed, and all other superlatives in between," Ryan Bancroft said. "This is an orchestra that knows how to set a gold standard of music making and takes very seriously music’s ability to communicate to people like you and me; no moment is taken for granted."