Esa-Pekka Salonen

“OD possesses a combination of power, energy, and culture. Joy of discovery combined with professional technical and musical prowess.”

Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Foto: Nicho Soedling 

Peter Dijkstra

- What a great joy to work with you: a great group with eager and highly skilled singers!!!! I will never forget the startling pppp and ffff´s you produced during our Springtour 2011, and the enthusiastic openness with which you welcomed me. Thanks to that, the concerts we did were outstanding and great fun! Thanks a lot for the co-operation, and I hope to meet you again very soon. Best wishes from your ´kusin´.

Peter Dijkstra, Conductor
Photo: Marco Borggreve 

Pernilla Andersson

- No matter which art form is yours it is an experience working with OD. Open and nice, extremely professional and with a world class sound. To do music together with OD gave me so much! I would also like to throw an imaginary shower of roses over Cecilia Rydinger Alin and Folke Alin, together with OD they are creating wonders.

Pernilla Andersson, Artist
Photo: www.pernillaandersson.com 

Magnus Lindgren

”Some people buy an adventure trip into space but I get on stage with OD instead”

Magnus Lindgren, Jazz musician
PhOTO: LENNART STENBERG

Michael Tydén

“Orphei Drängar is the finest male-voice choir to have performed in Berwald Hall. The world premier of Sven David Sandström’s orchestral work “Längtans Segel” (The Sail of Yearning) with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck was exceptional.”

Michael Tydén – executive director of Berwald Hall

Malena Ernman

"OD is the pride of Sweden with the best male choir sound of all male choirs in the whole world! And they are good to look at as well!"

Malena Ernman, Mezzo-soprano

Anders Hillborg

"OD:s combination of immense passion for musicmaking, curiosity and willingness to try out new musical techniques make them a rare and precious gem in Swedish musical life. I'm proud and grateful to be working with them."

Anders Hillborg, composer
Photo: RICKARD ERIKSSON

Peter Mattei

”OD – an incredibly hungry bunch! I have never seen a smorgasbord emptied as quickly as when we were on tour in Mexico visiting the Swedish Embassy and were invited for dinner. OD also sang ”La Cucaracha” with a fantastic feeling.

Another Mexico memory; After having travelled by bus for 10 hours – everyone on the bus (except the driver who was Mexican) were pale, nauseous, feverish and sick and for once quiet – we arrived at an enormous concert hall with an equally enormous restroom, that everyone frequented. That concert I will also never forget.

Thanks for the cooperation!”

peter mattei, baritone

Martin Fröst

“OD is a mixture of the faintest lyrical nuance and sheer power. A unique body of sound that can give new birth to classics and can approach new works with precision and delight. A bunch of full-blooded pros that it’s a great joy to make music with.”

Martin Fröst, clarinetist
Photo: MATS BÄCKER 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste

“I’ve never heard a non-Finnish male-voice choir do such justice to our national epic Kullervo. OD has a focused, warm, and unique sound that is everlasting.”

Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor

Jan Eliasson

“I feel that Orphei Drängar are among Sweden’s foremost ambassadors. It’s always a delight to hear the drängar, both abroad and at home.”

Jan Eliasson, former foreign minister of Sweden

Lena Willemark

“To sing together with OD is to be lifted off the ground by energy. With OD’s incredible power and gentle poetry you are borne up by every individual singer – and you fly!”

Lena Willemark, singer and folk musician

Robert von Bahr

“Just as the world’s great orchestras are often associated with the names of great conductors, the Swedish male-voice choir Orphei Drängar is linked to two great musicians: the composer and conductor Hugo Alfvén and the legendary choir director Eric Ericson. Both led the choir for very long periods and elevated the choir to a high professional standard. When you work as a producer with Orphei Drängar, you notice the choir’s technical competence and are struck by its musicianship. Under the direction of Robert Sund, Orphei Drängar offered a first-class musical repertoire, and every concert was an unforgettable experience. The fact that the direction of the choir is now provided by the extremely skillful and experienced conductor Cecilia Rydinger Alin, whom I have had the distinct pleasure of working with for several years, simply means that the choir is going from strength to strength.”

Robert von Bahr, BIS Records

Eric Ericson

“Forty years with OD has been a wide-ranging and pleasurable part of my musical activities.

I see it as a great privilege, but also as a great responsibility to have had the opportunity for forty years to steward this important part of the Swedish choral tradition. OD’s activities have always involved so much musical quality-consciousness, a stimulating eagerness to explore, and joyful playfulness . In all this musical ambition, I have also had the opportunity to experience how lifelong human community and friendship have emerged, thrived, and developed. These fundamental qualities of OD are timeless to me, and entirely independent of any cycles. I find it difficult to see anything that could disrupt the Singing Society OD in the secure course of its life. I am convinced that OD has a lot to offer its audiences to come and that it will enjoy a bright and long future.”

Eric Ericson, OD’s conductor 1951-1991

Neeme Järvi

"I have had much pleasure in working with Orphei Drängar during my time as chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and I consider OD to be one of the most brilliant men´s choirs in the world. The singers are highly professional and their repertoire is of a very wide range, but then they have been trained for years by Eric Ericson, the world´s leading choir conductor. I also admire the strength and the beauty of their voices. OD is an extraordinary powerful choir!"

Neeme Järvi, Music Director of Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chief conductor of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

Anne Sofie von Otter

“The Caprice I did with OD in 2003 is one of my most enjoyable professional experiences. OD is a collection of super nice, super good, super good-looking gents that I would love to work with again!”

Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Photo: Mats Bäcker 

Martin Stenmarck

"There’s more rock ‘n’ roll in this choir than in most of the bands I’ve worked with over the years. OD has an energy and awareness that is contagious for us soloists. It was an honor to have an opportunity to sing with you!"

Martin Stenmarck, artist