New artistic director for the SJSO
The Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra SJSO has appointed Johannes Schlaefli as its artistic director. He will lead the orchestra in rotation with guests until summer 2026.
Schlaefli will be responsible for artistic planning together with the young orchestra members. As an expert, he will accompany the auditions and strategically develop the orchestra.
The sudden death of the long-standing chief conductor Kai Bumann in June 2022 was a great personal and artistic loss and presented the SJSO with challenges behind the scenes. The current appointment of Schlaefli will enable a fair and transparent search for a chief conductor with the necessary lead time. The advertisement will be published in the fall of 2023, and after rehearsals and tours, the selection is expected to take place in May 2026.
Ideal cast
Johannes Schlaefli is Professor Emeritus of Orchestral Conducting at the Zurich University of the Arts and a permanent guest professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.
He is in great demand internationally as a conducting teacher. Invitations to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Aspen Music Festival and music academies in Vienna, Berlin and the Juilliard School in New York bear witness to his strong charisma. He is head of teaching at the Conducting Academy of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad.
Johannes Schlaefli was at the helm of the Serenata Basel (now the Basel Chamber Orchestra), the Bern Chamber Orchestra, the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim and the Collegium Musicum Basel. He has appeared as a guest conductor with many orchestras worldwide. In Zurich, he has also been known for decades as the conductor of various academic orchestras.
As an alumnus of the SJSO, with his immense experience and his artistic and human qualities, he is an ideal choice for the artistic direction of the SJSO.
Talent factory
The Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra SJSO is one of the few cultural institutions in Switzerland. It has been Switzerland's symphonic talent factory since 1969. Talented young musicians aged between 15 and 25 from all parts of the country delight audiences from Geneva to Rorschach in two tours a year. Former members now play in renowned orchestras in Switzerland and abroad.
Dates
- Fall tour 2023: Mahler 7 with Christoph-Mathias Mueller
- Spring tour 2024: Firebird with Modestas Pitrėnas
- Autumn tour 2024: Sibelius violin concerto with Johannes Schlaefli
- Next audition for new orchestra members: January 2024 (dates from fall under www.sjso.ch)
- Applications for the position of Principal Conductor of the SJSO can be submitted from the fall via www.sjso.ch be submitted.
