Hakan Hardenberger

Håkan Hardenberger is one of the world’s foremost soloists, consistently recognized for his phenomenal performances and tireless innovation. In addition to his interpretations of the classical repertoire, he is also known as a pioneer of significant and virtuosic new trumpet works.
Hardenberger performs with the world’s leading orchestras, such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the London Symphony Orchestra. The conductors with whom he collaborates include Daniel Harding, Ingo Metzmacher, Andris Nelsons, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and John Storgårds.
The works written and performed by Hardenberger stand out as key aspects of the repertoire and include those of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Brett Dean, HK Gruber, Hans Werner Henze, Betsy Jolas, Arvo Pärt, Toru Takemitsu, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Rolf Wallin.
In the summer of 2019, Hardenberger returned to the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, and to the BBC Proms with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Markus Stenz for the UK premiere of Tobias Broström’s double concerto for two trumpets with Jeroen Berwaerts. This was followed by a concert at the Musikfest Berlin with Olga Neuwirth’s “Miramondo Multiplo” concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo. With the latter, he could also be heard at the Barbican in November, championing Betsy Jolas’ trumpet concerto “Onze Lieder”. Continuing his residency with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, he performed Mieczysław Weinberg’s trumpet concerto and gave HK Gruber’s “Aerial” concerto its 89th performance since its premiere. Other highlights included his performance of the Dutch premiere of Robin Holloway’s new concerto with Het Residentie Orkest and Nicholas Collon, his return to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Andris Nelsons, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Berlin with Alain Altinoglu, Bamberger Symphoniker with John Storgårds, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra with Daniel Harding. Hardenberger embarked on his residency with the Seoul Philharmonic in 2020 and appeared in a podium change with HK Gruber with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He also returned to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in concert, in addition to curating their Metropolis Festival of contemporary music.
Conducting is an integral part of Hardenberger’s musical creation. In 2019/20 he conducted the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. His duos include pianist Roland Pöntinen and percussionist Colin Currie, with whom he released a duo recording featuring works by composers such as Brett Dean and André Jolivet.To add to his prolific discography on the Philips, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, and BIS labels, Hardenberger anticipates the release of a concert recording featuring music by Sally Beamish, Betsy Jolas, and Olga Neuwirth (BIS), as well as a recording of Peter Eötvös’ new version of his trumpet concerto “Jet Stream”.From 2016 to 2018, Hardenberger was artistic director of the Malmö Chamber Music Festival. Hardenberger was born in Malmö, Sweden. He began studying trumpet at the age of eight with Bo Nilsson in Malmö and continued his studies at the Paris Conservatory, with Pierre Thibaud, and in Los Angeles with Thomas Stevens. He is a professor at the Malmö Conservatory.