Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen rose to prominence in the final decades of the twentieth century as one of its most compelling leading conductors, sustaining a distinguished trajectory well into the present era. Although conducting has shaped his international reputation, he considers composition his central vocation. At present he serves as music director of the San Francisco Symphony while holding conductor laureate positions with the Philharmonia and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras.

Born on June 30, 1958, in Helsinki, Finland, Salonen enrolled at the Sibelius Academy in 1973 to study horn under Holgar Fransman. After completing his studies in 1977 he remained at the academy for further work in composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara and conducting with Jorma Panula. He subsequently pursued additional composition lessons with Franco Donatoni and Niccolò Castiglioni and took part in the summer course at Darmstadt. His initial large-scale orchestral composition, the Concerto for alto saxophone & orchestra “…Auf den ersten Blick und ohne zu wissen” (1980–1981), drew on Kafka’s novel The Trial. The orchestral piece Giro followed in 1981. The next year he produced Floof (later revised in 1990), a lively setting for soprano and ensemble drawn from texts by science-fiction author Stanislaw Lem, and began appearing as both horn soloist and guest conductor.

Salonen’s conducting profile expanded rapidly after his striking London debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1983. He made his American debut the following year, leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Those early successes brought a recording contract with CBS Masterworks, now Sony Classical, together with the post of principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia (1985–1994). An early CBS project paired Messiaen’s Turangalîla with Lutoslawski’s Symphony No. 3, the latter a world-premiere recording that earned a Gramophone Award for Best Contemporary Record in 1985. A second Gramophone Award arrived in 1989 for his account of the Sibelius and Nielsen violin concertos with Cho-Liang Lin. Further recognition came with the complete Stravinsky works for piano and orchestra featuring Paul Crossley. Following acclaimed Hollywood Bowl performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1989, he was appointed the orchestra’s music director, assuming the role in 1992; at the time he became its youngest music director (later succeeded by Gustavo Dudamel) and followed such distinguished predecessors as Zubin Mehta and Carlo Maria Giulini.

Throughout the 1980s Salonen wrote both tape music and pieces combining electronics with instruments. Works from this phase include the radiophonic Baalal and the experimental Yta (Surface) series. In 1992 he received the UNESCO Rostrum Prize for Floof. The orchestral score LA Variations achieved a triumphant premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1997. The next year he completed Gambit, an orchestral tribute to Magnus Lindberg. Five Images after Sappho, a song cycle for soprano and small ensemble, was finished in 1999. Later major pieces encompass Wing on Wing for orchestra and two sopranos (2004), the Piano Concerto (2007) composed for Yefim Bronfman, and the Cello Concerto (2017), first performed by Yo-Yo Ma with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Salonen’s music integrates contemporary compositional methods within an underlying tonal framework.

He co-founded the Baltic Sea Festival in 2003 and remained its music director until 2018. He guided the Los Angeles Philharmonic on extensive tours and produced numerous widely praised recordings before relinquishing the post in 2009. Named principal conductor of the Philharmonia in 2006 and artistic director in 2008, he retained both positions until 2021, after which he assumed conductor laureate status with that ensemble and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2020 he became music director of the San Francisco Symphony.

Although celebrated for his performances of twentieth-century repertoire, Salonen also earns acclaim for his readings of Haydn, Mahler, and Beethoven. Alongside established modern figures such as Bartók, Messiaen, and Stravinsky, he regularly programs more recent composers including Lutoslawski, Ligeti, and Corigliano, whose concerto from the film The Red Violin he recorded with violinist Joshua Bell. He teaches conducting at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. In 2022 he completed a Concerto for organ and orchestra commissioned by several leading organizations, began a composer-in-residence tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and led the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a recording of music by Jesper Nordin featuring clarinetist Martin Fröst.