Clarinettist, conductor and Sony Classical recording artist, Martin Fröst is known for pushing musical boundaries and has been described by the New York Times as having “a virtuosity and a musicianship unsurpassed by any clarinetist – perhaps any instrumentalist – in my memory”. Widely recognised as an artist who constantly seeks new ways to challenge and reshape the classical music arena, his repertoire encompasses mainstream clarinet works, as well as a number of contemporary pieces that he has personally championed. Winner of the 2014 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, one of the world’s highest musical honours, Fröst was the first clarinetist to be given the award and joined a prestigious list of previous recipients including Igor Stravinsky and Sir Simon Rattle. International Classical Music Awards voted him their 2022 Artist of the Year Award for his innovative global career, his impressive discography, and his philanthropy.
In the 2024/25 season, he continues to focus on his role as Chief Conductor of Swedish Chamber Orchestra, with concerts featuring international guest artists such as Pablo Hernández, Eric Lu, and Alina Ibragimova, as well as collaborations with Swedish Radio Choir. He returns to Japan for concerts with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, performing Michael Jarrell’s Clarinet Concerto “Passages”. Martin Fröst makes his conducting debuts with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Kammerakademie Potsdam. He continues to champion Anna Clyne’s Clarinet Concerto "Weathered" with orchestras including Dresden Philharmonic and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. In March 2025, he embarks on a US and Canada tour with Antoine Tamestit and Shai Wosner, featuring an eclectic chamber music program. Other highlights of the season include performances with Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Riccardo Minasi, two chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall, and a return to Gävle Symphony Orchestra, as conductor.
As a soloist, Martin Fröst has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York and Los Angeles philharmonic orchestras, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. He regularly collaborates with prominent international artists, including Yuja Wang, Janine Jansen, Leif Ove Andsnes, Roland Pöntinen and Antoine Tamestit, as well as performs in international events such as Verbier Festival in Switzerland and Mostly Mozart in New York. Martin Fröst has appeared in some of the world’s most important concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Konzerthaus Berlin and he has toured in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. He was Artist in Residence with Royal Concertgebouworkest for the 2022/23 season, the first ever wind player to be given that honour.
In recent years he has made successful conducting steps with the most important being his appointment as Chief Conductor of Swedish Chamber Orchestra for the 2019/20 season. Together they have embarked on a music journey that explores Mozart’s historic footprint in Europe through his travels. The CD project, recorded over a period of four years, "Mozart: Ecstasy and Abyss", was released on 31 March 2023 by Sony Classical. The program includes late works by Mozart, written at particularly precarious moments in the composer’s life, which, despite this, are of exquisite intensity and beauty.
Renowned for his multimedia performing projects in collaboration with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, in recent years Martin Fröst has presented "Dollhouse", "Genesis" and most recently "Retrotopia" – his latest project to perform both as soloist and conductor in a musical journey that explores new repertoire and challenges the traditional conventions of the classical concert.
A keen advocate of the importance of music education, in 2019 he launched the Martin Fröst Foundation with the support of the world’s largest manufacturer of wind instruments, Buffet Crampon. The purpose of the organisation is to provide resources that can improve and enable children’s and young people’s access to music education and instruments. The Foundation aims to join forces with non-profit organisations and various sponsors across the world, having already established presence in Kenya and Madagascar.