Santtu-Matias Rouvali 1 © Marco Borggreve

©Photo: Marco Borggreve

©Photo: Marco Borggreve

Santtu-Matias Rouvali

Conductor

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“The conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who is often drawn to Strauss’s orchestral epics in concert, doubled down in this blast of a performance. What a sound he drew from the Philharmonia — the strings were a blaze of scorching sunlight, the woodwind and brass bold and gleaming.”
The Times, June 2023

Principal Conductor: Philharmonia Orchestra
Chief Conductor: Gothenburg Symphony
Honorary Conductor: Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra

The 2024/25 season is Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s final as a Chief Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony following a successful eight-year tenure. He continues as a Principal Conductor of Philharmonia Orchestra and a Honorary Conductor of Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra close to his home in Finland.

Deepening his strong relationship with New York Philharmonic, summer 2024 marked Rouvali’s first appearance at Bravo! Vail Festival with the orchestra and soloists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Augustin Hadelich. The summer also saw Rouvali and Philharmonia Orchestra continue their residency in Mikkeli, Finland, and return to Edinburgh International Festival, performing Verdi’s Messa da Requiem.

Throughout this season and last, he continues his relationships with top-level orchestras and soloists across Europe, including Munich Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and he returns to North America for concerts with New York Philharmonic. This season, he also appears with Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Rouvali works with many international soloists including Bruce Liu, Lisa Batiashvili, Seong-Jin Cho, Nicola Benedetti, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Nemanja Radulović, Stephen Hough, Augustin Hadelich, Nikolai Lugansky, Christian Tetzlaff, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride and Ava Bahari.

Continuing their strong touring tradition, Rouvali and Philharmonia Orchestra tour Finland and Estonia in autumn 2024, and they are joined by Javier Perianes for a tour of Spain in spring 2025. In January 2025, they embark on an extensive tour to Japan with concerts in cities including Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.

Rouvali’s end of tenure with Gothenburg Symphony is marked by a tour to Germany and Czech Republic, followed up by a celebration concert in Gothenburg. He completes his Sibelius Cycle recording with Alpha Classics, the previous releases of which have been highly acclaimed with awards including Gramophone Editor’s Choice award, the Choc de Classica, a prize from the German Record Critics, the prestigious French Diapason d’Or ‘Découverte’, and Radio Classique’s ‘TROPHÉE’.

Philharmonia Records first release – a double CD album Santtu conducts Strauss – was released in March 2023 following recent releases of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5. Mahler 2, the second album from Philharmonia Records, was released in September 2023. Santtu conducts Stravinsky, released in March 2024, is the third album from Philharmonia Records featuring The Firebird Suite and Petrushka. Another prominent CD – Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicola Benedetti and Sheku Kanneh-Mason – was released on Decca in May 2024.

HarrisonParrott represents Santtu-Matias Rouvali for worldwide general management.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Also sprach Zarathustra © Philharmonia

Santtu-Matias Rouvali - Francesca da Rimini © Philharmonia

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

“The conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who is often drawn to Strauss’s orchestral epics in concert, doubled down in this blast of a performance. What a sound he drew from the Philharmonia — the strings were a blaze of scorching sunlight, the woodwind and brass bold and gleaming.”

The Times, June 2023

“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)