Lapland Chamber Orchestra

The Lapland Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1972, is the northernmost professional chamber orchestra in Finland and indeed in the whole of Europe. Conductor and violinist John Storgårds has been the orchestra’s Artistic Director since autumn 1996. Based in Rovaniemi, the orchestra is a regional orchestra that regularly tours the Province of Lapland and elsewhere in Finland. The orchestra is much in demand at festivals and has to date appeared at the Savonlinna Opera Festivals, Helsinki Festivals, Luosto Classic event and the Korsholma Music Festival. The orchestra has made highly successful appearances at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival in Austria and at the BBC Proms in London. The orchestra has also toured Canada, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and Algeria.

The Lapland Chamber Orchestra specialises in giving first performances in Finland of works by international composers from all eras and has also given the world premieres of works by several significant contemporary composers, including Kalevi Aho, Aulis Sallinen, Pehr Henrik Nordgren, Outi Tarkiainen and Bent Sørensen. The orchestra has collaborated with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and worked with numerous distinguished guest performers such as Soile Isokoski, Christian Tetzlaff, Barbara Hannigan, Håkan Hardenberger, Sabine Meyer and Kirill Gerstein.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company selected Rituals by Kalevi Aho as Disc of the Year 2009. The orchestra’s recording of the Chamber Symphonies of Vagn Holmboe on Dacapo Records has been received with critical acclaim around the world and was a nominee for the Gramophone Award 2013. The orchestra’s recording of Kalevi Aho’s concertos for theremin and horn received the distinguished German ECHO Klassik Award in 2015. The album of Bent Sørensen’s music, Mignon, on Dacapo Records was awarded by the Danish radio as the best recording of contemporary music in 2017.