Hannu Lintu

Conductor

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HL 2026-27 Biography.docx English

“Lintu conducted with such an impassioned and longsighted grasp of the work’s momentum. A revelatory evening of fierce energies and hallowed spaces.”
(The Times)

Music Director: Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Principal Conductor: Orquestra Gulbenkian
Artistic Partner: Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Director: International Sibelius Festival

“Dynamic and sharp on the podium” (Bachtrack) and with an “extreme clarity of purpose, every detail worth noting” (Los Angeles Times), Hannu Lintu maintains his reputation as one of the world’s finest conductors.

The 2026/27 season marks Lintu’s inaugural year as Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He leads the orchestra in varied programmes across the season, including Mahler, Mozart, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Auerbach, Adams and Sibelius. He also conducts the orchestra on tour in China. As well as stepping into this new position, Lintu continues his tenure as Principal Conductor of Orquestra Gulbenkian, Artistic Partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the International Sibelius Festival.

In addition to his titled positions, Lintu returns to the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and makes his debuts with the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

Symphonic highlights of recent years have seen Lintu conduct the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic (including an immediate re-invitation from the orchestra to perform at Bravo! Vail Festival), Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, London Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, St Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

Chief Conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet from 2022 until the end of the 2025/26 season, Lintu is an expert in both operatic as well as symphonic repertoire, Lintu’s recent opera highlights have included Enescu’s Œdipe with the Vienna Symphony at Bregenz Festspiele, Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Opera de Paris and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Bayerische Staatsoper as a guest conductor, as well as multiple productions at Finnish National Opera and Ballet, including a recent multi-season Ring Cycle, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, a choregraphed reimagining of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Puccini’s Turandot, Richard Strauss’ Salome, and Britten’s Billy Budd.

Lintu has made several recordings for Ondine, BIS Records, Naxos, Avie Records and Hyperion Records. His diverse discography comprises recordings of Magnus Lindberg’s orchestral works, the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough, and Lutoslawski’s Symphonies Nos. 1 – 4, all with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His often-gilded work boasts two International Classical Music Awards and several nominations for Gramophone and GRAMMY awards in recognition of recording projects such as Bartók’s Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff, works by Sibelius featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Rautavaara’s Kaivos, and the Violin Concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.