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Esa-Pekka Salonen

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer, born in Helsinki in 1958. He studied horn and composition at the Sibelius Academy and conducting with Jorma Panula. With his fellow student Magnus Lindberg he founded the new-music group Korvat auki and the experimental ensemble Toimii. At first he saw himself mainly as a composer, and began conducting in order to have his own work performed. In 1983 he stepped in at short notice for Michael Tilson Thomas in Mahler's Third Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, without knowing the score. That launched his conducting career.

Music and breakthrough

From 1984 to 1995 he was chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and from 1985 to 1994 principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia. In 1984 he made his debut in the United States with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, of which he later became music director. From 2020 to 2025 he led the San Francisco Symphony. In 2003, with Michael Tydén and Valery Gergiev, he founded the Baltic Sea Festival. His recordings begin in 1986, with Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie, Sibelius and Stravinsky, including The Firebird and Le Sacre du Printemps.

Influence

Salonen brings the classical tradition and new music together. He conducts Sibelius and Stravinsky, but also Lutosławski, Messiaen and his own work. In this way he is one of the conductors who gave contemporary music a permanent place in the great orchestral repertoire.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to his recording of Le Sacre du Printemps and notice how clearly the sharp rhythms and the clashing chords are played, with a transparent orchestral sound.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists