Welcome to the Göteborg International Organ Festival, October 8–19, 2025! (with English subs)

(with English subs) From October 8–19, 2025, Gothenburg hosts one of the world’s most vibrant organ festivals, with more than forty concerts alongside workshops, talks, and seminars. Musicians, scholars, builders, and audiences from across the globe will gather for a twelve-day celebration of music and ideas. This year’s theme, Visions, highlights the organ’s unique power to inspire imagination, innovation, and connections across time. The festival reaches audiences of all ages, with many events free of charge to ensure broad access. The opening weekend features the Youth Organ Festival, beginning with a camp and culminating in concerts. This intergenerational spirit underscores that the organ belongs to everyone. Organ music has always carried a visionary quality. The festival opens with works by Arvo Pärt, presented alongside organ, choral, and vocal music with the renowned British ensemble Tenebrae and Sweden’s Lux. Other highlights include Messiaen’s Les Corps Glorieux, Nielsen’s Commotio, Hindemith, and Elfrida Andrée on the 1909 Lundén organ in Vasa Church. These programs bring together the radical voices of the early 20th century with today’s imagination. The festival also marks 25 years of the Örgryte German Baroque organ, the renowned historical reconstruction of a Hamburg Schnitger-style instrument. Built through an international research project, it has inspired countless recordings, concerts, and discoveries. To celebrate, ensembles such as Weser Renaissance and the Hanseatic Ensemble perform Hamburg repertoire, with Deutschlandfunk recording on site. Göteborg Baroque presents Baltic music, while organ pioneer Harald Vogel, inspired by Hans Henny Jahnn, offers programs from Hamburg’s 17th century. Looking ahead, the launch of SONORA (Swedish Online Organ Archive) will bring together over 140,000 documents on Swedish instruments up to 1860. Admission is free, as with many of the lunch concerts. Just before the festival, West Sweden welcomes a new voice: the first Silbermann-style organ in the region, inaugurated in Foss Church and built by Slovenian organ builder Tomaž Močnik. It fulfills a vision long nurtured by organist Sven Åke Svensson. With its luminous strings and colorful eight-foot stops, it brings the legacy of Silbermann into the 21st century. The European project REM@KE, uniting Gothenburg, Pavia, and York, explores how rare historical instruments can inspire both digital reconstructions and new builds, opening fresh perspectives for research and performance. Contemporary voices also resound: the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet presents premieres, including one by Paula af Malmborg Ward, alongside improvisations and innovative performance formats. For twelve October days, Gothenburg will resound with music spanning centuries and continents. The festival invites us to listen, imagine, and envision the organ’s future. Welcome to the Göteborg International Organ Festival, October 8–19, 2025! P.S.: The new Night Visions series offers five late-evening concerts at 9:30 PM, inspired by Tomas Tranströmer’s concept of “vision in the dark.” Programs range from Suzanne Vega Songs with organ to a Go Bach to Sleep meditation with organ and harpsichord, as well as Broadway-inspired performances. Hans Davidsson, Artistic Director Ulrike Heider, Artistic Co-Director Göteborg International Organ Festival Did you know you can already secure your tickets? Check out the full festival program and book here: https://www.organacademy.se/programov...