ROYAL SWEDISH NAVY BAND

Commanding Officer: Tomas Hjortenhammar

The Royal Swedish Navy Band has its roots in the 1680s and has operated uninterruptedly since then. Stationed in Karlskrona, the band is today the only one of its kind in the Swedish Armed Forces. It comprises thirty full-time professional musicians.

The band has taken part in missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, among other places, providing both ceremonial music and musical entertainment for the maintenance of morale.

In addition, the band makes more than a hundred public appearances each year, in relation to official state visits, royal audiences, changing of the guards, regimental ceremonies and tattoos. In addition to these military assignments, the Royal Swedish Navy Band performs in a large number of concerts, covering a wide repertoire of wind music genres for diverse target groups, aiming to reach new audiences and broaden horizons.

In its capacity as Sweden’s only professional military band, the Royal Swedish Navy Band plays a key rôle as a pioneer of military music and Swedish wind band music in general. This implies being in contact with and supporting civilian wind music through events such as symposiums and courses.