Johan Dalene
Winner of the 2019 Carl Nielsen Competition, Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene ‘is not just a virtuoso like many others, he is a voice. He has a tone, a presence’ (Diapason). Aged just 24, he has performed with leading orchestras and in celebrated recital halls both at home and abroad. His ability to ‘make his Stradivarius sing like a master’ (Le Monde), coupled with his refreshingly honest musicality and engagement with musicians and audiences alike, has won him countless admirers. In 2022, he was named Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year.
After simultaneous residencies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Gävle Symphony, in 2024/25 Johan took on a new collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, working with conductors such as Antonello Manacorda and Robert Trevino. An advocate for new music, he continues to perform the concerto written for him by Tebogo Monnakgotla, notably with the Berlin Radio Symphony and Giedrė Šlekytė, having given the world premiere with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and John Storgårds in April 2023.
Johan’s other recent and forthcoming highlights include debut performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony; and return appearances with the Bergen, London and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestras and the Swedish Radio Symphony. Johan is equally passionate about chamber music and returned to North America earlier this year to give recitals, notably in the Vancouver Recital Series, San Francisco Performances and at the Gardner Music in Boston. Later this year he returns to the Verbier and Rosendal Festivals, as well as London’s Wigmore Hall, where he is now a regular guest.
Recording exclusively for BIS, Johan released his fourth album on the label in 2023, a recital disc comprising sonatas by Ravel and Prokofiev, alongside short pieces by Arvo Pärt, Lili Boulanger and Grażyna Bacewicz. The Strad hailed this album as ‘interesting by its repertoire and marvellous by its quality’. His previous recording featured the Nielsen and Sibelius concertos, with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and garnered Johan his third Editor’s Choice from Gramophone magazine, as well as a Swedish Grammis Award.
