Per-Otto Johansson is one of the busiest conductors in the Nordic region and is increasingly in demand on the European mainland. His concentrated performances have drawn press acclaim and audience delight, from the Royal Opera in Copenhagen to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Johansson was born in Sweden and trained at the Malmö Academy of Music and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He is particularly active in those two territories, enjoying close relations with the Danish National Opera (Den Jyske Opera) in particular, where he has conducted national tours of The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville and L’elisir d’amore. At the Royal Swedish Opera, he has conducted The Merry Widow while he has been a regular visitor to Sweden’s national orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted the Copenhagen Phil and all the regional orchestras in Denmark and in the coming season he will debut with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway and return to the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden.
Johansson has conducted more than fifty opera productions around the world and is known for his theatrical instinct and for achieving seamless communication between pit and stage. In 2015, as part of celebrations marking 150 years since the birth of Carl Nielsen, he conducted the opera Maskarade at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. In the summer of 2019, he made his debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in addition to appearing with the South Netherlands Philharmonic at Opera op de Parade. Elsewhere in Holland, Johansson works regularly with the Arnhem Philharmonic (Het Gelders Orkest), where he will take care of three concerts in 2019/20 including the season opening and the 2020 New Year’s Concert.
Per-Otto Johansson has participated in master-classes with Kurt Sanderling, Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Manfred Honeck. He started his career in Sweden’s Marine Orchestra before studying conducting with Michel Tabachnik at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
