Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Santtu-Matias Rouvali trained at the Sibelius Academy, where some of Finland's greatest conductors graduated, and was successively appointed Music Director of the Tempere Philharmonic Orchestra (2013), the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2017) and Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (2021). Born in Lahti on November 5, 1985 into a family of musicians who were members of the local symphony orchestra, he began his musical apprenticeship with percussion before studying conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, with professors Jorma Panula, Leif Segerstam and Hannu Lintu. A percussionist with orchestras of national stature, Santtu-Matias Rouvali was appointed guest conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2009 and the Tapiola Sinfonietta in 2010. From 2010, he moved up the ranks with the Tempere Philharmonic Orchestra, rising from guest conductor to Music Director (2013-2023). He was then invited to conduct the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra (Denmark), and since 2017 has held the position of Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), whose term runs until 2025. In 2017, four years after a first collaboration, the Finnish conductor joined the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, becoming its Principal Conductor for five years from 2021. His discography, opened by collaborations with violinists Baiba Skride and Ilya Gringolts, but also the rock band Eppu Normaali in 2016, continues with the Alpha Classics label for the recording of a Sibelius cycle including Symphony No. 1 and En Saga (2019), Symphony No. 2 and King Christian II (2020) with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He is also recording Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (2020) and Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 (2021) with the Tempere Philharmonic Orchestra (Signum Records), and the contemporary Verbey: Ariadne (2022) with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra.