Esa-Pekka Salonen (FI)

About

Few conductors have shaped a major American orchestra as decisively as Esa Pekka Salonen shaped the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Finnish conductor and composer took over as the orchestra's music director in 1992 and held the post for longer than anyone before him, leading 973 concerts across 23 tours and steering the ensemble through a genuinely transformative era. Under his watch the Philharmonic gave 120 works their world or American premieres and commissioned more than 54 new pieces, with Salonen's passion for contemporary classical music driving every bit of it. He is also a serious composer in his own right, with a catalogue that spans orchestral works like LA Variations, Foreign Bodies and Insomnia, a Piano Concerto and a Violin Concerto. His recording of Lutosławski's Third Symphony earned a Gramophone Award for best contemporary recording. After leaving Los Angeles he took on the principal conductor role at the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, and he went on to serve as music director of the San Francisco Symphony. He now holds conductor laureate titles at the LA Philharmonic, the Philharmonia and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.