ESA-PEKKA SALONEN – A BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE
“Mahler’s Third Symphony really was the vindication . . . of the Philharmonia’s happy decision to take on Esa-Pekka Salonen as principal conductor from 2008. The vividly individuated solos, the chamber-like transparency of ensemble, and the assured pacing and structuring of the vast first movement were very much a result of his inspiration.”
The Times, London, June 2007 (Concert review)
Esa-Pekka Salonen was born in Helsinki in 1958. In 1973 he entered the Sibelius Academy, studying the horn, conducting and composition, followed by further studies in composition in Siena and Milan. In 1977 he founded the avant-garde Ears Open collective, together with other rapidly rising young Finnish composers including Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho, and in 1979 he made his highly successful conducting debut with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, which led to engagements all across Scandinavia, including an acclaimed production of Berg’s Wozzeck at the Stockholm Royal Opera. He has received several awards, including the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres from France, the Literis & Artibus from the King of Sweden, the Pro Finlandia from the Finnish government, an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy, the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Opera and Conductor Awards, and is the first conductor to win the Siena Prize of the Accademia Chigiana.
1983International breakthrough in London conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra
1985US debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (until 1995); Principal Guest Conductor of the Oslo Philhar¬monic (until 1989) and of the Philharmonia (until 1994)
1986His LA Philharmonic release of Lutosławski’s Symphony no. 3 wins a Grammy, Caecilia Prize, Koussevitzky Award and Gramophone Award (Best Contemporary Recording)
1992Music Director of the LA Philharmonic
1995Director of the Helsinki Festival (also in 1996); Artistic Director of the Sibelius Conducting Competition in Helsinki
1996Residency with the LA Philharmonic at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
1997Conducts the Philharmonia at the Salzburg Festival; premiere of his LA Variations with the LA Philharmonic
1998The LA Philharmonic’s “Filmharmonic” project debuts with Salonen leading them in the world premiere of 1001 Nights featuring the images of Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amana and music by film composer David Newman
1999Conducts the LA Philharmonic in the world premiere of John Adams’s Naïve and Senti¬mental Music; his Five Images after Sappho is premiered in Ojai by the Philhar¬monic New Music Group and the European premiere given by the London Sinfonietta – both conducted by the composer
2001Devises and directs the “Related Rocks” Festival, celebrating Magnus Lindberg’s music at London’s South Bank Centre; his work Foreign Bodies is acclaimed at its premiere at the Schleswig Holstein Festival and at the Proms
2002European tour with the LA Philharmonic; conducts the premiere of his Insomnia in Tokyo with the NHK Symphony Orchestra; premiere by the Los Angeles Master Chorale of his Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jäderlund; world premiere of his Laughing Unlearnt, a solo work for violinist Cho-Liang Lin at SummerFest in La Jolla (San Diego)
2003Salonen and the LA Philharmonic give concerts in New York; guest engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmon¬iker, and Kirov Orchestra; conducts the LA Philharmonic in the inaugural concerts of the city’s new Walt Disney Hall; Artistic Director of the Baltic Sea Festival. Signs an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon
2004First release for DG: Credo – including works by Beethoven and Pärt, with pianist Hélène Grimaud and the Swedish Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra (Choc du monde de la musique, Diapason d’or, 2004). World premiere of his gift to Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wing on Wing with the European premiere at the Helsinki Festival where he also conducts the Finnish premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de loin; Salonen festival with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic at the Konserthus; in Los Angeles he conducts Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, a co-production with Paris Opéra, directed by Peter Sellars
2005Celebration of his 20th anniversary with the Philharmonic at a festival featuring his music in Los Angeles; beginning of a complete Beethoven Symphonies cycle with them; resi¬dency with the LA Philharmonic at the Cologne Philharmonie; conducts the Paris Opéra Orchestra in Sellars’ Tristan production at the Opéra-Bastille; concerts with the Philhar¬monia Orchestra in Europe. CD releases: Wing on Wing, with Salonen conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in his own works, and Reflection, works by Robert and Clara Schumann and Brahms with Hélène Grimaud and the Dresden Staatskapelle; on DVD, Salonen conducts Saariaho’s opera L’Amour de loin (BBC Music Magazine Award 2006). Named “Musician of the Year 2006” by Musical America
2006Numerous concerts in Los Angeles with the Philharmonic, including completion of the Beethoven Symphonies cycle. Guest engagements include the Chicago, Philharmonia and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestras, the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris (world premiere of Saariaho’s Adriana Mater at the Opéra-Bastille), and the Mariinsky Orchestra at the St. Petersburg White Nights Festival. Release of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin with the LA Philharmonic (Echo Award 2007). Initial releases of the new DG Concerts download series feature Salonen and the LA Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 7 & 8 coupled with Eleven Gates (world premiere) by Anders Hillborg, and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 and Leonore II Overture coupled with Lutosławski’s Symphony no. 4
2007Again many concerts in Los Angeles with the Philharmonic, including Saariaho’s new opera La Passion de Simone, his own Helix and Wing on Wing, the Tristan Project (also in New York), and tour to Europe. Guest appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (world premiere of Turnage’s From All Sides); the New York Philharmonic, (world premiere of his own Piano Concerto); the Royal Concertgebouw, Swedish Radio Symphony, Philharmonia, and UBS Verbier Festival Orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms, and the Finnish Radio Symphony and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras at the Baltic Sea Festival. Appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from the 2008/09 season. Release of several concerts with the LA Philharmonic via download within the DG Concerts series: the first is Sibelius’s Symphony no. 2; the second his Helix coupled with Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite
2008Numerous concerts with the LA Philharmonic in Los Angeles, several concerts with them in the Hollywood Bowl including a special concert to celebrate Salonen’s 50th birthday in July, and a tour to the Far East in the autumn. Guest appearances include performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; the Philharmonia Orchestra in London (Messiaen Festival) and Leeds; the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Baltic Sea Festival in Stockholm; the Finnish Radio Symhony Orchestra at the Helsinki Festival; the Wiener Philhar¬moniker at the Salzburg Festival; the North German Radio (NDR) Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Orchestre de Paris. His recording of violin concertos by Sibelius and Schoenberg with Hilary Hahn and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is received with great critical acclaim
3/2008
This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.
