The Swedish Radio Choir celebrates 100 all year – from ‘P3 Guld’ to Bach’s Christmas Oratorio

The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, the same year as Swedish Radio. It is now embarking on an anniversary year with concerts both in Berwaldhallen and elsewhere in Stockholm, on tour to Gothenburg and Tokyo – but first of all at the P3 Guld gala concert. With its acclaimed recordings, radio broadcasts and tours, the Swedish Radio Choir has made a name for itself as one of the leading choirs in the world.  

The Radio Choir celebrates 100 in 2025. Photo: Daniel Stigefelt

Already on January 22nd, the Swedish Radio Choir will participate in the P3 Guld Gala at Cirkus together with the multi-nominated artist Amanda Bergman. During the spring, they will then give jubilee concerts in Kungsholm’s Church, Berwaldhallen and Gothenburg Cathedral under the baton of chief conductor Kaspars Putniņš, and in Storkyrkan with choirmaster Marc Korovitch. The concert programmes reflect the long history of the Radio Choir, with works and composers that have been crucial to their development. In addition, the Swedish Radio Choir will participate in the SCORE concerts, with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orvar Säfström presenting music from video games, in April.

During the Baltic Sea Festival in August, the choir will be led in a technologically innovative concert by Latvian Eric Ericson Award winner Krista Audere, for the first time in her role as their first guest conductor. It is a position that has not been held by anyone else before her. The following week, the Radio Choir will join the British Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble VOCES8 in a concert at Berwaldhallen, where they will perform some real choral classics together.

On October 4, it’s time for the Radio Choir’s big anniversary concert in Berwaldhallen, led by chief conductor Kaspars Putnins. Six Swedish composers, Johannes Pollak, Britta Byström, Djuro Zivkovic, Andrea Tarrodi, Matthew Peterson and Mirjam Tally, have each contributed a part of a newly written mass for choir a cappella, that will receive its world premiere. Of course, there will also be modern classics and romantic gems from the Radio Choir’s rich repertoire – and anniversary surprises.

The anniversary year will be rounded off in December with two concerts in Berwaldhallen, first a powerful performance of György Ligeti’s Requiem, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, a work that the Radio Choir helped to premiere in 1965. In the final concerts of the year, the choir will perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio together with musicians from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kaspars Putniņš.

In 2025, the Radio Choir will go on tour to Skara, Gothenburg and Japan. The latter tour will be led by conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who was born just two years after the Swedish Radio Choir was founded. A TV documentary about the choir is being produced for broadcast in autumn 2025. Swedish Radio P2 is marking the centenary with an updated documentary series: ‘Who gets to sing in the Radio Choir?’. All the Swedish Radio Choir’s concerts are broadcast on Swedish Radio, keep an eye out in the schedule and in the Swedish Radio Play app.

– The Swedish Radio Choir is a world-famous group that breaks new ground for new music and new musical encounters – while safeguarding a long choral tradition and its large audience. The fact that the choir was founded at the same time as Swedish Radio in 1925 clearly demonstrates the central role of music in public service broadcasting, right from the start. The Swedish Radio Choir is a very important part of Swedish Radio’s cultural activities that I am extremely proud of,’ says Cilla Benkö, CEO of Swedish Radio.

– The Radiokören is one of the oldest existing professional choirs in the world yet the spirit of it is young and future oriented. Radiokören is a group of extremely talented soloist singers as it always has been, it is full of enthusiasm in dealing with very wide range of repertoire yet thirsty for new musical ideas in the search of the choir paradigm of tomorrow, and it is always passionate about finding the most beautiful and colorful sound. Radiokören 100 anniversary year gives us the opportunity to celebrate the history, tradition, flexibility and innovative creative spirit of this wonderful group, says Kaspars Putniņš, Chief Conductor of the Radio Choir.

– Our centenary year will include retrospectives from the Radio Choir’s extensive repertoire, but also innovative world premieres – one of the choir’s hallmarks. We can look back on 100 years of curiosity for new music, a constant exploration of sounds and a never-ending desire to develop. And we continue to look forward to the next 100 years with curiosity and enthusiasm! says Johan Pejler, President of the Swedish Radio Choir.

Read more about the Swedish Radio Choir’s history.
Download PRESSPHOTOS of the Swedish Radio Choir & Kaspars Putnins.

Karl Thorson
Press- & PR-ansvarig / Press & PR Manager
Berwaldhallen | Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester | Radiokören
karl.thorson@sverigesradio.se
08-784 18 30 | 070-431 18 93

Sveriges Radios konserthus Berwaldhallen
SE-105 10 Stockholm, Sweden
Besök/Visiting address Dag Hammarskjöldsväg 3
berwaldhallen.se