Chief Conductor Klaus Mäkelä leads the work Dmitri Shostakovich described as his requiem: Symphony No. 8, written during the Second World War and under Stalin’s reign of terror.

Programme:
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8

When Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) composed his Symphony No. 8 in the summer of 1943, the tide of the Second World War was beginning to turn. The Soviet authorities expected an optimistic symphony in line with the spirit of the time. Instead, Shostakovich delivered a rather sombre work, ending on a note of near melancholy.

As the war began to recede, fear of Stalin’s regime returned. Shostakovich reportedly regarded the Eighth Symphony as his requiem, and in the following years, it was almost entirely banned. After Stalin’s death in 1953, the symphony returned to concert programmes and is now considered one of the composer’s finest works.

This week also features a chamber concert.

Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
Duration: approx. 1 hr 10 min. No interval.

P.S. The 2025/26 season will be Klaus Mäkelä’s final season as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic – don’t miss the chance to experience them together.