Artist

Artistic Roster

Osmo Vänskä

Music Director

New Book:
Osmo Vänskä,
Orchestra Builder

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.

During his first six seasons in Minnesota, he has drawn acclaim for performances both at home and abroad. In February and March of 2009 he led the Orchestra and guest violinist Joshua Bell on an eight-city European tour that included performances at such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie and the Vienna Musikverein. He has also led the Orchestra in a 2006 tour of major European festivals, a 2004 tour to European music capitals, annual concerts at Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center in New York, and regular performances in communities around Minnesota.

Highlights of Vänskä’s seventh season in Minnesota include a Stravinsky festival in collaboration with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, performances of Sibelius’ epic symphonic poem Kullervo in both Orchestra Hall and Carnegie Hall, and world premieres of commissioned works by Kalevi Aho, Sally Beamish and Manuel Sosa.

Also this year, Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra welcome the release of an album of Bruckner’s Fourth (Romantic) Symphony on the Swedish-based BIS Records label; conclude a project to make live, in-concert recordings of Tchaikovsky’s piano concertos and Concert Fantasia with Stephen Hough, due for release by Hyperion Records in spring 2010; and continue a five-year initiative launched last season, recording all the Beethoven piano concertos with Yevgeny Sudbin for BIS. Over past seasons Vänskä recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies with the Orchestra for BIS, with each album in the five-disc project receiving superlative praise nationally and internationally. Two albums have drawn particular attention: the recording of the Ninth Symphony was nominated for a Grammy Award, while that of the Second and Seventh has received a Classic FM Gramophone Award nomination.

As a guest conductor, Vänskä has appeared with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony, as well as the major symphonies of Dallas, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco and St. Louis. In Europe, he has led such eminent orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, London’s BBC Symphony, the Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

During the 2009-10 season he returns for engagements with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and makes his debut with the New World Symphony in Miami.

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 began his music career as a clarinetist, holding 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. In chamber concerts with Minnesota Orchestra colleagues this season, he is featured in a clarinet quintet by Kalevi Aho on St. Paul’s Music in the Park Series and in a Brahms 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. In December 2004 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.  

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

September 2009