Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) is one of the oldest continuously operating professional symphony orchestras in the Nordic countries. The orchestra was founded in 1882 and moved under administration of City of Helsinki in 1914. The orchestra reaches a total audience of a good 100.000 a year at the Helsinki Music Centre and abroad. The orchestra has evolved into an increasingly impressive operator on the international scene of classical music with a distinctive sound. The orchestra has a three-member Artistic Leadership Team, which comprises Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Co-director Pekka Kuusisto and Composer-in-Residence Samy Moussa (season 24/25). The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra has premiered the majority of Jean Sibelius's orchestral compositions, and it has profiled itself as a high-class symphony orchestra that tours the most internationally renowned arenas, makes award-winning recordings and commissions and premieres works of leading international composers. The orchestra is recognized for its strong investment in reaching different audiences through, for example, the HPO Kids project and its own HKO Screen online concerts. The orchestra regularly performs with renowned guest conductors and artists around the world. Most recently orchestra has worked with e.g. violinist Joshua Bell and Leila Josefowicz, tenor Stuart Skelton, doublebassist Esperanza Spalding and composers Joe Hisaishi and Kaija Saariaho. Conductors like Esa-Pekka Salonen, Nathalie Stutzmann, Osmo Vänskä as well as John Storgårds and Susanna Mälkki – both previous Chief Conductors of the orchestra – have taken the podium in Helsinki Music Centre with HPO. During its 140 years of operation, the orchestra has made more than 100 successful tours abroad. The first tour in year 1900 headed to Paris World Fair and since then Helsinki Philharmonic has toured in all continents. As part of its 140th anniversary celebration the orchestra was invited to perform in prestigious concert halls in USA: Carnegie Hall in New York and Washington Performing Arts / Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Works by composers Jean Sibelius and Einojuhani Rautavaara have featured on the highly-acclaimed recordings made by the HPO. The album of songs by Sibelius, featuring soprano Soile Isokoski and Leif Segerstam, was awarded the MIDEM Classical Award in Cannes, and Towards the Horizon, album containing music by Rautavaara under the baton of John Storgårds, the Gramophone Award.