BIOGRAPHY

Tabita Berglund is rapidly establishing herself as one of the most exciting, talented young conductors on the European circuit. Recently appointed as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (effective from the 21/22 season), following her debut engagement with them in 2020, she was the 2018–20 star of the Talent Norway programme and is a former recipient of the 2018 Gstaad Conducting Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize.

Engagements in 2019/20 included five concerts with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, four concerts with the Hallé Orchestra, a full-length production of The Nutcracker with the Arctic Philharmonic, and a return to the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. The latter two appearances were as part of Opptakt, a launch programme which nurtures young conducting talent in Norway and under which Berglund first performed with the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera (together with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes) in 2019.

The 2020/21 season builds on the success of 2019/20 and features many important engagements, including Nordic debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony and Kristiansand Symphony orchestras. Berglund also appears for the first time with the Dresdner Philharmonie, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, among others. In 2021 she returns to the Hallé and Norwegian Radio orchestras.

The ever-changing nature which surrounds her hometown in the Norwegian mountains is an inspiring influence on Berglund, and this together with other artistic and musical issues plays an important role in her programming. The inherent connection between the art of leadership and the role of a conductor is also something to which Berglund attaches particular importance: “The goal is to become a conductor whom I would have wanted to play under myself.”

Berglund graduated in 2019 from the Orchestral Conducting Masters course at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where she studied under Professor Ole Kristian Ruud. She originally trained as a cellist and studied to Master’s degree level under Truls Mørk, performing regularly with the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Trondheim Soloists before conducting became her main focus in 2015. She has previously participated in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Jorma Panula and Jaap van Zweden, as well as a BBC Philharmonic workshop in September 2018.