Osmo Vänskä

Conductor

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“Vänskä isn’t only about meticulous preparation. In concert he’s a wiry dynamo: lean, whippy and indefatigably energetic. His interpretations are the same. He never stops probing and pushing.”
(The Times)

Music Director: Minnesota Orchestra
Principal Guest Conductor: Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Laureate: Lahti Symphony Orchestra

Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra for 15 years, Osmo Vänskä has led the Orchestra on five major European tours, as well as historic trips to Cuba in May 2015, at the invitation of the Cuban Ministry of Culture, and South Africa in August 2018 as part of the world-wide celebration of Nelson Mandela’s Centenary. Other key highlights include the complete recordings of Sibelius and Beethoven symphony cycles — winning a Grammy Award in 2014 for ‘Best Orchestral Performance’ (Sibelius symphonies 1 and 4), and the forthcoming cycle of Mahler symphonies, of which one disc already garnered a Grammy nomination in 2018.

In great demand as a guest conductor, in 2018/19 he has re-invitations to the Chicago and New World symphonies and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and will return to China working with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the China, Hangzhou and Hong Kong philharmonic orchestras. In Europe he will make his regular appearances with Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and work with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Netherlands Radio and London Philharmonic orchestras, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where he has been Principal Guest Conductor since 2014.

Osmo Vänska - Sibelius Symphony No. 2 © Minnesota Orchestra

Last season Vänskä made his debuts with Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Toronto and National Taiwan symphony orchestras, and returns to Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony, and the Seoul and Helsinki philharmonic orchestras, amongst others.

A distinguished recording artist, primarily for the BIS label, his most recent recordings are of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 5 and 6, with the Minnesota Orchestra, to be followed later this year by Symphonies No. 2 and 1, continuing the cycle dedicated to the composer. With Minnesota he has recorded the complete Beethoven and Sibelius symphony cycles, also for BIS, to rave reviews internationally; while recordings of Beethoven’s piano concertos with Yevgeny Sudbin, have also garnered worldwide praise – including Grammy and Gramophone award nominations.

Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor: I. Trauermarsch © Minnesota Orchestra - Topic

Osmo Vänska - Harmonia Ubuntu [World Premiere] © Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänska - Mahler's Fourth Symphony © Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänska - My North—Episode 12: Osmo Vänskä © Mpls.St.Paul Magazine

Osmo Vänska - Recording Mahler's Sixth Symphony © Minnesota Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä discusses Sibelius © London Philharmonic Orchestra

Osmo Vänskä discusses Sibelius’ Symphonies © London Philharmonic Orchestra

Osmo Vänska - © Carl Nielsen - Helios, ouverture - DRSO © mugge62

Osmo Vänskä - Beethoven: Symphony 3 (excerpt) © BIS

Osmo Vänskä & The Minnesota Orchestra tour to Cuba © Minnesota Orchestra 2015

Osmo Vänska - interview © MN Original

“But rare rewards awaited after intermission, for the Mahler Fourth was given the most exquisite interpretation of the several I’ve heard in concert. Vanska coaxed a paradoxical combination of force and gentleness from the opening movement, encouraging a light and frolicsome tone before seemingly crafting a dark, bitter concoction from the same ingredients. With delicious dynamic contrast — I’ve never heard the pianissimos so soft in this symphony — it was a performance both technically precise and full of emotion. I can’t recall the last time I was as deeply moved at a Minnesota Orchestra concert as I was by the third movement of the Mahler Fourth. What began in blissful beauty soon found the composer staring unblinking into sorrowful darkness, a place that Vanska and the orchestra made intensely troubling before emerging into a blast of bright major-key sunshine.”

(St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 2018)

“Vänskä took [Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1]’s entire expressive range in stride, leading a performance that was by turns drily entertaining (the first movement especially) and stirringly tender. The symphony’s formal restlessness, in particular, seemed to cause him no trouble at all.”

(The San Francisco Chronicle, October 2017)

“This was Osmo Vanska at his finest, seizing the reins of his orchestra with a complex and confident interpretation, and shaping the sound with high-energy body language and a level of attention to detail hard to achieve with such an expansive ensemble. And he was as engaging to watch as I’ve ever seen him, a virtual dervish on the podium.”

(St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 2017)

“Vänskä opened the work with concentrated majesty, an impressive depth of string sound informing the contribution of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.”

(Classical Source, May 2017)

“This was a performance of great intensity — not just because of some impetuous tempo changes and smart emotional pacing, but also through the lustrous ensemble sound the conductor had obviously cultivated. (…) The conductor had the trust of the orchestra, and charisma bloomed.”

(Philly.com, May 2017)

“The performance of the Sibelius was nothing less than hair-raising. Vänskä may have been conducting this music all his life, but he has lost nothing of the will to explore further, and still with an urgency and spontaneity that send shivers down one’s back. (…) Everything was gripping, from the big picture to the smallest detail. Only Vänskä could deliver a Sibelius symphony cycle that promises to be as exciting as this.”

(Financial Times, October 2016)

“Leaping about as if treading hot coals, Vänskä sculpted one of the sharpest, most belligerent readings of Sibelius’s Symphony No 1 that these ears have heard” *****

(The Times, October 2016)

“A complete cycle of the Sibelius symphonies, such as was embarked on by the LPO last night, is an attractive enough proposition in its own right. To have it conducted by Osmo Vanska, the composer’s compatriot and one of his finest interpreters today, makes it very special indeed. (…) The First Symphony in E minor may not be a masterpiece on the level of the later ones, but Vanska, with his taut rhythms and furious tempi, makes it a thrilling helter-skelter ride.”

(Evening Standard, October 2016)

“From the plunging energy of the opening of the Third Symphony to the bleak, raw ending of the Seventh, this is a gripping listen” *****

(The Guardian, July 2016)

“With these recordings, Vanska confirms his status as our greatest living Sibelian. Irreplaceable”

(Sunday Times, Hugh Canning, July 2016)

“This is one the world has been waiting for. The Minnesota Orchestra’s partnership with the Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä is a treasure of our times, especially when they play music of the frozen north. Minnesota is sufficiently remote from the rest of musical America to maintain its own sound and Vänskä, ever the iconoclast, has his own particular way of refreshing familiar scores. The start of their Sibelius cycle hit the decks with a whoosh five years ago.”

(Norman Lebrecht, July 2016)

“The LSO were on virtuoso form throughout, Vänskä unleashing a searing intensity in the opening movement while punching out the racy rhythms and raucous comedy of the finale with unstoppable momentum” *****

(The Guardian, George Hall, April 2015)