Esa-Pekka Salonen, Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor
© Clive Barda
Salonen was born in Helsinki. He was Principal Conductor of Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1985–95 and Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic 1992–2009, where he is now Conductor Laureate. He has been closely involved with the Philharmonia since 1984 and is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for the orchestra. In 2014 he became the first Creative Chair of the Tonhalle-Orchestra Zürich, and he is co-founder and Artistic Director of the Baltic Sea Festival.This season is his second of three as the Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, and his first of five years as Artist in Association at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.He regularly performs as a guest conductor with orchestras including Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and for such opera companies as the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Salonen and the Philharmonia have curated landmark multi-disciplinary projects, such as the award-winning RE-RITE and Universe of Sound installations, which allow the public to conduct, play, and step inside the Philharmonia with Salonen through audio and video projections. Salonen also drove the development of an app for iPad, The Orchestra, which allows the user unprecedented access to the internal workings of eight symphonic works.