Stavanger Symphony Orchestra is growing. In the run-up to the opening of our new concert hall, the Orchestra has received funding to enlarge its complement of musicians in 2009. We are now announcing nine available positions, mainly for strings, with a view to making appointments in August.

This is the most comprehensive enlargement in the Orchestra’s entire history, taking it a major step nearer its goal of becoming a full-size symphony orchestra.

The Orchestra received several applications only two hours after the positions were posted on the Internet. This suggests that there will be considerable interest in these new positions, particularly because the Orchestra can look forward to moving into a new and distinctive concert hall in 2012. The Orchestra’s most recent announcement of two vacant positions for violinists resulted in over 50 applications. If the Orchestra manages to fill all the new vacancies, it will have about 80 permanently employed musicians. This expansion of the strings will improve the Orchestra’s balance and enable it to offer a wider repertoire.

The economic basis on which this expansion is founded is a result of lengthy cooperation with the Norwegian Department of Culture concerning plans for a forward-looking and flexible model for running the Orchestra. A new ensemble for sacred music "Sounds from the Cathedral" was one of the major initiatives to gain support from The European Capital of Culture – "Stavanger2008" and has been an important element in the plan to strengthen the Orchestra’s economic foundation. Stavanger Symphony Orchestra will continue the "Sounds from the Cathedral" project in 2009.