BIOGRAPHY

Tabita Berglund is rapidly establishing herself as one of today’s most exciting, talented young conductors. Recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra from 2021/22, following her debut engagement with them in 2020, she was the 2018–20 star of the Talent Norway programme and is a past recipient of the Gstaad Conducting Academy’s Neeme Järvi Prize (2018).

Recent engagements include Nordic debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Trondheim Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Arctic Philharmonic and Norwegian National Opera orchestras. In the 2020/21 season Berglund returned to the Hallé and Norwegian Radio Orchestra, following debuts in 2019. She also appeared for the first time with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, among others.

The 2021/22 season builds on the success of previous seasons and features Berglund’s first three concerts as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra – repertoire and soloist highlights include Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite and Leif Ove Andsnes. She returns to the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Hallé and Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, while making her French debut with the Orchestre National de Lille and her Austrian debut with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich. In December 2021 Berglund makes her Norwegian National Ballet debut, conducting a run of performances of The Nutcracker. Further first-time appearances include the Tampere Philharmonic, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Helsingborg Symphony orchestras, as well as the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife and Istanbul Music Festival (Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra). Berglund also conducts the Norwegian National Youth Orchestra in the summer of 2022.

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.