Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki (born 13 March 1969) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

conductor and cellist.

Early life and education

Susanna Ulla Marjukka Mälkki was born on 13 March 1969 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. She began to learn the violin, piano, and cello in her youth, eventually focusing her studies on the cello. She continued her cello studies with Hannu Kiiski, and later studied conducting with

Jorma Panula Jorma Juhani Panula (born 10 August 1930) is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä and Klaus ...

Eri Klas Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor. Klas was born into a Jewish family in Tallinn. His mother was pianist Anna Klas. His father, Eduard Klas, was killed in 1941, during the Holocaust.''Eesti Entsüklope ...

, and

Leif Segerstam Leif Selim Segerstam ( , ; born 2 March 1944) is a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist and pianist, especially known for writing 350 symphonies as of August 2022, along with other works in his extensive oeuvre. Segerstam has condu ...

at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

. She also studied at London's

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. She participated in a Sibelius Academy Conductor's Workshop at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

in 1998, under the supervision of Panula and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

Career

In 1994, Mälkki won the 1st prize in the Turku National Cello Competition. From 1995 to 1998, she was principal cellist in the

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO; sv, Göteborgs Symfoniker) is a Swedish symphony orchestra based in Gothenburg. The GSO is resident at the Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen. The orchestra received the title of the National Orche ...

. She left her Gothenburg position to devote herself to conducting. From 2002 to 2005, she was artistic leader of the

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra The Stavanger Symphony Orchestra ( no, Stavanger Symfoniorkester, SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Stavanger, Norway. The SSO principal venue is the Stavanger Concert Hall (Stavanger konserthus), performing in the Fartein Valen concert hall. ...

. Her debut with the

Ensemble InterContemporain The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world. Organi ...

(EIC) was in August 2004, in a program of

Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his many compositions, his better known works include ''Th ...

at the Lucerne Festival. She became the EIC's music director in 2006, the first woman to hold the post, and served as the EIC's music director until 2013. She continues to maintain a residence in Paris. Mälkki is known as a specialist in contemporary music. Her work in contemporary music includes several world premieres and opera productions, such as conducting the Finnish premiere of

Thomas Adès Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès (born 1 March 1971) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: '' The Tempest'' (2004), ''V ...

' ''

Powder Her Face ''Powder Her Face'', Op. 14 (1995), is a chamber opera in two acts by the British composer Thomas Adès, with an English libretto by Philip Hensher. The opera is 100 minutes long. It was commissioned by the Almeida Opera, a part of London's A ...

'' in 1999, which led to Adès inviting Mälkki to be his assistant for further performances of this opera at the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where, as she noted, "I ended up conducting some of the performances." Her conducting debut at the BBC Proms was in July 2007, leading the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

. She conducted the world premiere of Luca Francesconi's opera ''Quartett'' at La Scala in Milan in 2011, becoming the first woman ever to conduct an opera production in the history of the house. Outside of Europe, Mälkki made her New Zealand conducting debut in November 2006 with the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Sympho ...

. Her

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n conducting debut was in February 2007 with the

Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is the second-oldest professional symphony orc ...

. She first guest-conducted the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

in 2010. In April 2016, the orchestra announced her appointment as its next principal guest conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. Mälkki is the first female conductor to be named to the principal guest conductorship of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In December 2016, she made her

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

conducting debut in the company's first-ever production of ''

L'Amour de loin ' (''Love from Afar'') is an opera in five acts with music by Kaija Saariaho and a French-language libretto by Amin Maalouf. The opera received its world premiere performance on 15 August 2000 at the Salzburg Festival. Saariaho, living in Paris si ...

'' of

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; born 14 October 1952) is a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho has received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the Ensemble Inter ...

, the fourth female conductor to lead a production at the Metropolitan Opera, and the first female conductor to be featured in the

Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Metropolitan Opera Live in HD (also known as The Met: Live in HD) is a series of live opera performances transmitted in high-definition video via satellite from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to select venues, primarily movie theaters, ...

series. In May 2013, Mälkki was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the

Gulbenkian Orchestra The Gulbenkian Orchestra ( pt, Orquestra Gulbenkian) is a Portuguese symphony orchestra based in Lisbon. The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the ''Grande Auditório'' (Grand Auditorium) of the Gulbenkian Foundation. The orchestra, which was f ...

, with an initial contract of 3 years, effective July 2013. In September 2014, she was named the next chief conductor of the

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (in Finnish: ; in Swedish: ; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic ...

, effective autumn 2016, with an initial contract of 3 years. She is the first female conductor to be named to this post. In October 2017, the Helsinki Philharmonic announced the extension of her contract as chief conductor through 2021. In June 2019, the orchestra announced a further extension of her contract as chief conductor through 2023, with an option for a further 2-year extension past 2023. In December 2021, the orchestra announced that Mälkki is to stand down as its chief conductor at the end of the 2022-2023 season, and subsequently to take the title of chief conductor emeritus with the orchestra. Mälkki recorded two works of Stuart MacRae for the NMC label, ''Two Scenes from the Death of Count Ugolino'' and ''Motus''. With the EIC, she has conducted recordings of music by Bruno Mantovani,

Luca Francesconi Luca Francesconi (born 17 March 1956) is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Early years Luca Francesconi was born in Milan. His father was a painter who edited ''Il ...

Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury (born 19 June 1952) is a French composer. Biography Manoury was born in Tulle and began composition studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with Gérard Condé and Max Deutsch. He continued his studies from 1974 to ...

Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell (born 8 October 1958) is a Swiss composer and academic teacher, whose operas, such as '' Cassandre'', have been performed internationally. Life Born in Geneva, Jarrell studied at the Geneva Conservatoire, and later with Klaus H ...

, Pierre Jodlowski, and Yann Robin, all for the Kairos label.

Honors

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Nordic Council Music Prize The Nordic Council Music Prize is awarded annually by NOMUS, the Nordic Music Committee. Every two years it is awarded for a work by a living composer. In the intervening years it is awarded to a performing musician or ensemble. The Nordic ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

- 50 Over 50: EMEA 2022

References

External links

*
Ensemble InterContemporain French-language biography

Bilingual interview
odb-opera.com
Henna Salmela, Susanna Mälkki: interpreting Puumala (interview about the composer Veli-Matti Puumala)

* ttp://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=140 David Sawer, ''Tiroirs'' et al., NMC catalog listing, NMC D116
CocoRosie meets Koninklijk Concertgebouw Orkest with Susanna Mälkki as conductor
cultureplayer.fabflows.com, 29 April 2008.
Brian Bell, WGBH Radio's Boston Symphony Orchestra producer interviews Susanna Mälkki (February 2011)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malkki, Susanna 1969 births 20th-century conductors (music) 21st-century conductors (music) Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music Finnish conductors (music) Living people Musicians from Helsinki Women conductors (music)