conductor

“It is easy for the Japanese audience to sympathise with the musical characteristics of Finnish works,” writes Yuri Nitta, conductor and chair of the Sibelius Society of Japan.

Tarmo Peltokoski made his international breakthrough at the age of 20. Now, two years later, he is making first appearances with orchestras near and far, and he has already been engaged on a regular basis by three European orchestras. He is a high flyer but with a cool head. “I’ve never questioned wanting to become a conductor,” says Peltokoski, whose aim is to specialise in opera.

History will be made later this month, as Nicholas Collon becomes the first non-Finn to lead the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. What can Finland expect from the British musician – and should the rest of the world be listening too?

Sakari Oramo is one of Finland’s international star conductors and is known for his extended engagements with orchestras and for his sense of responsibility. During the Year of the Coronavirus, his duties with his orchestras in London and Stockholm were suspended almost completely, but his new job as Professor of Orchestral Training and Orchestra Conducting with the world-famous conducting class of the Sibelius Academy has kept him busy. Here, he is responsible not only for Finland’s reputation in orchestra conducting but also for our standard of orchestral playing, which has recently become a cause for concern.

“When the quarantine was in full force, I couldn’t think of a day without music. We were listening to different types of music for maybe five or six hours a day,” says conductor Klaus Mäkelä. He spoke to Andrew Mellor about how and what kind of music has been sustaining him through the period of Covid-19, and what the connection with the audience means to him as a chief conductor.

For conductor Dalia Stasevska, being appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and making her début at the Proms are not a flash in the pan but the result of hard work. Now the door is open to an international career, and she sees the domain of top international conductors as a playground without boundaries.

Folk musician, conductor, composer, guitar hero. Jukka Iisakkila has tried all of that – with flying colours. A new feather in his cap is the recent collaboration with guitarist Steve Vai.

After a string of debuts with renowned orchestras, Santtu-Matias Rouvali is about to take up two significant new positions. Andrew Mellor met him to discuss psychology, leadership and Finland’s musical future.

Baroque violinist and conductor Kreeta-Maria Kentala writes about how attitudes towards baroque music and female conductors have changed during her career.

"Most of the time, I am far from Sibelius’s – and my own – homeland and on neutral territory, i.e. alone with my scores. But it is there, between the lines, that I am struck by something I cannot explain. I don’t, however, think it is just a national trait, because all over the world I meet people similarly affected by this remarkable music."

Armas Järnefelt is today principally known for two lovely miniatures: Preludi and Berceuse. Yet he was the composer of several extensive works who introduced a new, Wagnerian voice into Finnish music.

Conductor Susanna Mälkki is becoming bigger and bigger in Paris. And she is still only 41-years of age. Barely a grown-up in the masculine and patriarchic world of conducting.

Paavo Berglund, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, and Neeme Järvi are today's great Sibelius conductors, carrying on a tradition that began with Robert Kajanus and Sir Thomas Beecham. What are their thoughts on the Finnish composer?

"It may sound a bit crazy, but I actually think of myself more as a composer than a conductor. It just so happens that the conducting side has outweighed the composing," says Esa-Pekka Salonen in 1998.

Sakari Oramo is Finland’s blue-eyed boy at the moment, having recently been appointed Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The appointment is not, however, just a boost to the ego but the just reward of true and selfless musicianship.Three cheers for another Finn who’s made a name for himself in the world!

Although still only 28, Esa-Pekka Salonen probably needs little introduction for anyone with even a moderate interest in classical music, since he has already gained what is known in the jargon of concert programmes as “an international reputation” for his conducting work. In this article, however, we take a look at the still small, but not insignificant output of Salonen the composer. When Esa-Pekka Salonen looks in the mirror, does he see a conductor or a composer looking back at him?