Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Finnish conductorJUKKA-PEKKA SARASTE was born in Heinola, Finland. He studied conducting with famous Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy of Helsinki. Simultaneously acted as leader of the second violin section at the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and played on various other orchestras in Finland. From 2010, Jukka-Pekka Saraste has been acting as Principal Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne. His previous positions include Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and he also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.He is Artistic Advisor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, co-founder of the Avanti! Orchestra and the Finnish Chamber Orchestra. His conducting engagements include appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokio, Orchestre de Paris, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and the leading Scandinavian orchestras, among others. In North America, Saraste has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony and New York Philharmonic as well as Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Saraste's extensive discography includes the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Nielsen with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra of works by Bartók, Dutilleux, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev for the Warner Finlandia label. His recording of Mahler´s Sixth and Ninth Symphonies, respectively with the Oslo Philharmonic and the WDR Symphony Orchestras have received high critical praise, as well as his recordings with the latter orchestra of Schönberg’s Pelleas and Melisande, Stravinsky’s opera Le Rossignol ("The Nightingale"), and Brahms’ complete Symphonies, all made for the Hänssler label. Jukka-Pekka Saraste has received the Pro Finlandia Prize, the Sibelius Medal, and the Finnish State Prize for Music. One of the founding members of LEAD! The Orchestra Project - a foundation which aims at fostering the artistic growth of aspiring young musicians.