Since it started in 1853, the choir has been expanding the scope of all of its activities – its repertoire, its concert forms, its venues. Tours of Sweden are complemented by far-flung journeys to Asia, the US, Canada, and Europe. Concerts at Royal Albert Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York, and Symphony Hall in Osaka, alternate with performances in stone quarries and paper mills. Leading artists in Sweden jostle with internationally acclaimed stars like Malena Ernman, Peter Mattei, and Anne Sofie von Otter.

Folksongs and romanticism contrast with jazz, newly commissioned atonal music, lyricism, and Riverdance. But whatever OD sings, the sound is the same – OD’s unique blend of light young voices and older, more mature ones is the result of many years of work to refine the special instrument that is the male-voice choir. Rich tradition is the point of departure. From there, anything goes.