EarRelevant Staff | 15 JAN 2026
STOCKHOLM, Sweden— Conductor Alan Gilbert has extended his contract as music director of the Royal Swedish Opera through the end of 2029, the company announced today. The agreement includes the possibility of a further extension.
Gilbert has led the Stockholm-based opera house since 2021 and was named Royal Court Kapellmeister by the King of Sweden in 2022. A Grammy Award winner for Best Opera Recording, he has overseen a period marked by major repertory projects and renewed international attention for the company.
Recent highlights under Gilbert’s leadership include productions of Wagner’s Parsifal, Berg’s Wozzeck, and the company premiere of Dvořák’s Rusalka. Those performances drew strong critical notice in Sweden and abroad, with reviewers praising the Royal Swedish Orchestra’s precision, dynamic range, and dramatic clarity under his direction.
The contract extension coincides with a milestone season for the Royal Swedish Orchestra, which marks its 500th anniversary in 2026. The anniversary year also represents the final full season in the company’s current opera house before a planned renovation and modernization. Gilbert is scheduled to open the year-long celebrations with concerts in January featuring a newly commissioned work alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and to continue the festivities later in the year with an international tour including appearances in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, joined by soprano Nina Stemme.
Gilbert, a longtime resident of Stockholm, is also in his seventh season as chief conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. His previous posts include music director of the New York Philharmonic, where he completed an eight-year tenure in 2017, and chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, where he now holds the title of conductor laureate. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Royal Swedish Opera: operan.se/en
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