Meet Tabita Berglund
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Designate
“ Music has the ability, if we do it right, to reach part of the human soul that no other artform or means of communication can. I think that's the power of music. ”
Tabita Berglund, DSO Principal Guest Conductor Designate
The DSO is excited to appoint Norwegian conductor Tabita Berglund as the orchestra’s new Principal Guest Conductor, beginning in the 2024–2025 season with an initial 4-year contract. Berglund currently serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra in Norway and is recognized as one of today’s most talented young conductors, fast gaining a reputation for her alert, charismatic, and inspiring style. Berglund developed an immediate connection with the DSO in January 2023 when she made her highly successful US debut at Orchestra Hall, conducting a program of Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir.
As the DSO’s new Principal Guest Conductor, Berglund will have an extended artistic collaboration with the orchestra over multiple weeks each season. In 2024–2025, she conducts two programs on the PVS Classical Series. The first, in October, features the US premiere of Anna Clyne’s Times and Tides (a DSO co-commission) with violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Britten’s Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes, and Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite; in March, Berglund returns to conduct Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with Cédric Tiberghien and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
“What struck me the first time I worked with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is that this is an orchestra which knows that music matters,” said Berglund. “Their ambition to shape the future of their community through artistic excellence very much coincides with my belief that music has the power to change lives. I am proud to join the artistic team of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and look forward to our adventures ahead.”
