JOHN LIDFORS
“Music for me is about discovering its story, traveling its journey and engaging the listener in an unexpectedly arresting experience.”
John Lidfors recently won third prize at the 2nd Arthur Nikisch International Conducting Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria in June 2022. The prize also includes an invitation back to Bulgaria for a performance with the Dianopolis Chamber Orchestra.
John Lidfors distinguishes himself as a conductor of penetrative and sensitive musicianship exhibiting an uncommon versatility across the orchestral and vocal spectrum. Third prize winner in the Arthur Nikisch International Conducting Competition and winner of the 2021 German Choral Conductor's Prize, he has debuted at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Vienna Musikverein concert halls.
Before his two-year tenure with the Bochumer Symphoniker as Assistant Conductor and Director of the Bochum Philharmonic Choir he founded the Orchester Ventuno in the Nuremberg music scene, winning awards for his contributions and promise in the arts.
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 the orchestral field John Lidfors has performed with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, the South Denmark Philharmonic, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, 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 Colorado Symphony and the San Diego 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 Conducting Forum he has worked with the RIAS Chamber Choir, MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, WDR Radio Choir Cologne and the Gaechinger Cantorey of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. Additionally, he has performed with the Berlin Radio Choir, ChorWerk Ruhr, the Philharmonischer Chor Berlin 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.”
CHORUS MASTER
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
Christina Landshamer, Soprano
Julia Böhme, Alto
Julian Prégardien, Tenor
Tareq Nazmi, Bass
SWR Symphonieorchester
Chorwerk Ruhr
NDR Vokalensemble
Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Conductor
Edvard Grieg: Norwegian Dance op. 35 No. 1
Robert Schumann: Cello Concerto
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2
Whoongwhee Moon, Cello
Kronach Klassik Sinfonieorchester
COVER CONDUCTOR
Aaron Copland: Suite from Appalachian Spring
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Violin Concerto
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8
Simone Lamsma, Violin
Edo de Waart, Conductor