Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, who became the Minnesota Orchestra’s tenth music director in September 2003, is renowned for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires.

Throughout his first eight seasons in Minnesota, Vänskä has drawn acclaim for performances both at home and abroad. In 2010 he led the Orchestra, guest violinist Gil Shaham and guest cellist Alisa Weilerstein on a tour to European festivals, including two appearances as the only American orchestra at the BBC Proms as well as concerts at the Edinburgh Festival and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2009 he led an eight-city European tour that featured the Orchestra and guest violinist Joshua Bell and included performances at such venues as London’s Barbican Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Vienna Musikverein. In addition, he conducts the Orchestra in annual concerts at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center in New York, as well as regular performances in communities around Minnesota.

Among the highlights of Vänskä’s ninth season in Minnesota are the world premieres of TimePiece, co-composed by Stephen Paulus and Greg Paulus, and a violin concerto by James Stephenson; performances with the Orchestra and pianist Stephen Hough at Carnegie Hall and, with violinist Midori, on a five-city Florida tour; a two-week Bravo Brahms series including concertos, serenades, choral works and symphonies by the composer; concerts with soprano Deborah Voigt; and a gala program that will celebrate milestones in Orchestra Hall’s history and mark the final performances in the Hall before it closes for renovation. In addition, Vänskä will proceed with multiple recording projects for BIS, continuing a five-year initiative of recording all five Beethoven piano concertos with the Orchestra and pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, this year adding a Mozart concerto with Sudbin as well, and recording the complete symphonies of Sibelius, to be completed by the sesquicentennial of the composer’s birth in 2015.  

Last season Vänskä and the Orchestra welcomed the release of the initial disc in the Beethoven piano concerto cycle; released previously were a BIS album of Bruckner’s Fourth (Romantic) Symphony and a pair of Hyperion discs offering live, in-concert recordings of Tchaikovsky’s piano concertos and Concert Fantasia with Stephen Hough. Also noteworthy is the cycle of the complete Beethoven symphonies Vänskä and the Orchestra completed earlier for BIS, with each album in the five-disc project receiving superlative praise worldwide, and two—one of the Ninth Symphony and one of the Second and Seventh—receiving Grammy and Classic FM Gramophone award nominations, respectively.

As a guest conductor, Vänskä has led nearly all the major American and European orchestras, including those of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., in this country. Abroad he has appeared with such eminent ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, London’s BBC Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. This season, in addition to returning to many of the above, he debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, during the summer, leads the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

For two decades Vänskä was music director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which he transformed into one of Finland’s flagship orchestras. Under his leadership, the Lahti Symphony has received international attention through its collection of innovative Sibelius recordings on the BIS label and its international performances in London, Birmingham and New York. In May 2008 he became that ensemble’s conductor laureate.

Vänskä has recorded extensively on the BIS and Hyperion labels. His Sibelius albums with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for BIS have amassed numerous awards, including a 1996 Gramophone Award and Cannes Classical Award for the original version of the Fifth Symphony. His first-ever complete recording of The Tempest won the 1993 Prix Académie Charles Cros, and his disc of the original version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos won 1991 Gramophone Awards for Record of the Year and Best Concerto Recording.

Vänskä, who began his music career as a clarinetist, held the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic (1977-82) and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic (1971-76). Following conducting studies under Jorma Panula at Finland’s Sibelius Academy, he was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductor’s Competition. Three years later he began his tenure with the Lahti Symphony as principal guest conductor, while also serving as music director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In addition, Vänskä served as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra of Glasgow (1997-2002).

Since returning to the clarinet at the Orchestra’s 2005 Sommerfest, Vänskä has performed in chamber ensembles at Orchestra Hall, other Twin Cities venues, Napa Valley’s Music in the Vineyards, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. This season he is featured with Minnesota Orchestra colleagues in the Aho Clarinet Trio on the Orchestra’s Chamber Music at MacPhail series.

During his time in Minnesota, Vänskä has explored an interest in composition. The Orchestra performed his first orchestral work, Here!...Beyond? in October 2006, and his second work, The Bridge—a response to Minnesota’s I-35W bridge collapse—was heard at a concert in September 2008.

The many honors and distinctions awarded to Vänskä include an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow, a privilege given in recognition of his tenure as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony. In May 2002 he was honored with a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for his outstanding contribution to classical music during 2001. Musical America named Vänskä 2005 Conductor of the Year, and in 2008 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota as well as a Champion of New Music Award from the American Composers Forum. Last season he received the Ditson Award from Columbia University, honoring him in particular for his support of American music, and was named by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as its 2010 Artist of the Year.

Vänskä has extended his tenure with the Minnesota Orchestra through 2015.