Santtu-Matias Rouvali 1 © Marco Borggreve

©Photo: Marco Borggreve

©Photo: Marco Borggreve

Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Conductor

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“… he is the real thing: music unmistakably flows from him.”
(Sunday Times)

Principal Conductor Designate: Philharmonia Orchestra
Chief Conductor: Gothenburg Symphony
Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra

In the 2021/22 season, Santtu-Matias Rouvali starts his tenure as Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and continues as Chief Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony, alongside his longstanding Chief Conductor position with Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra close to his home in Finland.

Starting the season on a high, Rouvali will give his highly anticipated debut at the BBC Proms with Philharmonia Orchestra, performing Bach’s Keyboard Concerto and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.24 with Víkingur Ólaffson, alongside Shostakovich Symphony No.9 and Prokofiev Symphony No.1. Throughout the season he continues his relationships with top-level orchestras across Europe, including Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Münicher Philharmoniker, and will after successful debuts in the last two seasons return to Concertgebouworkest and New York Philharmonic, performing with soloists such as Daniil Trifonov, Nemanja Radulovic, Golda Schultz, Seong-Jin Cho, Nicola Benedetti, Alexandre Kantorov, and Pekka Kuusisto.

In 2020/21 Rouvali recorded and live-streamed several concerts in Gothenburg and at home in Tampere, featuring music by Stravinsky, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and many others. He was also able to return to Orquesta Nacional de España, as well as conduct concerts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, where he performed with Bryce Dessner his guitar concerto Wires. He gave his debut at Orchestre National de France in a live broadcast on France Musique, conducting music by Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Bartók.

As well as concerts in London and the rest of the UK, Rouvali and the Philharmonia embark on a tour to the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Broadcast on Romanian TV and Radio, their performance will include music by Bartók, and Prokofiev, alongside Enescu Symphony No.2. This is the first of many touring highlights in this first season with the Philharmonia, including a trip to Rouvali’s home country Finland, to Spain, and Japan and Hong Kong.

Rouvali continues to build on his discography, not only adding to the Gothenburg Symphony’s impressive legacy but also with his orchestra in London and at home in Tampere. In January 2019 with Gothenburg, he released a celebrated first disc of an ambitious Sibelius cycle, pairing the First Symphony with the early tone poem En saga. The album won the Gramophone Editor’s Choice award, the Choc de Classica, a prize from the German Record Critics and the prestigious French Diapason d’Or “Decouverte”. In February 2020 they released the second volume, which features Sibelius’ second Symphony and King Christian II, which also has immediately been awarded a Choc de Classica award. The Sunday Times commented that “Thanks to conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s overall shaping and a rhythmic precision that nevertheless leaves the composer’s characteristically fluid phrases intact, the Gothenburg players’ performance, beautifully balanced and characterfully coloured, is powerfully cogent.”

In 2020 his first Philharmonia CD, a live recording of excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, was released by Signum Records, followed by another live recording of Prokofiev No.5, released in early 2021.

With the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Baiba Skride, he has recorded five concertos on the Orfeo label: Nielsen, Sibelius, Bernstein, Korngold and Rózsa.

Santtu Matias Rouvali - Sibelius trailer © Gothenburg Symphony

Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Strauss De Rosenkavalier Suite © Gothenburg Symphony

Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Sibelius Valse Triste © Gothenburg Symphony

Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Sibelius Symphony No.1 3rd movement © Gothenburg Symphony

“Rouvali proved a fine Straussian, measured in his approach, and careful in his attention to detail and colour. The escalating tension was beautifully controlled, the colossal forces superbly marshalled, the sheer volume of sound always integral to the drama, never an end in itself.”

(Tim Ashley, The Guardian, October 2021)

“In his first concert as the Philharmonia’s Principal Conductor, Santtu-Matias Rouvali brought a glowing string sound and irresistible elan to an all-Strauss programme.”

(Tim Ashley, The Guardian, October 2021)

“The orchestra’s first London outing under the baton of its new maestro was a triumph.”

(Evening Standard, October 2021)

“[…] a young but already compelling artist.“

(Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, November 2019)

“Rouvali made an impressive start as conductor designate of the Philharmonia, turning this relatively offbeat programme into party time.”

(Neil Fisher, The Times, June 2019)

“This was a deeply engaged and serious interpretation of a complex work, revealing impressive long-term concentration and attention to detail on Rouvali’s part that makes him a natural Straussian.”

(Curtis Rogers, Classical Source, December 2018)

“…he opened his account with the Philharmonia Orchestra as joint Principal Guest Conductor in a colourful all-Russian programme showing amazing physicality as he floated dance-like around the podium with clear, baton direction but with real intent and genuine musicality.”

(Bachtrack, Mark Thomas, October 2017)

“Rouvali was the bard and sage of the hour. He got a standing ovation, deservedly.”

(Classical Source, Ateş Orga, September 2017)

“Rouvali’s imaginative, often spectacular musicality is exceptional even in an era with a number of remarkable young conductors.”

(Los Angeles Times, November 2016)

“No wonder the applause was tremendous and that many afterward danced on light feet into the evening.”

(Göteborgs-Posten, April 2016)

“…he is the real thing: music unmistakably flows from him.”

(Sunday Times, January 2016)

“Rouvali conducts full of energy, and is a craftsman in the truest sense of the word.”

(Erlanger Nachrichten, December 2015)

“The Tampere orchestra sounds clean, supple and boisterous under its young chief conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. He, meanwhile, is the latest sit-up-and-listen talent to emerge from the great Finnish conducting tradition.”

(The Guardian, September 2015)

“Rouvali, 29, a product of the renowned Finnish conducting school in Helsinki, left a long-lasting impression on his Bern debut…Rouvali led the orchestra in a striking and gripping interpretation of Sibelius 1, which expressed the brusqueness and ruggedness of the work.”

(Berner Zeitung, January 2015)