“This was cello playing of the very highest order, displaying apparently limitless resources.”
Praised by The Epoch Times New York for his "...unusually beautifully and expressive playing…" Swedish cellist Antonio Hallongren enjoys a diverse & international career as soloist, chamber & orchestra musician. Highlights of past and coming seasons includes invitation for solo appearances with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. Antonio also served as Artist-In-Residence for the 2016-2017 season of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra after winning the orchestra's international soloist competition.
Antonio is a prizewinner of several Swedish and international competitions. He recently made his Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall debut in Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme as the winner of New York Concerti Sinfonietta’s soloist competition. He has been awarded prizes by the Swedish Academy of Music, was named Best String Player at the Sinfonia-Haverhill Soloist Competition in London, and toured Norway performing Dvorak's Cello Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonics after winning the Nordic competition Young Soloists in Concert.
As a chamber musician, Mr. Hallongren has performed alongside world-renowned artists such as Michael Amory (Brentano Quartet), Miguel Da Silva (Ysaÿe Quartet), Robert McDonald, Staffan Scheja, and Eugene Drucker & Philip Setzer (Emerson String Quartet). He has been invited to some of the worlds most selective chamber music institutes and festivals such as Music@Menlo, Kronberg Festival and FourSeasons. As the principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra and the Swedish National Youth Orchestra, Antonio has worked under the baton of Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Gianandrea Noseda, Itzhak Perlman and Esa-Pekka Salonen,
Continuously looking for ways to share his love of chamber music, he is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Lövstabruks Kammarmusikfestival, founded in 2013. In 2016, he launched Ungdomspriset, a prize for exceptional young classical musicians to encourage a career in classical music.
Hallongren is a graduate of the Master of Music program at the Juilliard School where he was a student of David Finckel and Richard Aaron.
Since 2021, Antonio studies orchestral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. In various different context, he has already conducted the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Swedish Navy Band, Royal Swedish Army Band, Jönköping Sinfonietta and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In the spring of 2023, Antonio is selected as a young conducting talent by the Folkoperan in Stockholm and will assist chief conductor Henrik Schafer in the production of Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartok.
Antonio plays a cello by J.F Lott made in 1727, kindly on loan from the Järnåker Foundation.
jason bae | founder & music director
©Ashley Koo
Jason Bae is the Founder & Music Director of Afflatus Ensemble and has recently finished his two-year role as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Conducting Fellowship Programme Conductor in 2020/21. Jason made his debut in Stockholm, conducting the Aurora Festival Orchestra - presenting the Swedish premiere of "Violent, Violent Sea" by the American composer, Missy Mazzoli. Last year, Jason gave the New Zealand Premiere of Lotta Wennäkoski's "Nosztalgiaim" with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra National Youth Orchestra. This year, Jason will make his debut with string ensemble of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and KammerensembleN in Stockholm.
He has received masterclasses with renowned conductors such as Osmo Vänskä with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Jorma Panula with South Denmark Philharmonic Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Vaasa City Orchestra, Hamish McKeich, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Holly Mathieson and Gemma New with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Formerly trained as a pianist, Jason became an official Steinway Artist in 2016 and an Austrian Gramophone Artist since 2015. He has received his Master of Arts in piano performance with the highest distinction award, 'DipRAM' at the Royal Academy of Music in London studied under the Professor Emeritus Christopher Elton and Joanna MacGregor in 2015. Jason then further studied orchestral conducting and was mentored by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Currently, he has been accepted to study his second Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm as the only recipient receiving the entire full scholarship from the college.
@jasonbae1029
