JOHN LIDFORS
“Music for me is about discovering its story, traveling its journey and engaging the listener in an unexpectedly arresting experience.”
John Lidfors' newest choral composition “Jesus and the Storm”
communicates with us on two different levels.
First, it relays the well-known Bible passage found in the gospel of Mark: the account of Jesus in the boat with his disciples as a perilous storm rages.
On another level, it speaks to us directly in our search for hope amidst a world-changing global pandemic.
John Lidfors distinguishes himself as a conductor of penetrative and sensitive musicianship exhibiting an uncommon versatility across the orchestral and vocal spectrum. A 2019 CSO Sir Georg Solti Conducting Competition finalist, he currently works out of Los Angeles as a freelance conductor. Previously he served on the conducting staff of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and Bochum Philharmonic Choir.
As a musician John Lidfors takes a special interest in the works of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Rachmaninoff and Pärt. His regard for performance practice across all periods of music and his conviction of the interpreter’s creative role in giving sound to the composer’s work are central to his musicianship.
In his work with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra John Lidfors displayed flexibility in diverse musical styles and formats: from symphonic repertoire and oratorios to family concerts featuring Grieg, Roussel and klezmer music as well as symphonic rock and pop concerts. Highlights of his tenure in Bochum also include stepping in short-notice to lead multiple rehearsals of Mahler’s 9th Symphony for a CD-recording and concert tour to South Korea.
In the orchestral field John Lidfors has performed with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the South Denmark Philharmonic, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Magdeburgische Philharmonie, the Brandenburger Symphoniker and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Aside from the concert stage he has also worked with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt and the Colorado Symphony.
Equally proficient in choral music John Lidfors has led performances of choral-orchestral works including Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, Händel’s Messiah, Honegger’s King David, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, as well as numerous a cappella works such as Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli. As a fellow of the German Music Council’s Conductor’s Forum he has worked with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, WDR Radio Choir Cologne, the Gaechinger Cantorey of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and the Philharmonic Choir of Berlin. Additionally, he has performed with the Berlin Radio Choir, ChorWerk Ruhr and the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus.
“What especially appeals to me about conducting is the way I can impact the musicians’ playing through my gestures as if I were a potter shaping a vessel of sound.”
COVER CONDUCTOR
Richard Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2
Carlos Oliver Simon, Jr.: Fate Now Conquers
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Conductor: Rafael Payare
COVER CONDUCTOR
Bedřich Smetana: Vltava (The Moldau)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5
Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Conductor: Rafael Payare
RIAS Chamber Choir
Choral works by J.L. Bach, R. Schumann, J. Harvey, F. Guerrero