Joachim Gustafsson

Joachim Gustafsson is widely recognised as one of the most versatile Scandinavian conductors of his generation. He studied conducting in Vienna with the esteemed Karl Österreicher and Otmar Suitner, receiving guidance from notable mentors including Sixten Ehrling, Siegfried Köhler, Leif Segerstam, and Okko Kamu. In 1988, he was awarded first prize in the AICE competition ‘Jugend und Musik’ in Vienna. Gustafsson collaborates with orchestras across the globe. In 2021, he was appointed Music Director of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has been a regular guest conductor since 2012. He also holds the position of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Borås Symphony Orchestra in his native Sweden.

His repertoire is extensive, with a strong focus on Austro-German music. He is particularly esteemed for his interpretations of Czech repertoire, conducting lesser-known works by composers such as Dvořák, Smetana, Martinů, Janáček and Suk as well as other notable 20th-century composers.

Gustafsson is also a prominent advocate for contemporary music, having premiered over 200 new works both as a violinist and conductor. Notable premieres include Niels Martinsen’s Snehvides spejl (Snow White’s Mirror) and Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, the latter of which was released as a critically acclaimed DVD by Dacapo Records in 2014.

Opera is another area of expertise for Gustafsson, and he is a frequent guest conductor at the Danish National Opera, where in 2019, he conducted the late-Romantic opera Kleopatra by the Danish composer August Enna. The recording of this performance, released by DacapoRecords in 2020, garnered high praise and was nominated for Germany’s ECHO Music Prize.

For Dacapo Records, Gustafsson has also conducted Else Marie Pade’s orchestral works on The Orchestral Album (2022), which received great critical acclaim, as well as an album of works for orchestra by August Enna (2023).