Östergötland Music Days Information Office
Information via phone 10 am – 6 pm from August 4, 2026
Phone: +46 705-10 73 22
Email: info@musikdagar.com
Artistic Director
Staffan Mårtensson
staffanmartensson.com
Erstagatan 31B
116 36 Stockholm
Email: smartensson111@gmail.com
Mobile: +46 70-554 32 03
The festival was founded in 1994 by pianist/composer/conductor Otto Freudenthal (the picture on the right) on occasion of his 60th birthday. Otto passed away in the autumn of 2015.
Clarinettist/Conductor Staffan Mårtensson accepted the artistic leadership in 2001. The following years, the city of Linköping as well as the East Sweden Region increased their financial commitments, and the Music Days became more exposed nationally and internationally.
The Music Days have developed into the most important classical music summer event in the province of Östergötland, together with the Vadstena Academy (which produces mainly opera). Over the years, the concept of chamber music has broadened. Besides the classical-romantic repertoire, our programs contain baroque, contemporary, jazz, Swedish folk music, ethnic music, blues, choir, church music… Many prominent actors, dancers and lecturers have taken part in cross-over concerts.
In the program planning, the experience of each concert as a moment of staged communication is fundamental. We wish the audience to feel involved, and that you leave the concert hall with an elevated feeling. Our concert venues are spread throughout the province, although most of them are in Linköping and Norrköping. We play in castles, churches, art museums, concert halls, parish houses, old industrial buildings.
The Music Days are organised by the Society for Music in Linköping (MIL) and the educational association Sensus.
The budget of Östergötland Music Days rests on public support from the Cities of Linköping and Norrköping, East Sweden Region, the cities of Åtvidaberg, Kinda and Vadstena, from other co-producing bodies, from private sponsors/foundations and, to an extent of about 41%, on ticket revenues.
The Östergötland Music Days is since 2015 one of the member festivals in EFFE – Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe, an EU supported organisation for the development of and exchange between European music festivals.
The Society Music in Linköping MIL
MIL is a non-profit organization with no political or religious commitments. Mrs. Christina Larsson is its president.
Your support is needed!
Become a member by paying 200 SEK to
PlusGiro account 79 24 40-0.
Payment recipient: Föreningen Musik i Linköping MIL
Please state your name, phone number and e-mail address.
Background
In 1970, a group of SAAB employed engineers decided to improve the musical life of Linköping. To assemble people interested in music they formed Musik i Linköping (MIL). The society started with great ambitions and with many items on its agenda.
Soon, however, the problem of the lack of a concert hall took all its energy, and a great manifestation was the exhibition The House of Music in Linköping in 1974, motored by MIL. In it there were several suggestions for a location as well as for the actual concert hall. It resulted in the community of Linköping announcing a competition for architects which ended in a city council decision in 1976 to build the winning suggestion “Aulin” in Trädgårdsföreningen (=Garden Society) Park. Owing to a change of the political majority in the city council, the decision was unfortunately not realised.
During these years several members of MIL travelled around to study new concert halls in Sweden and Europe. In 1983 MIL started collecting funds for a concert hall to emphasize the demands and the interest of the public. By 1984 MIL was ready to present its own suggestion: The Crusell Hall, a concert hall blasted into the rock in Trädgårdsföreningen Park with the Berwaldhallen in Stockholm as a model.
This suggestion from MIL was also not realised. Instead, the city decided to build a City Community Centre with a concert hall. This building was, after a series of financial irregularities renamed ”Linköping Concert & Congress”. The concert hall itself was later named ”The Crusell Hall”, thanks to the efforts of MIL.
In 1987, following these events, the MIL Concert Hall Fund was changed into the Crusell Scholarship Fund. Through energetic, non-profit financial administration, starting with a capital of 60,000 SEK, it has since then been possible to award Crusell scholarships to eighteen young Swedish conductors.
In 1998 the board of MIL decided to form a “Section Music Days” in order to arrange The Östergötland Music Days. Members of MIL help in planning, administering, marketing, tickets sales etc.
The Crusell Scholarship
…is a scholarship established in 1987 by the Society of Music in Linköping (MIL) and awarded to young promising conductors with the aim of promoting the scholarship holder’s musical and artistic development. The scholarship is awarded every two years and is one of few in Sweden that is intended exclusively for conductors.
The name was chosen to honour the memory of Bernhard Crusell and his special connection to Linköping. The scholarship holder is selected by a committee consisting of leading musicians from the Swedish music scene.
The Crusell Scholarship will next be awarded in 2027 in Crusell Hall, Linköping, at a concert with the Östgöta Symphonic Winds – Crusell’s own orchestra.
Laureates:
1989 – Per Borin
1991 – Mats Janhagen
1993 – B. Tommy Andersson
1995 – Michael Bartosch
1997 – Andreas Hansson
1999 – Stefan Solyom
2001 – Joakim Unander
2003 – Andreas Lönnqvist
2005 – Eva-Charlotte Roslin
2007 – Olof Boman
2009 – Daniel Blendulf
2011 – Marie Rosenmir
2013 – Johan Larsson
2015 – Emil Eliasson
2017 – Andreas Eriksson Hjort
2019 – Gudrun Dahlkvist
2022 – Anton Holmer
2024 - Rebecka Gustafsson
2025 - Jonathan Jennesjö
The scholarship amount is currently SEK 75,000. MIL's ambition is to gradually increase it. You can help by making a contribution:
Stiftelsen MIL-fonden (The MIL Foundation), Crusellstipendiet, PlusGiro 435 99 07-5.
The Pro Suecia Barbro Osher Foundation is the main sponsor of the Crusellstipendiet.
Who was Crusell?
Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775–1838) was a Finnish-Swedish composer and one of the foremost representatives of early Swedish romanticism. He was active as First Clarinettist at the Royal Swedish Orchestra from 1793–1834 and was considered a great virtuoso.
As a clarinetist, Bernhard Crusell enjoyed great reputation throughout Europe. He was offered a position as First Clarinettist at the Italian Opera in Paris but was forced to decline because he was not granted leave from his position at the Royal Swedish Orchestra.
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It was natural for Bernhard Crusell to devote himself to his main instrument, the clarinet, as a composer. His output in that area includes chamber music and three clarinet concertos, often performed by international soloists. He also wrote chamber music for other wind instruments and music for the play "The Little Slave Girl". His later output also includes the setting of Tegnér's "Fritiof's Saga". Crusell translated several opera libretti, such as The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville. He also wrote the festive cantata for the 1832 opening of the important new waterway through Sweden, ”Göta Canal”.
Bernhard Crusell had a very special connection to Linköping. In 1818 he was employed as bandmaster for the bands of the two Life Grenadier Regiments in Linköping, a position that was concentrated in the summer months when the Royal Theatre in Stockholm had holidays and the musicians were unpaid.
Crusell held the position of Music Director for 18 years. During this time he left his mark on the musical life in Linköping. A popular annual event was the charity concerts that were given under his direction in St. Lars Church. From the proceeds, a fund was established in 1826, now the Crusell Foundation.
© Östergötlands Musikdagar 2026
