No. 2046 Subscription (Program A)

In more than seventy years of his career, Herbert Blomstedt has acquired the unrestricted respect of the musical world. His work as a conductor is inseparably linked to his religious and human ethos, and his interpretations combine great faithfulness to the score and analytical precision, with a soulfulness that awakens the music to pulsating life.
Born in the USA to Swedish parents and educated in Uppsala, New York, Darmstadt and Basel, Herbert Blomstedt gave his conducting debut in 1954 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently served as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Swedish and Danish Radio Orchestras, and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Later, he became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Chief Conductor of the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg (now NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra) and Music Director of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. His former orchestras in San Francisco, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Dresden all honored him with the title of Conductor Laureate. Since 2019, he is an Honorary Member of the Wiener Philharmoniker.
Herbert Blomstedt holds several Honorary Doctorates, is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and was awarded the German Great Cross of Merit with Star. Over the years, all leading orchestras around the globe have been fortunate to secure the services of the highly respected Swedish conductor. At the high age of 98, he continues to be at the helm of all leading international orchestras with enormous presence, verve and artistic drive.
Since performing together for the first time in 1981, Herbert Blomstedt has been conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra almost every year for over 40 years; he was Honorary Conductor 1986–2016, and currently Honorary Laureate. His previous appearance was in October 2024.

Christina Landshamer is one of today’s most sought-after concert, opera, and recital singers, renowned for her nuanced musicality and stylistic command. She collaborates regularly with leading conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle, Alan Gilbert, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Marie Jacquot, Pablo Heras-Casado, Christian Thielemann, and Gustavo Dudamel. Her repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary music, which she interprets with precision and expressive depth. She has performed with top orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, the Orchestre de Paris, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra.
On the opera stage, she has appeared at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, singing roles such as Pamina, Ännchen, Sophie, and Woglinde. As a recitalist, she performs regularly with her longtime piano partner Gerold Huber at major venues including the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Wigmore Hall London, and the Carnegie Hall New York. In 2024, she was appointed Professor of Voice at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.
She previously appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in December 2022.

Born in Leipzig, Marie Henriette Reinhold studied with Professor Elvira Dreßen at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, from which she graduated with distinction in 2020.
She is in great demand as soloist across Germany and abroad. She has appeared with ensembles including the Gaechinger Cantorey, Orchestre des Champs-Elysées, Collegium Vocale Gent, Münchener Bach-Chor, Concerto Köln, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. She has sung under the baton of many renowned conductors, such as Hans-Christoph Rademann, Andreas Reize, Dima Slobodeniouk, Frieder Bernius, Philippe Herreweghe, Semyon Bychkov, Herbert Blomstedt, Paavo Järvi, and Christian Thielemann.
In opera, Marie Henriette Reinhold has appeared at the Bayreuther Festspiele since 2019. At the 2024 festival, she sang one of the flower maidens and the Voice from Above in Wagner’s Parsifal under Pablo Heras-Casado, and Flosshilde and Grimgerde in Der Ring des Nibelungen under Simone Young. She will sing all five roles in 2025 as well.
Marie Henriette Reinhold has many CD recordings to her name on a variety of labels. Most recently, the CDs of the ‘Vision.Bach’ series by the Gaechinger Cantorey were released, as well as the live recording of the premiere of Parsifal at the Bayreuther Festspiele 2023.
This is her first appearance with NHK Symphony Orchestra.

Tilman Lichdi has established himself as one of the most important concert and song interpreters, particularly as the Evangelist in Bach’s oratorios and passions.
He has sung concerts in Europe, the USA, Australia, South America, and Asia with conductors such as Ton Koopman, Thomas Hengelbrock, Martin Haselböck, Peter Dijkstra, Frieder Bernius, Christof Perick, Bernard Labadie, Marcus Bosch, Hervé Niquet, Hartmut Haenchen, Kent Nagano, Christoph Poppen, Claus Peter Flor, Mikhail Pletnev, Michel Corboz, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Teodor Currentzis, and Herbert Blomstedt.
Among his many recordings, two recordings of Schubert’s song cycles are particularly noteworthy: Die schöne Müllerin and Die Winterreise, both in a new arrangement for voice and guitar.
From 2005 to 2013, Tilman Lichdi was a permanent member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Nürnberg. There, he embodied roles such as David and Steersman in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Der fliegende Holländer, Tamino, Ferrando, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbière di Siviglia. He is the recipient of the Richard Strauss Plaque and the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize 2012 in the performing arts.
Tilman Lichdi previously appeared with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2019 in Mozart’s Mass in C minor.

Founded in 1925, the Swedish Radio Choir celebrates its centenary this year. With its acclaimed recordings, radio broadcasts and tours, the group has made a name for itself as one of the leading choirs in the world.
The Swedish Radio Choir meets its audience on its home stage in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, the concert hall of Swedish Radio, as well as in concert halls around the country and on tours worldwide. Since 2020, its chief conductor has been the multi-award-winning Latvian choral conductor Kaspars Putniņš.
The choir is known for its multifaceted repertoire, ranging from classical choral works to groundbreaking new vocal music through collaborations with prominent contemporary composers. The choir has always been an important part of Swedish Radio’s cultural activities: In 2010, the Swedish Radio Choir was awarded the Government’s Honorary Prize at the Music Export Prize ceremony for having “put Swedish choral music on the map for more than half a century.”
The choir’s extensive catalog of recordings includes many critically acclaimed and award-winning recordings, including several with Claudio Abbado.
The Swedish Radio Choir last performed with the NHK Symphony Orchestra at its 75th anniversary concerts in 2001.