Conductor
Santtu-Matias Rouvali was termed "the latest sit-up-and-listen talent to emerge from the great Finnish conducting tradition" by The Guardian. He has conducted major orchestras in Finland and Sweden, and in 2017 he was named a principal guest conductor of the
Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
Rouvali was born in Lahti, Finland on November 5, 1985. His parents were both musicians and members of the
Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Rouvali started as a percussionist, represented Finland in the Eurovision Young Soloists competition in 2004, and performed on percussion with the
Lahti Symphony, the
Finnish Radio Symphony, and other groups. Studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, he switched to conducting in his early twenties and took classes with
Leif Segerstam,
Hannu Lintu, and
Jorma Panula. In September of 2009,
Rouvali gained attention when he stepped in to conduct the
Finnish Radio Symphony on an emergency basis. The following year he guest-conducted the
Tapiola Sinfonietta, leading to a three-year association with that ensemble.
Rouvali's longest-running engagement in Finland has been with the
Tampere Philharmonic, which he guest-conducted in 2010 and 2011, and then, in 2013, became chief conductor. Meanwhile, he was beginning to find work outside Finland, with the
Copenhagen Philharmonic in Denmark, where he became principal guest conductor in 2013, and with the
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, where he made appearances as guest conductor (after one of which, his publicity claims, "delirious joy spread like wildfire throughout the audience"), and was appointed chief conductor two years later. He has also made guest appearances with the
Oslo Philharmonic, the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the
Münchner Philharmoniker, the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the
Minnesota Orchestra. In 2017
Rouvali was named one of two principal guest conductors of the
Philharmonia Orchestra. He has made several recordings and in
2019 led the
Gothenburg Symphony in a recording of
Sibelius' Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39, on the Alpha label.