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Jukka-Pekka Saraste

conductor
Jukka-Pekka Saraste © Felix Broede

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation, demonstrating remarkable musical depth and integrity. Born in Heinola, Finland, he began his career as a violinist before training as a conductor with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

An artist of exceptional versatility and breadth and renowned for his objective approach, he feels a special affinity with the sound and style of late Romantic music. He maintains a particularly strong connection to the works of Beethoven, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Sibelius and is internationally celebrated for his interpretations of Mahler.

Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from summer 2023, Jukka-Pekka Saraste previously served as Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, from 2010 to 2019. During his term, the orchestra built a reputation both at home and abroad, touring Austria, Spain, the Baltics, and Asia. The symphonic cycles of Sibelius, Brahms and Beethoven were exceptionally well received.

From 2006 to 2013, he was Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic and was appointed Conductor Laureate at the end of his tenure. Earlier positions include the principal conductorships of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he is now Conductor Laureate as well, and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. He founded the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, where he has remained Artistic Advisor.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists. Based in Finland, the foundation has run projects in Stockholm, Lausanne, Dortmund and Sofia. In 2020, it also created the Fiskars Summer Festival as an international platform where leading Finnish and international artists can pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation of conductors and musicians from all around the world.

Guest engagements have led him to the major orchestras worldwide, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and all leading Scandinavian orchestras. In North America, he has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, as well as Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

In recent years, Jukka-Pekka Saraste has developed a strong profile in opera and, following concert performances of Stravinsky’sOedipus Rex, Schönberg’s Erwartung and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, had great success at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna with a new scenic production of Mendelssohn’s Elijah as well as with Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Finnish National Oper and a new staging of Reimann’s Lear at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s extensive and critically acclaimed discography includes numerous recordings with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne.

He has received the Pro Finlandia Prize, the Sibelius Medal, and the Finnish State Prize for Music.

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