Tabita Berglund has established herself as one of the most in-demand conductors of her generation. With a charismatic style that combines elegance, verve and precision – eliciting "exceptional music-making" (The Arts Desk) – she collaborates with leading orchestras worldwide. She is Chief Conductor Designate of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and will assume the title of Chief Conductor in August 2027. She is also Principal Guest Conductor of both the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Dresdner Philharmonie.
Highlights of Tabita Berglund’s designate season in Bergen include the 2026/27-opening concerts as well as an eight-concert European tour in the spring, with Alte Oper Frankfurt, Isarphilharmonie Munich, Koningin Elisabethzaal Antwerp and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg among the venues. She makes debut guest appearances with the Wiener Symphoniker, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Gulbenkian Orchestra, while return engagements include the Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris for La Seine Musicale’s 2026/27 season opening.
Tabita Berglund collaborates with leading international soloists; partnerships include Leif Ove Andsnes, Hélène Grimaud, Kirill Gerstein, Alexander Malofeev, Pekka Kuusisto, Leila Josefowicz, Augustin Hadelich, Christian Tetzlaff, Truls Mørk, Nicolas Altstaedt and Camilla Tilling. Her 2026/27 programming reflects the breadth of her repertoire interests – from Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert to Richard Strauss, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Ravel and John Adams, among many others – and continues her championing of Nordic composers such as Thorvaldsdottir, Sibelius and Irgens-Jensen.
Recent guest engagements include The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Bamberger Symphoniker, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gothenburg Symphony, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Sydney and Melbourne symphony orchestras, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, to mention just a few. Festival appearances include Granada, Grafenegg, Dresden (2026 opening concert of Musikfestspiele with Dresdner Philharmonie) and a curated two-week Northern Lights Festival in Detroit, while Mozart’s "Le nozze di Figaro" (Garsington Opera) and Tchaikovsky’s "The Nutcracker" (Norwegian National Opera and Ballet) are among past opera/ballet productions. In summer 2024 Berglund was chair of the jury for the final of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition, broadcast live on television throughout Europe via the major networks.
Berglund studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music, first cello with Truls Mørk and later orchestral conducting with Ole Kristian Ruud. She played regularly with the Oslo and Bergen Philharmonic orchestras as well as the Trondheim Soloists before conducting became her main focus. Her first titled position was as Principal Guest Conductor of the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (2021–2024). Her debut CD, with the Oslo Philharmonic and violinist Sonoko Miriam Welde, was released in 2021 (LAWO) and nominated for a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemann) in the 2022 Classical Music category.