Tobias Ringborg is equally at home on the podium as a conductor and violinist, as well as in the opera house. His career started in 1994 when he, as a violinist, won the prestigious Swedish Soloist Prize. The same year he graduated with the highest honours from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York, graduating in 1996.
As a violinist, Tobias Ringborg has appeared with every Swedish orchestra and has collaborated with conductors such as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Neeme Järvi, Okko Kamu, Sakari Oramo, and Daniel Harding. International credits also include the first prize of the Concours International de Musique de Chimay in Belgium. He is an active champion of Swedish music, and his discography includes about 20 CD’s with chamber music and violin concertos, mostly by Swedish composers. In between operatic and symphonic engagements, Ringborg maintains an active career as a violinist, and plays a Gagliano instrument, on loan from the Järnåker foundation of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
In 2000, Tobias Ringborg decided to expand his musical career after winning a conducting competition in Helsingborg. His lifelong passion for opera led to his operatic debut at the Stockholm Folkoperan in 2001, with Verdi’s La traviata. In 2002 he began a two year association with Malmö Opera, leading performances of a. o. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos and Verdi’s Otello.
In 2001 he made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera with Puccini’s La Bohème, and has since then been strongly tied to that company, leading a.o. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Don Carlo and Rigoletto, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Tosca and Turandot, as well as the 2016 new production of Giordano’s Fedora (directed by Christof Loy).
Highlights of the 2023/2024 Season include Le nozze di Figaro at State Opera of South Australia, Mahler Symphony No. 2 with Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, The Promise with the Royal Swedish Opera, Un giorno di regno with Garsington Opera, and La Rondine with Victorian Opera.
Tobias Ringborg has been awarded the Herbert Blomstedt Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and in 2011 he was elected a member of the same academy.
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La rondine
Victorian Opera (August 2024)
"Swedish conductor Tobias Ringborg shapes the score like a man who knows and loves Puccini with all his heart. He leans Orchestra Victoria into Puccini’s lilting rhythms, with frivolous lightness at appropriate times and swirling drama at others."
Bridget Davies, The Age
Nevertheless, the darting rhythms and shifts of mood resonated excellently under conductor Tobias Ringborg’s command.
Paul Selar, Australian Arts Review
Le nozze di Figaro
State Opera South Australia (November 2023)
Musically this is a very fine production delivered with a fleetness and chamber orchestra-like clarity by the always dependable Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under conductor Tobias Ringborg, who directs from the fortepiano. Instrumental lines, particularly Mozart’s often giddy counterpoint, are well balanced throughout . . .
Brett Allen-Bayes, Limelight
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra gives a lively accompaniment under guest conductor Tobias Ringborg who leads from the fortepiano.
Diana Carroll, ArtsHub
From the first immaculately precise few notes from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, led with spirit and heart by Conductor Tobias Ringborg, you know you’re in for a very special night.
Adrian Barnes, Glam Adelaide
Sven-David Sandström 'The Book of Life'
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (October 2022)
“Most impressed by how the conductor Tobias Ringborg manages to put together this vast amount of music and unleash its beauty.”
Bo Löfvendahl, Svenska Dagbladet
“I close my eyes and enjoy when conductor Tobias Ringborg turns from Sandström's score the characteristic sweetness and a lovely, modernist austerity not heard in his music for a long time. The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra responds with lyrical transparency and dramatic power, and from the forest with gongs, cymbals and puko wines the roar of war and the wrath of God.”
Sofia Nyblom, Dagens Nyheter
Cosi fan tutte
Garsington Opera (June 2022)
“The English Concert under Tobias Ringborg gave a warm, well-paced and surprisingly plush account of Mozart's sublime orchestrations… The intricate Act 1 sextet, for instance, was a seamless fusion of musical joy from all concerned, perhaps the pinnacle in a night of high peaks.”
Mark Valencia, Opera Magazine
“Tobias Ringborg leads the English Concert with clipped phrasing and swift tempi, unafraid to draw out the odd raw sonority: it nicely offsets the prettiness of the production.”
Neil Fisher, The Times
“In the pit Tobias Ringborg, directing from the fortepiano, keeps a tight rein over period instrument ensemble The English Concert, drawing out the score’s felicities with crisp, characterful playing and giving much to enjoy from Mozart’s generous writing for woodwind.”
David Truslove, Opera Today
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 & Violin Concerto
Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal (September 2020)
The attentive orchestra under [Tobias] Ringborg plays together with great sensitivity.
Johannes Vesper, Westdeutsche Zeitung
Orphée aux enfers
Malmö Opera (February 2020)
Tobias Ringborg brings pace to the orchestra, which elegantly glides between idyllic, pastoral and cancan passages.
Bo Löfvendahl, Svenska Dagbladet
Malmö Opera’s eminent orchestral and choral resources are used spiritedly, with Tobias Ringborg and Elisabeth Linton working well at the head of the artistic team.
Carlhåken Larsén, Sydsvenskan Orfeusre
… the lively orchestra in the pit under the conductor Tobias Ringborg.
Camilla Marie Dahlgreen, Information Orfeusrec
… Tobias Ringborg’s orchestra pit where Offenbach’s appealing beats and vibrant woodwind lines peak over the dark-toned chords of the work.
Hanna Höglund, Expressen Kutur
Malmö Opera Orchestra under Tobias Ringborg performed well.
Mattias Gejrot, Ystads Allehanda
Tobias Ringborg exudes cancan rhythms from the orchestra pit.
Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter
Madama Butterfly
State Opera of South Australia (November 2019)
Puccini’s music is delivered with exceptional beauty by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under noted Swedish conductor Tobias Ringborg.
Graham Strahle, The Australian
As always, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra provides highly sympathetic accompaniment, conducted by Tobias Ringborg, making his Australian debut and in what must be seen as a real coup for the company.
Brett Allen-Bayes, Limelight Magazine
an inspiring Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Swedish Tobias Ringborg.
Brian Angus, Bachtrack
Ringborg breathes with his singers, intuitive and alert to the nuance of the score.
Ewart Shaw, The Advertiser
Of course, there is no opera without the orchestra and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra does not disappoint. Every nuance of one of Puccini’s finest scores is there, thanks to the conductor Tobias Ringborg.
Barry Hill, Stage Whispers
…the excellent Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tobias Ringborg.
Katherine Arguile, In Daily
The orchestra came to life under the guidance of Tobias Ringborg in a way I have not heard this group of talented musicians come together before. The nuance of the vision of Ringborg brought the orchestra to life in a journey that underpinned the action on the stage and carried, and married, with the orchestra to make Puccini magic. The romanticism and emotional turmoil with which Puccini imbued his work was evident from the moment Rinborg lifted his baton..
Adrian Barnes, Glam Adelaide
The star, in a way, was the orchestra, which did justice to Puccini’s magnificent score. Swedish conductor Tobias Ringborg, making his Australian début, led the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Peter Rose, Australian Book Review
Die Zauberflöte
Scottish Opera (May 2019)
Worthwhile, above all, because it brought Tobias Ringborg back to Scottish Opera, where his performances over the years have never failed to excite. So it was again in Mozart’s Singspiel. Ringborg brought a defining intelligence, an assurance of style, a depth and intensity to [the] performance … For its audience-pleasing consistency, this Flute could not be faulted, but it needed Ringborg in the pit to elevate it above the crowd.
Andrew Clark, Opera Magazine
Tobias Ringborg’s pleasingly pacy conducting gets a lightness of tone from the orchestra that helps make the whole thing shine.
Thom Dibdin, The Stage
The conductor Tobias Ringborg keeps the music focused, helped by some period-sensitive touches such as minimal string vibrato and natural trumpets and timpani.
Simon Thompson, The Times
In the pit, Tobias Ringborg's passion for this composition is in plain sight as he chooses to conduct without a baton, instead sculpting the sound with his bare hands - commanding an obedient and responsive orchestra who themselves cannot resist a glimpse of the on-stage eccentricities during their periods of rest.
William Parker, Opera Guide Scotland
In the elevated pit with all players out in front of the stage, Tobias Ringborg held stage and players together well bringing out period colours from a Mozartian-sized band that included natural trumpets, small-bore trombones, basset horns and period timpani.
David Smythe, Bachtrack
The five star production is thanks to the stars aligning in every aspect of its creation [including the] lively conducting.
Lauren Humphreys, The Reviews Hub
La bohème
New Zealand Opera (September 2018)
The players of the Orchestra Wellington responded spiritedly to Tobias Ringborg’s thoughtful and colourful leadership.
Lindis Taylor, Opera Magazine
Tobias Ringborg’s superb conducting allowed the orchestra to swoon where necessary but without giving in to undue sentimentality. Overall, the crowd scenes in the central acts and the byplay between the bohemians was handled swiftly and due emphasis given to comic moments. Puccini’s little pictoral touches, such as the pizzicato falling of snow or the crackling of the flames consuming Rodolfo’s play, were consistently brought out to striking effect. Ringborg was more flexible in the showstopping moments for the singers, allowing Devoe in particular to fill out her rapturous lines. The orchestra too was in ecstatic form, ably supporting this highly appealing performance of Puccini’s masterpiece.
Simon Holden, Bachtrack ****
Tobias Ringborg, in his third Puccini outing with the company, sweeps this fine quartet along in the irresistible momentum created by Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
William Dart, NZ Herald
The APO played beautifully under the baton of Tobias Ringborg without succumbing to sentimental excess. The playing and singing during the gloomy Act III in particular was full of contrasts and subtleties that avoided obvious musical or theatrical gestures and clichés.
Peter Hoar, Radio New Zealand
But the clincher is the conducting of Tobias Ringborg. He guides the production with a sure sense of style, drawing some superb playing from Orchestra Wellington, not afraid to occasionally overpower the singers as Puccini clearly intends, and generally marshalling the emotional highs and lows in masterly fashion. This should not be missed.
John Button, Stuff
With Tobias Ringborg conducting the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Puccini’s music soars, each nuance of that often complicated but overwhelming joyful emotion called love exquisitely handled. Gorgeously atmospheric and completely engrossing, this is a triumphant performance that cannot be missed.
Sarah Kidd, Ambient Light
One cannot overlook the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra led by Tobias Ringborg (conductor) who in my opinion, delivers one of the most spectacular musical performance that I can remember ever seeingat the Aotea Centre.
Jarred Tito, Libel
Throughout, the orchestra accompanied with the utmost sensitivity, Tobias Ringborg and his players completely at one with the onstage ebb-and-flow of incident and emotion, and making the most of even incidental-sounding sequences, such as the beautiful colourings from the wind and brass in the passage immediately following the bohemians’ teasing calls to their recalcitrant colleague, about to declare his love to his new-found companion.
Peter Mechen, Middle-C
Rachmaninov / Korngold / Barber
Auckland Philharmonia (August 2018)
Tobias Ringborg certainly made it so with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the tingle of expectation running through a packed Auckland Town Hall augurs well for the Swedish maestro when he conducts NZ Opera's La Boheme next month.
William Dart, NZ Herald
Tobias Ringborg Opera Repertoire
| BIZET | Carmen |
|---|---|
| DONIZETTI | L'Elisir d'amore |
| DU PUY | Ungdom og Galskab (Youth and Folly) |
| FORONI | Cristina di Svezia |
| GOUNOD | Faust |
| LEONCAVALLO | Pagliacci |
| MOZART | La Clemenza di Tito |
| ROSSINI | Il Barbiere di Siviglia |
| PUCCINI | La Bohème |
| SD SANDSTROM | Nätverket |
| SMETANA | The Bartered Bride |
| R STRAUSS | Ariadne auf Naxos |
| TCHAIKOVSKY | Eugene Onegin |
| UNANDER-SCHARIN | Loranga, Masarin och Dartanjang |
| VERDI | Don Carlo |
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