Leif Segerstam

Leif Segerstam, Emeritus Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, received a varied training in music at the Sibelius Academy before adding the finishing touches as an orchestral conductor at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. Nowadays he is himself Professor of the Sibelius Academy’s international conducting class.

In the late 1960s and early 1970 violinist-pianist-conductor-composer Leif Segerstam began making a name for himself in the world of opera using the Finnish National Opera and the Royal Opera in Stockholm as his springboards. In a couple of decades he became a familiar figure at the great European opera houses such as Vienna and London, and at the New York Metropolitan. His return to the Vienna State Opera in January 2007 after an interval of some years elicited rave reviews from the leading Austrian critics.

Meanwhile, Segerstam was also making a career as Chief or Principal Guest Conductor of symphony orchestras. In the space of a good three decades he has been Chief Conductor of five distinguished European orchestras, and the titles of Honorary Conductor for life awarded to him speak of the success of these partnerships. Leif Segerstam was Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007 and is now its Chief Conductor Emeritus.

The maestro has also won great acclaim on the recording front. The following are just some of the orchestras with which he has carried out sizeable recording projects: the Danish Radio Symphony (Mahler, Sibelius, Nielsen, Langgaard, Ruders, Norgaard), the Stockholm Philharmonic (Skryabin, Schnittke), the Swedish Radio Symphony (Blomdahl), the Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic (Brahms) and the Helsinki Philharmonic (Sibelius, Rautavaara etc. altogether 25 CDs).

Also a prolific composer, Segerstam has penned 191 symphonies, 30 string quartets, numerous instrumental concertos (including 11 for violin and 4 for piano) and a wealth of chamber and vocal music. The symphonies composed since the turn of the millennium, performed by an orchestra of a hundred without a conductor, have enjoyed an enthusiastic reception both in Finland and abroad.

The Nordic Music Council (Nomus) awarded Leif Segerstam its music prize in 1999 in recognition of his untiring efforts to promote Nordic music. In spring 2003 he was the recipient of the prize of the Foundation for Swedish Culture in Finland for his valuable work in the field of music. He was honoured with Finland’s State Prize for Music in March 2004 and the Sibelius Medal in autumn 2005.