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Appearing

conductor / Elias GRANDY＜chief conductor＞

contralto / Gerhild ROMBERGER

junior choir / children's chorus:HBC

women's chorus / Sapporo Symphony Chorus

Song List

Mahler Project No. 4

【Lobby Concert】
♪Please enjoy our lobby concert at foyer before start of the main concert. (will start 30 minutes before the concert start- repertoire and artist information will be announced on our website together with the latest ticket information)

『2026-2027 Subscribers』～Application starts from Friday, February 6

We will start another challenge in this commemorative 65th anniversary together with our conductors, towards the new era, respecting our traditions.

■New subscribers application start from 10am on Friday, February 6, 2026

■How to make application

『By Lawson Ticket』［Seat selection possible］(from Feb. 6)

『By filling in an application form』［Seat selection not-possible］(from Feb. 6)

※For more information be sent by post：Format, or call Sapporo Symphony Orchestra Office +81(0)11-520-1771まで。

『2026-2027 Season Program』 Leaflet（PDF）

※Participating artists and program are subject to change.

Special Page on Elias Grandy, Chief Conductor!!

Messages, photographs and VTR from Elias are updated. He will also answer to your questions!

『Special Page：https://new.express.adobe.com/』

Hurray to Elias Project

We hope you would join us to this "Hurray to Elias" Project.
Visit following website.

『Special Page：https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/aZIDHlzdiBYu4』

© Y.Fujii

Elias GRANDY＜chief conductor＞（conductor）

Elias Grandy’s international profile is rapidly rising by conducting first-class orchestras and opera productions in Europe, America and Asia. Hailed by the press as “passionate and full of temperament”, “vigorous and equally precise” and praised for his ability to “grasp psychological subtleties under a microscope”, the German-Japanese conductor gave recently highly successful debuts with renowned orchestras such as the Vienna Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic and Minnesota Orchestra. In 23/24 the energetic, charismatic conductor will return to Frankfurt Radio Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of Germany and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Tokyo and give debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires and the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken. Furthermore, he will take the Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie Chemnitz on a tour to Poland as their “conductor in residence” for 23/24 and appear frequently with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he enjoys a close relationship for many years. Elias is equally devoted as an opera conductor, feeling passionately about theatre and musically shaping the narrative of each drama. In recent years he has conducted highly acclaimed productions of Elektra and Carmen at Minnesota Opera, Werther and A Village Romeo and Juliet at Frankfurt Opera, Un ballo in maschera at Aalto-Theatre Essen, Carmen at Opera Nikikai Tokyo and Rusalka at Portland Opera. Future engagements include the Semperoper Dresden and reinvitations to Frankfurt Opera and Opera Nikikai Tokyo. Last season he finished his tenure as music director of Heidelberg’s Opera and Philharmonic orchestra where he significantly raised the caliber of both, providing thoughtful, innovative programming and burnishing the city’s fast-growing reputation as a vital musical hub. Enthusiastic about making music more accessible, he introduced several highly popular concert formats for young people and an educated audience. His final season programme included Prokofjev’s Love for Three Oranges, Bruckner’s Symphony No.7 and a series of unknown works by female composers. Born of German-Japanese parents Elias studied cello and conducting in Munich, Basel, and Berlin. He worked as a cellist in orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Komische Oper Berlin. He started his conducting career as Resident Conductor at Staatstheater Darmstadt and shortly after won the prestigious Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition. In 2015 he was named music director in Heidelberg, a position he held until 2023. Grandy was a member of the Orchestra Academy (cello) in 2004, and of the Conducting Academy in 2012. In 2024 he made his return to PMF as Guest Conductor.

© Rosa Frank

Gerhild ROMBERGER（contralto）

Mezzo-soprano Gerhild Romberger has long focused her artistic career on concert repertoire. Her exceptional expressiveness, vocal depth, and emotional intensity have been praised time and again. Her broad repertoire spans the major alto and mezzo-soprano roles of oratorio and concert literature from the Baroque to the 20th century. Central to her artistic work are recitals, contemporary music, and above all, the music of Gustav Mahler. She is a professor of voice at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and is a sought-after teacher with many years of experience. In the 2025/26 season, she will again perform at numerous renowned international venues. The season begins with her appearance as Erda in Richard Wagner’s Siegfried at the Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne. She will then be heard in Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum under Lahav Shani in Rotterdam and Vienna, and in Frank Martin’s The Song of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke in Geneva. Further highlights include Mahler’s Second Symphony in Bonn, Reutlingen, and Villingen-Schwenningen. In February 2026, she embarks on a major North American tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, singing the alto solo in Mahler’s Third Symphony, which she will also perform in Sapporo under Elias Grandy to close the season. In recent years, she has performed Mahler’s Third and Eighth Symphonies under Andris Nelsons with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo. She also sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Nelsons and appeared as Erda in concert performances of Wagner’s Siegfried with Concerto Köln under Kent Nagano at leading European concert halls. She has collaborated with conductors such as Manfred Honeck (including Mahler symphonies, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, and Walter Braunfels’s Great Mass), Gustavo Dudamel, Herbert Blomstedt, Zubin Mehta, and Riccardo Chailly. She is a frequent guest of orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Other key collaborators include Franz Welser-Möst, Daniel Harding, Mikko Franck, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, and Sir Simon Rattle. Her artistry is documented in numerous recordings, including the widely acclaimed release of Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink, which was named “Recording of the Year” by BBC Music Magazine in 2018. Her first solo CD with songs by Gustav Mahler, accompanied by Alfredo Perl, was released in 2016 by MDG.