American star conductor Robert Treviño has been confirmed as the new chief conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (MSO), taking up the post in autumn 2019. The highly-gifted and in-demand Treviño is in his second season as Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra (which recently extended his tenure to 2022) and is a regular collaborator with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and many others.

The now 34-year-old Robert Treviño conducted his first concert as a 16-year-old, with his major international breakthrough coming in December 2013 when he stepped in at short notice to conduct Verdi’s Don Carlos at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. With a euphoric audience and glowing reviews behind him, he went on to conduct leading orchestras around the world.

Having studied with David Zinman as an Aspen Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival And School where he was awarded the James Conlon Prize for Excellence in Conducting, in 2011 Treviño was invited to be the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. His first post was as associate conductor for New York City Opera at Lincoln Center 2009-2011, and he was appointed to the same title at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra 2011-2015.

"We are delighted to have succeeded in attracting Robert Treviño as our next chief conductor.
Treviño has enjoyed a rapid rise throughout his relatively young career and has been regularly reinvited to appear with world-renowned orchestras, a category to which the Malmö Symphony Orchestra belongs," says programme director Per Hedberg.

"I am extremely happy that we were able to secure Robert Treviño as our next chief conductor. Robert is a conductor with both the ability to raise the artistic quality of the MSO and the capacity to understand Malmö’s challenges and work to ensure that the music reaches an even wider audience," says Jesper Larsson, concert hall director and CEO of Malmö Live Konserthus AB.

"It’s marvelous and I am very much looking forward to our collaboration. He is precisely the type of conductor we need right now if we are to develop further," says Marika Fältskog, first concertmaster.

The Malmö Symphony Orchestra’s imminent 2018-19 season will therefore be current chief conductor Marc Soustrot’s final season as such. The season will conclude with a gala concert on May 16, 2019 to pay tribute to his eight years as chief conductor. Marc Soustrot has been a highly regarded guest conductor throughout Scandinavia, where since 2015 he has also been chief conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.

"Under Marc Soustrot, the MSO has enjoyed fantastic development over recent years and it now finds itself at a high international level. It is wonderful news and entirely in keeping that Robert Treviño, with his great artistry, should be the one to continue this work together with the orchestra," says orchestra manager Björn Lovén.

In autumn 2017, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 under the leadership of Robert Treviño and he will be returning as early as this autumn to conduct the MSO in Verdi’s towering Requiem, with performances on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 November. Those concerts will be at the Malmö Symphony Orchestra’s much-accclaimed landmark new concert hall, Malmö Live, which opened in 2015 to general admiration, not least for its world-class acoustics.

Commenting on his appointment, Robert Treviño says:
"To be named the next chief conductor of the Malmo Symphony Orchestra is a great honor. It is also a unique responsibility and an opportunity to lead this exceptional group of musicians at a very important moment in their history.

"When I first worked with the MSO musicians, I was instantly struck by the eagerness with which they dig deeper into the music, with sincerity and love, but also by their attentiveness for each other as artists and colleagues. For me, the connection was instant. I have found with the MSO, Malmo Live, and the city of Malmo a place and a moment where social connectivity, the making of wonderful art, reinvention and relevance can all intersect. It is the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of helping this orchestra to define its place in a rapidly developing city. I love the MSO and hope that in my time with them we can make more of the world realise that they should love them too.

"Malmo is a rapidly evolving, ever-more diverse and growing city. With this new partnership between myself, the MSO, and the people of Malmo, it is my hope to embark on a profound mission together: to become closer through music. With that exquisite and world class new hall, Malmo Live, as our home, the MSO and I will open our doors wider and travel farther to make music our community’s heartbeat."