John Storgårds

Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds is one of Finland's exceptional artists who have taken the classical music world by storm in recent decades. He has a dual career as a conductor and violin virtuoso and is widely recognized for his creative flair for programming and his commitment to contemporary music. He additionally holds the title of Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland with which he programs some of Europe's most imaginative concerts north of the Arctic Circle.

Storgårds appears with such orchestras as the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, NDR Hamburg, Bamberg Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio and the BBC Symphony as well as all of the major Scandinavian orchestras. Further afield, he has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand symphonies. Soloists with whom he regularly collaborates include Gil Shaham, Christian Tetzlaff, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Colin Currie, Håkan Hardenberger, Sabine Meyer, Kari Kriikku, Karita Mattila and Matti Salminen.

Following a 2012 summer tour with the Helsinki Philharmonic and a return to the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds begins the 12-13 season in Helsinki's prestigious new Music Centre with a new commission of the Eighth Symphony by Per Norgaard, a work he also performs with the Danish National Symphony and the BBC Symphony. He also returns to work with the WDR Cologne, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Philharmonic and the BBC, Gothenburg and Stavanger symphonies.

John Storgårds made his North American debut with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra during the 2005-06 season and debuted with the Cincinnati Symphony in April 2011. Since then, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood and the National, Toronto and Houston symphonies. During the 2012-13 season, he returns to the Cincinnati and Houston symphonies and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and debuts with the St. Louis, Detroit and Indianapolis symphonies as well as with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Storgårds' discography includes the award-winning Vasks' Violin Concerto Distant Light and Second Symphony, Saariaho's Graal Theatre, the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Frank Peter Zimmermann and most recently, an extremely well-received disc of works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. His next recording project will be the complete Sibelius symphonies with the BBC Philharmonic for Chandos Records.

John Storgårds was concert master of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra during Esa-Pekka Salonen's tenure and subsequently studied conducting with Jorma Panula and Eri Klas. He received the Finnish State Prize for Music in 2002.