CHRISTIAN LINDBERG BIOGRAPHY

Christian Lindberg’s achievements for the trombone can only be compared with those of Paganini for the violin or Liszt for the piano. September 2015 Christian Lindberg was voted “THE GREATEST BRASS PLAYER IN HISTORY" by the worlds biggest classical radio station CLASSIC-FM, and in 2016 he received  “INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL MUSIC AWARD ARTIST OF THE YEAR” previously given to Esa-Pekka Salonen, Krzysztof Penderecki and Charles Dutoit.

Having premièred over 300 works for the trombone (over 135 major concertos) recorded over 150 solo albums, having an international solo competition created in his name, been voted brass player of the 20th century side by side with Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong, Christian Lindberg is today nothing less than a living legend.

On top of his unrivalled career as a trombonist Lindberg has now also embarked on a highly successful conducting career, and his career includes major conducting engagements in Musikverein, Suntory Hall, at Beethovenfest, in Salzburg Festspielhaus, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Meistersingerhalle, Nürnberg and National Centre for the Performing Arts (The Giant Egg) in Beijing with orchestras such as Nippon Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Irish National Philharmonic and Ulster Orchestra to name a few. 

Since 2004 Lindberg has been music director for four different orchestras: Nordic Chamber Orchestra 2004-2011 and Swedish Wind Ensemble 2005-2012, Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic 2009-2019 and Israel NK Orchestra 2016-2021. Activities with these orchestra has included major recording projects on BIS (Tchaikovsky Symphonies no 4-6 among other things), major tours throughout Japan and performances at Beethovenfest, Musikverein and Salzburg Festspielhaus. Alongside his activities as principal conductor Lindberg has major conducting collaborations with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (performing and recording all the symphonies by Allan Pettersson), Royal Flemish Philharmonic(a major project performing and recording music by Stenhammar), The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (a second major conducting residency in 2016), Nürnberger Symphoniker (various projects including music by Lindberg himself, Allan Pettersson, Grieg, Högberg, Tchaikovsky and Beethoven), The Swedish Chamber Orchestra (music by Lindberg, Schubert, Ginastera, Bizet and Andrea Tarrodi), Ulster Orchestra (music by Lindberg, Dvorak, Nielsen, Grieg and Sibelius), RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (music by Tchaikovsky, Lindberg, Sibelius, and Sandström) and Taipei Symphony Orchestra (Bernstein, Lindberg, Tchaikovsky and Pettersson).

In 2019 Lindberg founded his own recording company European Gramophone, and has so far released more than 150 albums signing orchestras such as Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, ADDA Simfonica, Oviedo Filarmonia, Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, Wermland Opera Orchestra Liceo Opera Orchestra, Barcelona, Taipei Symphony Orchestra and Nürndberger Symphoniker.

Lindberg also conducts orchestras such as the Nippon Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milano, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, Extremadura Orchestra, Umeå Symphony Orchestra, Tiroler Symphonieorchester, Het Noord Nederland Orkest, Het Gelders Orkest, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Poznan Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jenaer Philharmonie, Jyväskyllä Symphony Orchestra, Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Euscadi Orchestra, Maggio Fiorentino, Haydn Orchestra Bolzano, Northern Sinfonia, Helsinki Philharmonics, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Cape Philharmonic, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Opera Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, National Orchestra of Brazil, Württembergische Philharmonie, and Tenerife Symphony Orchestra to name a few.

As a composer Lindberg has been constantly busy with commissions since he wrote his first composition Arabenne for Trombone and Strings in 1997-98 as a pure experiment. Orchestras around the world have been queuing up, and he has composed over 50 works on commission from, among others, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Hessische Rundfunk, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Verdi Orchestra Milano, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Soloists, Sion Musik Festival, Nordland Musikfestuke, Vertavo Quartet, Vib’bone Duo, Sergio Carolino and the Wild Gang, Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Bones Apart, Anders Wall Foundation, Hardanger International Music Festival and Share Music Sweden. Future commissions include a trombone concerto for the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, a 30 minute long orchestral piece commissioned by Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, a trumpet concerto commissioned by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Västerås Sinfonietta and a concerto for Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg and orchestra commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival. Christian Lindberg’s own philosophy regarding his work as a composer is simple: “I do not write in any style whatsoever! I just listen to what my brain and my soul tell me, and what I hear I simply put down on paper. To say anything more about my work would be pretentious nonsense.”