22-year-old Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene is already making an impact on the international scene, performing 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. This talent was heralded most recently as winner of the Norwegian Soloist Prize and First Prize at the prestigious 2019 Carl Nielsen Competition, which was broadcast to audiences worldwide on medici.tv.
Johan’s recent and forthcoming orchestral highlights include his debut at the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony with Jordan de Souza, debut performances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with Sakari Oramo, Czech Philharmonic with Semyon Bychkov, San Francisco Symphony with Esa-Pekka Salonen, London Philharmonic Orchestra with Karina Canellakis, Konzerthausorchester Berlin with Christoph Eschenbach, Danish Radio Symphony with Stanislav Kochanovsky, Lucerne Sinfonieorchester with Thomas Dausgaard and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with Joshua Weilerstein. Return appearances include performances with the Swedish Radio Symphony with Herbert Blomstedt, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic for an exciting new commission by Tebogo Monnakgotla, with Johan Storgards, Gothenburg Symphony (with previous collaborator Santtu-Matias Rouvali), Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Gavle Symphony, and New Japan Philharmonic.
Johan is equally passionate about chamber music and will be giving a series of recitals in the USA for the first time in Spring 2023, notably at New York’s Carnegie Hall and San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. Other chamber highlights include a new collaboration with Igor Levit and Julia Hagen, for performances at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Heidelberg Festival, a collaboration with the Jussen Brothers for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommen Festival, and recitals in venues such as the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre, Oslo Opera House, and Bristol St George’s.
Johan was recently selected as a European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) Rising Star, and during the 2021-22 season, performed recitals in some of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls, while also engaging in Education, Learning and Participation work with diverse communities in cities across the ECHO network. Johan was also a BBC New Generation Artist from 2019-22 during which time he performed recitals, chamber music and concerti with the BBC orchestras, all broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Recording exclusively for BIS, Johan released his third album on the label in March 2022 – it features 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. Johan was hailed as “virtuoso in his technique, but humanly serene in his musical interpretations” (Politiken), with the Sunday Times adding that both concerti were “brought toincandescent life by [his] tantalising talent”. Johan’sfirst recording featured the Tchaikovsky and Barber Violin Concerti with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra – with whom he was Artist in Residence in 2018-19 – which was praised by BBC Music Magazine as “one of the finest violin debuts of the last decade”. His second disc of Nordic recital music was released in Spring 2021 and received a prestigious Diapason D’Or.
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. In April 2020, during lockdown in Sweden, Johan performed Bach’s Concerto for 2 Violins with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, alongside Janine Jansen. During the 2020/21 season, he was Artist in Residence with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing concerti, recitals, and chamber music together with members of the orchestra.
Johan studies with Per Enoksson, Professor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, as well as with Janine Jansen, and has also participated in masterclasses with a number of distinguished teachers, including Dora Schwarzberg, Pamela Frank, Gerhard Schulz, and Henning Kraggerud. He 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, Sixten Gemzéus Stora Musikstipendium, The G.T. Bäckmans Kulturstipendium, Norrköping Kommuns Kulturstipendium and Rolf Wirténs Kulturpris. Johan plays a Stradivarius violin from 1736, generously on loan from the Anders Sveaas’ Charitable Foundation.