Odense Symphony Orchestra

The orchestra is based in Odense Concert Hall, which is located near H.C. Andersen’s birthplace and was inaugurated in 1982. The majority of the orchestra’s concerts take place in Carl Nielsen Salen, a concert hall with excellent acoustics, seating 1,200 people and equipped with a 46-stop organ built by one of the world’s leading organ builders, Marcussen & Søn.
The orchestra has a wide artistic range and covers the great symphonic repertoire spanning from the Baroque era to contemporary music, often written specifically for the orchestra; film music concerts; various forms of chamber music concerts, family, school, kindergarten and children’s concerts, concert talks with guest speakers and outdoor concerts. In 2018, the orchestra performed an entire cycle of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, which was also live streamed under the baton of former chief conductor Alexander Vedernikov.
At its founding, Odense Symphony Orchestra had 22 musicians, but since then, it has grown to 66 tenured musicians from all over the world. The orchestra performs approximately 100 concerts a year, most often on their ‘home turf’. The orchestra’s touring activities include major concert tours to the USA, China, Germany, Greece, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Spain and in the former Soviet Union.

The discography is extensive: more than 100 releases have been issued, including several award-winning recordings. And plans are always in the pipeline for future release.