Esa-Pekka Salonen
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Esa-Pekka Salonen (born June 30, 1958 in Helsinki) is a prominent Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently chief conductor and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LAP), the orchestra with which he made his US debut in 1984. He has been the LAP's Music Director since 1992, and it was recently reported that he and the orchestra have extended the "evergreen" clause in his contract to 2009.
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[edit] Biography
Salonen studied horn, conducting and composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. A classmate was the composer Magnus Lindberg and together they formed the new-music appreciation group Korvat auki and the experimental ensemble Toimii ("Ears open" and "It works" in the Finnish language). Later, Salonen studied with the composers Franco Donatoni, Niccolò Castiglioni and Einojuhani Rautavaara.
His first experience with conducting came in 1979 with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, though he still thought of himself principally as a composer. In 1983, however, he undertook a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London at short notice, and it launched his career as a conductor. He was subsequently principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1994. In November 2006, Salonen was announced as its next Principal Conductor as of 2008.
Principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984-1995 and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra since 1992, Salonen is renowned for his dedication to performing and recording contemporary music. His 1985 world premiere recording of Witold Lutosławski's Symphony No. 3 won the 1985 Gramophone Award for Best Contemporary Recording. Salonen conducted the première of Lutosławski's Symphony No. 4 in Los Angeles.
Among Salonen's compositions are ...auf den ersten blick und ohne zu wissen... (1980, a saxophone concerto with a title taken from Franz Kafka's The Trial), Floof for soprano and ensemble (1982, on texts by Stanisław Lem) and the orchestral L.A. Variations (1996). In order to devote more time to composition, Salonen took a year's sabbatical from conducting in 2000, during which time he wrote a work for solo horn (Concert Étude, the competition piece for Lieksa Brass Week), Dichotomie for piano, Mania for the cellist Anssi Karttunen and sinfonietta, and Gambit, an orchestral piece that was a birthday present for fellow composer and friend Magnus Lindberg.
In 2001, Salonen composed Foreign Bodies, his largest work in terms of orchestration, which incorporated music from the opening movement of Dichotomie. Another orchestral piece, Insomnia, followed in 2002, and another, Wing On Wing, in 2004. Wing On Wing includes parts for two sopranos and distorted samples of architect Frank O. Gehry's voice as well as a fish.
As is apparent with his interpretations of such advant-garde works as Jan Sandström's Motorbike Concerto, Esa-Pekka Salonen voices a distaste for ideological and dogmatic approaches to composition and sees music creation as deeply physical. In the liner notes for Deutsche Grammophon's release of Wing On Wing, he is quoted saying "Musical expression is bodily expression, there is no abstract cerebral expression in my opinion. It all comes out of the body." A recurring theme in his music is the fusion of or relationship between the mechanical and the organic.
In private life, Salonen and his wife Jane have three children, two daughters, Ella Aneira and Anja Sofia, and one son Oliver.
[edit] Career highlights
1981 - completed first large scale work, ...auf den ersten Blick und ohne zu wissen...
1983 - co-founded Avanti! Chamber Orchestra in Finland with Jukka-Pekka Saraste
1985 - appointed chief conductor of Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
1992 - appointed Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
1995-6 - Artistic Director of Helsinki Festival
1997 - premiere of LA Variations in Los Angeles
2006 - named Principal Conductor Designate of the Philharmonia Orchestra
[edit] Key works
- Floof (1982; chamber ensemble)
- LA Variations (1996; orchestra)
- Five Images after Sappho (1999; soprano,chamber ensemble)
- Dichotomie (2000; piano)
- Mania (2000; cello, orchestra or ensemble)
- Wing on Wing (2004; two sopranos, orchestra)
[edit] Selected recordings
- Concerto for Alto Saxophone; Floof; Meeting; Mimo II; Yta I; Yta II; Yta IIb; Yta III - Pekka Savijoki; Anu Komsi; Kari Krikku; Jukka Tiensuu; Jorma Valjakka; Mikael Helasvuo; Tuija Hakkila; Anssi Karttunen; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Avanti! Chamber Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen - Finlandia 0927 43815 2
- Five Images After Sappho; Gambit; Giro; LA Variations; Mania - Dawn Upshaw; Anssi Karttunen; Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; London Sinfonietta; Esa-Pekka Salonen - Sony SK89158
- Foreign Bodies; Insomnia; Wing on Wing - Anu Komsi; Piia Komsi; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen - Deutsche Grammophon 477 5375
[edit] External links
- Esa-Pekka Salonen official website (at Sony Music)
- Esa-Pekka Salonen's homepage at Chester Music
- Chris Pasles, "Salonen to lead London orchestra". Los Angeles Times, 18 November 2006.
| Preceded by Herbert Blomstedt |
Principal Conductor, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1984–1995 |
Succeeded by Evgeny Svetlanov |
| Preceded by André Previn |
Music Director, Los Angeles Philharmonic 1992– |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by Christoph von Dohnányi |
Principal Conductor Designate, Philharmonia Orchestra 2008– |
Succeeded by designate |
