Johan Dalene

Winner of the 2019 prestigious Carl Nielsen Competition, Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene “is not just a virtuoso like many others, he is a voice. He has a tone, a presence” (Diapason). At the age of 25, he has performed with leading orchestras and in celebrated recital halls both at home and abroad. His ability to “make his Stradivarius sing like a master” (Le Monde), coupled with his refreshingly honest musicality and engagement with musicians and audiences alike, has won him countless admirers. In 2022, he was named Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year.

An advocate for new music, Johan will be showcasing the Thomas Adès ‘Concentric Paths’ Concerto, notably with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Jukka Pekka Saraste or Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Andrew Manze. He also plays Rautavaara’s Serenades, notably with the London Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Adès, as well as the Niels Viggo Bentzon Concerto, with the Copenhagen Philharmonic and Thomas Dausgaard. He previously premiered the concerto written for him by Tebogo Monnakgotla, notably with the Berlin Radio Symphony and Giedrė Slekyte, having given the world premiere with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and John Storgards in April 2023.

After residencies with the Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Gavle Symphony orchestras, Johan will be working with various orchestras throughout the season, for debuts with the NSO at Kennedy Center, Detroit Symphony and Tampere Philharmonic, and returns to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Other recent highlights include debut performances with the Minnesota Orchestra and Thomas Sondergaard, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Sakari Oramo and San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Johan is equally passionate about chamber music and will be performing a string of recitals throughout the UK with Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, notably at London’s Wigmore Hall, where he is now a regular guest. He has played at celebrated festivals such as Verbier and Rosendal and in halls like Carnegie Hall.

Recording exclusively for BIS, Johan released his fifth album on the label in October 2024: entitled Souvenirs, it is a recital disc comprising Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Ravel’s Tzigane and a collection of short pieces by Amanda Rontgen-Maier. His previous recording featured the Nielsen and Sibelius Concerti, with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic with John Storgards, and garnered Johan his third coveted ‘Editor’s Choice’ from Gramophone Magazine, as well as a prestigious Swedish Grammis Award.

Johan began playing the violin at the age of four and made his professional concerto debut three years later. In Summer 2016, he was student-in-residence at Switzerland’s Verbier Festival (where he made his performance debut in 2021) and in 2018 was accepted on to the Norwegian Crescendo programme, where he worked closely with mentors Janine Jansen, Leif Ove Andsnes and Gidon Kremer. Andsnes subsequently invited Johan to play at the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival and they performed together again in May 2019 at the Bergen International Festival. In 2019 he joined Janine Jansen and other members of the Crescendo Programme for a performance at the Wigmore Hall in London, and at the International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht.

Johan has been awarded various scholarships and prizes, notably from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, The Anders Wall Giresta Scholarship, Queen Ingrid’s Honorary Scholarship, The Håkan Mogren Foundation Prize, Equinor Classical Music Award, Norwegian Soloist Prize, Sixten Gemzéus Stora Musikstipendium, Expressen Cultural Prize Spelmannen and Rolf Wirténs Kulturpris. Johan plays the 1725 ‘Duke of Cambridge’ Stradivarius, generously on loan from the Anders Sveaas’ Charitable Foundation.

Johan Dalene is managed by Enticott Music Management in association with IMG Artists.

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Current as at 15 Aug 2025, please destroy all previously dated materials.