Christian Reif to Lead Gavle Symphony's Season Opener and Finale

German conductor Christian Reif has established a reputation for his natural musicality, innovative programming, and technical command. In 2026-2027, Reif takes on his fourth season as Chief Conductor of the Gavle Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, where he recently secured a contract extension to continue in the role through the 2027-2028 season. He also returned in summer 2026 as Music Director of the Lakes Area Music Festival in Minnesota, and serves this season as Music Director Designate of the Wuppertal Opera & Symphony Orchestra, where he conducts a special “360-degree” concert experience merging audience and orchestra in March 2027. During this season's Gavle schedule, Reif leads a string of concerts combining core classical repertoire with works by 20th and 21st century composers including John Adams and Swedish notables Tobias Broström and Karin Rehnqvist. In guest engagements across the United States and Europe, he makes debuts with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Rice University Shepherd School of Music, Sarasota Orchestra, Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, and Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, plus returns to the San Francisco Symphony, KBS Symphony Orchestra and Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The season's concerts feature solo appearances by Joshua Bell, Arabella Steinbacher, Sterling Elliott, and more.

In the run-up to the new season, Reif returned in his role as Music Director to the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN, conducting four of the festival's programs including a fully staged production of Bizet's Carmen on Friday, August 14, and Sunday, August 16, 2026, featuring soprano Julia Bullock in the title role. Also leading three of the festival's orchestral concerts, he appeared for Brahms & the Schumanns on Sunday, August 2, 2026; Haydn's Passion Symphony on Wednesday, August 19, 2026; and Dances of Passion – featuring works by Debussy, Stravinsky, and Carlos Simon – on Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23, 2026.

In the Gavle Symphony Orchestra's season-opening concert on September 4, 2026, Reif conducts a program featuring soloist Arabella Steinbacher on Barber's Violin Concerto, performed along with Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 and Tobias Broström's Beatnik, the contemporary Swedish composer's homage to the expression and attitude of the “Beat” Generation in 20th century culture, conjuring a sound world of pulse, nerve, and rhythmic energy.

Reif next returns to Gavle on Thursday, November 12, 2026, as Jean-Efflam Bavouzet performs as soloist on Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major ('Elvira Madigan'). The program also includes Stravinsky's Symphony in C and Karin Rehnqvist's Breaking the Ice (from Arktis Arktis!) – a work that builds its evocative soundworld from the organic tones of ice cracking and shifting in the frozen North.

In his first Gavle concert of the new year on Thursday, January 21, 2027, Reif conducts the orchestra in two works by Dvořák: his symphonic poem Heldenlied and his Violin Concerto featuring soloist Karen Gomyo. The program also includes John Adams' The Chairman Dances, a driving, jazz-inflected work inspired by elements from Adams' opera Nixon in China.

He returns on Thursday, March 25, 2027 for a concert reflecting the multiple facets of Romanticism through a program comprising Weber's Overture to Oberon, Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 ('Rhenish'), and Elgar's Cello Concerto. Anastasia Kobekina features as soloist.

On Thursday, April 22, 2027, Reif conducts the Gavle Symphony Orchestra's Artist in Focus, cello soloist, Nicolas Altstaedt, in a selection of works prized for their evocative storytelling. The program comprises Dvořák's symphonic poem The Wood Dove, Puccini's early work Capriccio Sinfonico, and Rózsa's Cello Concerto.

Leading the Gavle Symphony Orchestra's season finale concert on Friday, May 28, 2027, Reif conducts a program pairing two works by Beethoven – his Leonore Overture No. 3 and Symphony No. 2 – along with Louise Farrenc's Symphony No. 2, among the 'rediscovered' works enjoying new appreciation amid a wave of renewed interest in the 19th-century French composer.

In an introduction to his role with the Wuppertal Opera & Symphony Orchestra, where he begins his tenure as Music Director in 2027-2028, Reif appears on March 27, 2027 for a special 'Sinfonieorchester Hautnah' (“Orchestra Up-Close”) concert, wherein the 82 musicians of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra spread out among the audience in the stalls of the orchestra's historic Stadthalle. With open seating, visitors are invited to sit directly amongst the artists and their instruments, taking in a “360-degree” experience of the program.

To begin his season of guest engagements, Reif makes his debut at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music in Houston, conducting performances of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos on Friday, October 30 and Sunday, November 1, 2026. Reif will also lead a pre-performance talk starting one hour before curtain time on both dates.

On Friday, November 20, and Saturday, November 21, 2026, he makes his Rhode Island Philharmonic debut, leading the orchestra in a program of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, Ravel's La Valse, Dvořák's The Wood Dove, and Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, featuring soloist Estefan Iatcekiw.

Returning to the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra on Friday, December 11, 2026, Reif conducts a concert featuring soloist Edgar Moreau on Dvořák's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, paired on this program with Dvořák's A Hero's Song and Mozart's Symphony No. 39.

He goes on to a return engagement with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday, December 19, 2026, conducting Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 featuring Minsoo Sohn.

His European schedule continues with his debut at the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra on Friday, February 12, 2027, where he conducts a program of Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Arutiunian's Trumpet Concerto in A-flat Major, featuring soloist Simon Höfele, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

On Thursday, February 25, 2027, he debuts with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, conducting a program of Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel, Sibelius' Violin Concerto featuring Lea Birringer, and Nielsen's Symphony No. 4.

Reif returns to the United States for the remainder of his guest-conducting schedule, making his Sarasota Orchestra debut in three concerts on Friday, March 5, Saturday, March 6, and Sunday, March 7, 2027. The program features soloist Sterling Elliott on Elgar's Cello Concerto, which will be performed along with Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and Julia Adolphe's Underneath the Sheen, the composer's dazzling naturalistic vision of sunlight through a forest canopy.

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