Sakari Oramo

Sakari Oramo’s performances combine crystalline structural cohesion with authority, elegance, and passion. He celebrates the extension of his contract as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which he will lead into its centenary year in 2030 with a compelling season that includes the UK premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s HUSH, a focus on works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Britta Byström, and Dora Pejačević, as well as Busoni’s Piano Concerto performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de France.

In the 2024/25 season, Oramo—recently announced as Artistic Partner of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne—will go on tour to Japan. He returns to the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, while continuing his collaboration with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Over the course of his career, Oramo has held numerous prestigious positions: Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2008, Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2012, Chief Conductor of the West Coast Kokkola Opera from 2004 to 2018, and Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2021.

A skilled violinist, Oramo originally served as concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He continues to champion new and rarely performed works with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducting music by Carlos Simon, Kaija Saariaho, Dora Pejačević, Grażyna Bacewicz, Doreen Carwithen, and Grace Mary Williams. Oramo is a regular conductor at the BBC Proms—in summer 2024, he conducted several Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including The Last Night of the Proms, a collaboration with the Sibelius Academy Helsinki and the Royal College of Music London, and performances of Holst’s Cloud Messenger, Kaija Saariaho’s Mirage, and Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony.

Oramo’s extensive discography includes recordings of the Piano Concerto and Symphony in F-sharp minor by Dora Pejačević with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, works by Ravel with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and Symphony No. 1 by Rued Langgaard with the Berlin Philharmonic. He has also recorded the complete symphonies of Sibelius with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the complete symphonies of Nielsen and Schumann with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and numerous works by Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg with various orchestras.

Highlights of his catalogue include the BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestra Award for Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, a 2019 Gramophone Award for Langgaard: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6 with the Vienna Philharmonic and soprano Anu Komsi, and an International Classical Music Award in 2020 for Busoni: Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Gerstein.