On 27 September 1919, a new orchestra took to the stage of the old Logan Hall in Oslo to give its first public concert. Conductor Georg Schnéevoigt presided over thrilling performances of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Christian Sinding’s First Symphony. After forty years of making-do, the Norwegian capital had at last got the orchestra it deserved. The Oslo Philharmonic was born. In the eight months that followed, the Oslo Philharmonic gave 135 concerts, most of which sold out. It tackled passionate Mahler, glistening Debussy and thrusting Nielsen. Soon, world famous musicians were coming to conduct it, relishing its youth and enthusiasm. Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel visited Oslo to coach the musicians through brand new music. National broadcaster NRK began to hang microphones at the orchestra’s concerts, transmitting them to the whole of Norway.
Over the next half-century, the Oslo Philharmonic’s reputation grew steadily. Then, in 1979, it changed forever. A young Latvian arrived in Norway, taking the orchestra apart section-by-section, putting it back together a finely tuned machine with a whole new attitude. Under Mariss Jansons, the orchestra became a rival to the great Philharmonics of Vienna, Berlin and New York. It was soon playing everywhere, from Seattle to Salzburg, Lisbon to London. Back home in Oslo, it got a modern, permanent concert hall of its own. In 1986, EMI drew up the largest orchestral contract in its history, ensuring the world would hear the rich, visceral sound of the Oslo Philharmonic.
Three decades after that, the world is still listening. The Oslo Philharmonic retains its spirit of discovery and its reputation for finesse. Under Jukka-Pekka Saraste it cultivated even more the weight and depth that Jansons had instilled; under Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko, it works at the highest levels of detail and style. Still the orchestra travels the globe, but it has never felt more at home. Its subscription season in Oslo features the best musicians in the business. Outdoor concerts attract tens of thousands; education and outreach programmes connect the orchestra with many hundreds more. In 2019/2020 the thriving city of Oslo will celebrate 100 years of the Oslo Philharmonic, the first-class orchestra it still deserves.

Award winning violinist Peter Herresthal (b. 1970) is known for his interpretations of contemporary concertos with orchestras and ensembles worldwide. Working closely with composers Per Nørgård, Thomas Adès, Kaija Saariaho, Henri Dutilleux, Harrison Birtwistle and Arne Nordheim, he has recorded 15 concertos for BIS, LAWO and Simax, winning three Norwegian Grammys (‘Spellemannprisen’) and a “record of the month” award in the Strad magazine and International Record Review. In 2007, his Nørgård recording was nominated for a Gramophone Award.
Herresthal has performed with leading conductors such as Sakari Oramo, Thomas Adès, Ilan Volkov, Anu Tali and Andrew Manze, and with orchestras including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Melbourne festival, and the Vienna Radio Symphony at the Vienna Konzerthaus, as well as the major Scandinavian orchestras including the Oslo and Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestras.
He is professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and a visiting professor at the Royal College in London and at NYU Steinhardt. Herresthal performs on a GB Guadagnini violin from Milan, 1753.

Peter Szilvay (b. 1971) is an energetic and charismatic conductor and a notable interpreter of new music, a significant amount of which he has premiered and recorded. He is also one of a growing number of versatile conductors who learned their trade from inside the orchestra. After working as a professional viola player, Szilvay served as Assistant Conductor to Mariss Jansons at the Oslo Philharmonic and later held the same position at the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He has since conducted a string of illustrious ensembles including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Royal Danish Orchestra.
In his native Norway, Szilvay has worked with KORK (The Norwegian Radio Orchestra), the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Arctic and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras and the Trondheim and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestras. He continues to enjoy a close relationship with the Oslo Philharmonic and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestras, and has conducted the Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø and Arctic Sinfoniettas and the BIT20 Ensemble in Bergen. Peter’s professional reputation in Sweden has led to invitations to conduct the Gothenburg, Malmö and Umeå Symphony Orchestras.
Szilvay is an experienced opera conductor and has worked on staples of the German and Italian operatic repertory. He has led productions at Den Norske Opera & Ballett, Nordnorsk Opera, Opera Sør and at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg, Germany.
In 2011, Szilvay was recognized for his work with contemporary music when the Norwegian Society of Composers awarded him their Artist Prize. He has conducted over 160 premieres and has recorded new music with the Oslo Philharmonic and with the Norwegian Army and Navy Bands. With The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, he made the first recordings of the complete symphonies of Edvard Fliflet Bræin. He has recorded Finn Mortensen's "Symphony Op. 5" with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Eivind Groven's two symphonies with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He has also pioneered orchestral music by Jon Øivind Ness and Lene Grenager which was recorded for the Simax and Aurora labels respectively.