Kristiina Poska

Music Director — Orchestre Français des Jeunes

Principal Guest Conductor – Latvian National Symphony Orchestra

Acclaimed for her artistry and versatility, Kristiina Poska stands among the most sought-after conductors on today’s international music scene. She serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since the 2021/22 season and as Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes since 2025. Previously, she held the position of Chief Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra from 2019/20 through 2024/25.

This season, Poska makes several important debuts. In the United States, she continues to expand her presence through performances with Atlanta, St. Louis and Milwaukee Symphony orchestras. Elsewhere in Europe, she appears for the first time with Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatsorchestra Nurnberg, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland and La Toscanini, as well as returns to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, MDR Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre National de France and Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Orquesta Nacional de España, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Estonia National Symphony Orchestra. As Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, she leads the ensemble on a Baltic tour, with performances in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, in addition to concerts in France that continue the orchestra’s mission of fostering the next generation of exceptional young musicians.

Kristiina Poska 14 © Kaupo Kikkas — Kristiina Poska © Kaupo Kikkas

Recent highlights include her debuts with the Minnesota Orchestra, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Toronto and Colorado Symphony orchestras in North America; the Swedish and Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestras in Scandinavia; as well as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Lahti Symphony, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, Grazer Philharmoniker, and NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She has also appeared with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Royal Concertgebouworkest, Oslo Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. Additional collaborations include the hr-Sinfonieorchester, Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Equally prolific in the operatic repertoire, Poska’s current season features a new production of Othmar Schoeck’s Penthesilea at the Bregenzer Festspiele alongside the Wiener Symphoniker. Her recent operatic engagements include her debut at the Opéra de Dijon conducting Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Strauss’s Metamorphosen (directed by Dominique Pitoiset), a return to Staatsoper Berlin and Norwegian National Opera for Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Così fan tutte in productions at both the Norwegian National Opera and Royal Danish Theatre, Puccini’s La bohème (directed by Robert Carsen) at Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Carmen at Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Semperoper). She has also worked with Komische Oper Berlin, Royal Swedish Opera, English National Opera, Finnish National Opera, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and Volksoper Vienna, among others.

Poska’s musical foundation was shaped at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater in Tallinn, where she studied choral conducting, and at Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, where she honed her orchestral conducting skills. Her remarkable talent was recognized early through her finalist placements at the prestigious Donatella Flick LSO Competition (2010) and the Malko Competition (May 2012), where she was also awarded the Audience Prize. In April 2013, she won the esteemed German Conductors’ Prize.

Her previous appointments include Chief Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra (2019/20 – 2024/25), Principal Conductor of Cappella Academica (2006 – 2011), Kapellmeister at Komische Oper Berlin (2012 – 2016), and Music Director for Theater Basel (2019/20). With the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, Poska continues her recording of the complete Beethoven symphony cycle for the Fuga Libera label.