David Björkman, Conductor

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David Björkman is one of the latest in a distinguished line of Nordic musicians to move from the concertmaster’s chair to the conductor’s podium. He was a prizewinner at the 2008 Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St Petersburg and has been a recipient of the Swedish Conductors Award. In the near future David returns to the Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the Gothenburg Opera and makes his debut with Norrbotten NEO, conducting a new Sven-David Sandström opera.

David enjoys ongoing relationships with all the major orchestral ensembles in Sweden, among them the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He is equally at home in the theatre, and has conducted at the Royal Swedish Opera, at the Gothenburg Opera and at Malmö Opera. David has worked as a guest conductor across the Nordic countries and in Russia. He was recently appointed chief conductor of Livgardets Dragonmusikkår, the Royal Swedish Cavalry Band, in Stockholm.

Contemporary music is a vital strand in David’s career. He has presided over the first performances of more than 30 orchestral scores and has introduced new works in the opera house and the ballet theatre. He conducted the first performance of Sven-David Sandström’s Seven Days, Daniel Nelson’s Pride and Prejudice, Marie Samuelsson’s Jorun and Moto Osada’s both chamber operas, including the international success Four Nights of Dream.

David has recorded for the Naxos, Daphne, Orchid and Swedish Society labels with ensembles including the Odense Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Opera Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was recently chosen to conduct the debut concerto recording by Sébastian Jacot, winner of the 2014 Carl Nielsen International Flute Competition.

David was born in 1973 and studied violin at Gothenburg University. As a violinist in Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and later as concertmaster in NorrlandsOperan, he collaborated with many highly profiled conductors. After deciding to take up conducting in 1999, David studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music with the world’s preeminent conducting instructor Jorma Panula and later took private lessons with Esa-Pekka Salonen and with the late Sixten Ehrling in New York. He signed to Nordic Artists Management in 2013.