Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann is currently the Music Director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin and has served as the Artistic Director of Norway’s innovative Fjord Cadenza Festival since its inception in 2010. He was the Music Director of Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic from the 2017-18 season through 2024-25, Switzerland’s Argovia Philharmonic from 2016-17 through 2024-25, and Poland’s Szczecin Philharmonic from 2016-17 through 2023-24.

While being a regular guest performing with the orchestras of Baltimore, Colorado, Utah, Houston, Buffalo, and the Pacific Symphony in North America, he has collaborated with the Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, ADDA Simfònica, Orquesta de Valencia, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Staatskapelle Halle, and the Wrocław Philharmonic, as well as the symphony orchestras of Malmö, Helsingborg, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim, Karlskrona, and Odense. Bergmann has also led performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and La traviata at the Norwegian National Opera, and made his U.S. operatic debut in Yale Opera’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as staged by Claudia Solti. 

He has collaborated with some of today’s most acclaimed and legendary soloists, including Truls Mørk, Leif Ove Andsnes, Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, James Ehnes, Branford Marsalis, Ole Edvard Antonsen, Albrecht Mayer, and Anna Fedorova.

2018 saw the release of Bergmann’s first recording with the Szczecin Philharmonic, which featured the “Resurrection” Symphony in E-minor by Mieczysław Karłowicz—a piece which has since become a major focus of Bergmann’s repertoire. He has also released recordings with the Argovia Philharmonic, including Ravel’s G-major piano concerto and Mozart’s B-flat major bassoon concerto.

Earlier in his career, Bergmann served as First Kapellmeister and Deputy Music Director of the Theater Augsburg, where he led performances of numerous operas including La traviata, Der fliegende Holländer, and Die Fledermaus, and was Principal Guest Conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony.

Rune Bergmann studied choir and orchestra conducting under Anders Eby, Jin Wang, and Jorma Panula at Sweden's Royal College of Music. He graduated with high honors from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where he studied conducting under Chief Conductor Emeritus of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and former principal conductor of the Vienna Radio, Finnish Radio, and Danish National symphony orchestras, Leif Segerstam.