His first experience with conducting came in 1979 with theFinnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, though he still thought of himself principally as a composer; in fact, Salonen has said that he took up conducting primarily to ensure that someone would conduct his own compositions. In 1983, however, he replaced an indisposedMichael Tilson Thomas to conduct a performance ofMahler'sSymphony No. 3 with thePhilharmonia Orchestra in London on very short notice, without ever having studied the score, and it launched his career as a conductor.[2] He was subsequently principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1994.
Salonen was principal conductor of theSwedish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1984 to 1995. He co-founded the Baltic Sea Festival in 2003 withMichael Tydén [sv] andValery Gergiev. This summer music festival presents new classical music and aims to bring the countries around the Baltic Sea together and to raise awareness of environmental deterioration of the Baltic. It continues to be held annually in one of the region's countries.[3]
Salonen made his conducting debut in the United States with theLos Angeles Philharmonic in 1984. He said:
I had no idea what to expect. But the one thing that I didn't expect was when an older player came to talk to me after the first concert and said, "Consider this your future home". Something was going on, because I felt the same. I sensed with an absolute certainty that this orchestra, in whatever way, was going to be a very important part of my life. Always.[4]
In 1989, he was offered the title of Principal Guest Conductor by Executive VPErnest Fleischmann and was to take the orchestra on a tour of Japan; however, controversy ensued whenAndré Previn, the orchestra's music director at the time, was not consulted on either the Principal Guest appointment or the tour, and objected to both. Continued friction between Fleischmann and Previn led to Previn's resignation in April 1989.[5] Four months later, Salonen was named the orchestra's tenth music director, officially taking the post in 1992 and holding it until 2009.
Salonen's tenure with the orchestra began with a residency at the 1992Salzburg Festival in concert performances and as the pit orchestra in a production of the operaSaint François d'Assise byOlivier Messiaen; it was the first time an American orchestra was given that opportunity. Salonen later took the orchestra on many other tours of the United States, Europe, and Asia, and residencies at theLucerne Festival inSwitzerland,The Proms in London, inCologne for a festival of Salonen's own works, and in 1996 at theThéâtre du Châtelet in Paris for aStravinsky festival conducted by Salonen andPierre Boulez; it was during this Paris residency that key Philharmonic board members heard the orchestra perform in improved acoustics and were re-invigorated to lead fundraising efforts to complete construction ofWalt Disney Concert Hall.
Under Salonen's leadership, the Philharmonic became an extremely progressive and well-regarded orchestra.Alex Ross ofThe New Yorker said this:
The Salonen era in L.A. may mark a turning point in the recent history of classical music in America. It is a story not of an individual magically imprinting his personality on an institution – what Salonen has called the "empty hype" of conductor worship – but of an individual and an institution bringing out unforeseen capabilities in each other, and thereby proving how much life remains in the orchestra itself, at once the most conservative and the most powerful of musical organisms.[6]
In 2007, Salonen and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his music directorship in 2009, withGustavo Dudamel taking his place.[7][8][9][10]
Before Salonen's last concert as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on 19 April 2009, the orchestra announced his appointment as its first ConductorLaureate.[11] In addition, the LA Philharmonic created the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund "for the express purpose of supporting the commissioning and performance of new works" as a way to honor his support of contemporary classical music during his tenure as music director. At its inception, it was endowed with $1.5 million.[12][13]
During Salonen's tenure as music director, the orchestra gave 120 pieces their world or American debuts and commissioned over 54 new works. By the time he stepped down, he had served as music director longer than anyone else in the orchestra's history, leading the orchestra in 973 concerts and 23 tours.[14][15]
In November 2006, thePhilharmonia Orchestra announced the appointment of Salonen as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor at the beginning of the 2008–2009 season.[16] His initial contract was for 3 years. Salonen has conducted several commercial recordings with the Philharmonia, including music of Berlioz and Schönberg.[17] In November 2010, the Philharmonia announced the extension of Salonen's contract to 2014.[18] In September 2013 the orchestra announced the further extension of Salonen's contract through the 2016–2017 season.[19] In December 2018 the Philharmonia announced that Salonen would conclude his principal conductorship of the orchestra after the 2020–2021 season.[20]
In autumn 2015 Salonen began a three-season appointment as composer-in-residence of theNew York Philharmonic.[25] He serves as an advisor to The Sync Project, a global collaboration seeking to understand and harness music's effect on brain health.[26] In August 2016 Salonen was named the first artist in association with theFinnish National Opera and Ballet.[27]
Salonen first guest-conducted theSan Francisco Symphony (SFS) in 2004. He returned for guest-conducting appearances in 2012 and 2015. In December 2018 the SFS announced the appointment of Salonen as its next music director, effective with the 2020–2021 season, with an initial contract of five seasons.[28][29] In March 2024, Salonen announced his departure from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025, stating that "I do not share the same goals for the future of the institution as the Board of Governors does."[30][31] Some SFS patrons expressed support for Salonen and displeasure with the board's direction.[32]
In September 2025, theOrchestre de Paris announced the appointment of Salonen as its principal conductor, effective with the 2027-2028 season, with an initial contract of five years. Salonen had first guest-conducted the Orchestre de Paris in 1988.[33] In parallel, thePhilharmonie de Paris announced the appointment of Salonen to the newly created post ofchaire Création et innovation ('creativity and innovation chair'), as of the 2027-2028 season, with an initial contract of five seasons.[33][34] Also in September 2025, the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced the appointment of Salonen to the new post of creative director, effective in 2026, leading 6 weeks of concerts per year. The orchestra later clarified that the position would be concurrent to the eventual Music Director hired afterGustavo Dudamel and also to John Adams' role of Creative Chair, that Salonen would keep his title of Conductor Laureate, and not be involved in either programming decisions outside his six weeks per season or have any role in filling open chairs within the orchestra.[35]
Salonen and thePhilharmonia Orchestra have worked on multi-disciplinary festivals together, includingWoven Words: Music begins where words end to celebrate the centenary of the birth ofWitold Lutosławski, Salonen's mentor.[36] They also created the award-winning RE-RITE installation, which was first exhibited in London in 2009 and has since travelled to Portugal, China, Turkey, Germany, and Austria. The digital residency allows members of the public to conduct, play and step inside the Philharmonia Orchestra with Salonen through audio and video projections of musicians performingThe Rite of Spring.[37] They followed-up with another installation,Universe of Sound, which was based onGustav Holst'sThe Planets, debuted at London's Science Museum,[38] and won the 2012Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Audiences and Engagement.[39] Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, in partnership withMusic Sales Group, Rite Digital, andTouch Press, released a successfuliPad app,"The Orchestra".Slate called the interactive tour through orchestral history "the perfect classical music app."[40] In the autumn of 2016 the Philharmonia Orchestra launched a digital takeover of theSouthbank Centre, featuring the first major virtual-reality production from a UK symphony orchestra.[41]
In 2014 Salonen was part of an international television and web campaign forApple, promotingiPad Air.[42] The campaign included not only the ad itself,[43] but also discussions with Salonen on classical music,[44] inspiration,[45] and composing.[46] Apple also offered a new and, for a limited time, free recording of Salonen's Grawemeyer prize-winningviolin concerto, featuring the violinistLeila Josefowicz and the Philharmonia Orchestra, 20 of Salonen's classical music picks on theiTunes Store classical music page, 15 of Salonen's iPad app picks in the app store, and a guest DJ station on iTunes Radio.
The ad was noted for "the novelty of seeing a contemporary classical composer in a piece of mainstream advertising,"[47] for the synchronisation of the video editing with the score, and for the positive portrayal of classical music as compared to its typical pop cultural image.[48] Salonen also led a concert with violinistLeila Josefowicz and the Philharmonia Orchestra in an Apple store in Berlin and spoke about mixing music and technology. It was the first time that a full orchestra had performed in an Apple store.[49]
In the summer of 2015, Salonen spoke on the uses of technology in music education to a group of Apple Distinguished Educators.[50]
Salonen has been married twice. His first marriage was to Jane Price, a former musician with the Philharmonia Orchestra. The couple had three children: daughters Ella Aneira and Anja Sofia, and son Oliver.[4][51] Salonen and Price separated in 2017[29] and filed for divorce in June 2018 after 26 years of marriage.[52] Salonen married Kaarina Gould in 2021.[53]
2003 – Gave opening concerts atWalt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, subsequently televised in the United States on PBSGreat Performances
2005 – Performed, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles andCologne, in festivals of his own compositions
2006 – Named "Musician of the Year" byMusical America
2007 – "The Tristan Project," performed in Los Angeles and New York
Salonen's compositions include hisConcerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (auf den ersten Blick und ohne zu wissen) (1980, with a title taken fromFranz Kafka'sThe Trial),Floof forsoprano and ensemble (1982, on texts byStanisław Lem) and the orchestralL.A. Variations (1996).
Salonen has stated that his time in California has helped him to be more "free" in his compositions. Mark Swed, chief music critic of theLos Angeles Times, described it this way:
When [Salonen] arrived in Los Angeles, he still liked to consider himself a composer-conductor, but the truth was that he had stopped writing music. "The obvious and easy explanation for me to give to people when they were asking why there hadn't been any new pieces for a while was that I had been conducting so much, I had no time," he said. "But that was only half the explanation."
As a European Modernist, Salonen said, he had been inculcated with negatives, such as to avoid melody, harmonic identity and rhythmic pulse. Secretly, though, he was attracted toJohn Adams, who was then dismissed overseas as being simplistic. "Only after a couple of years here did I begin to see that the European canon I blindly accepted was not the only truth," he said. "Over here, I was able to think about this rule that forbids melody. It's madness. Madness!"
Without a European musical elite looking over his shoulder, Salonen began to feel that it was fine to have his own ideas. "My focus moved from an ideological principle to a pleasure principle" is how he described the composition of his breakthrough piece, "LA Variations," which the Philharmonic premiered in 1997.
Although a work of great intricacy and virtuosity that doesn't ignore Salonen's Modernist training, "LA Variations" builds on rhythmic innovations closer to Adams. The piece proved an immediate hit, so much so that Salonen was stunned by the reaction and then by the score's continuing success – it has been taken up by several other conductors and had more than 80 performances worldwide.[4]
In order to devote more time to composition, Salonen took a year's sabbatical from conducting in 2000, during which time he wrote a work for solo horn (Concert Étude, the competition piece for Lieksa Brass Week),Dichotomie for pianist Gloria Cheng,Mania for the cellistAnssi Karttunen and sinfonietta, andGambit, an orchestral piece that was a birthday present for fellow composer and friendMagnus Lindberg.
In 2001, Salonen composedForeign Bodies, his largest work in terms of orchestration, which incorporated music from the opening movement ofDichotomie. Another orchestral piece,Insomnia, followed in 2002, and another,Wing on Wing, in 2004.Wing on Wing includes parts for two sopranos and distorted samples of architectFrank Gehry's voice as well as a fish.
As is apparent with his interpretations of such avant-garde works as Jan Sandström'sMotorbike Odyssey, Salonen voices a distaste for ideological and dogmatic approaches to composition and sees music creation as deeply physical. In the liner notes forDeutsche Grammophon's release ofWing On Wing, he is quoted saying "Musical expression is bodily expression, there is no abstract cerebral expression in my opinion. It all comes out of the body." A recurring theme in his music is the fusion of or relationship between the mechanical and the organic.[67]
Salonen has among his intended composing projects a proposed opera based on the novelThe Woman and the Ape byPeter Høeg.
L.A. Variations (1996), premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles, 16 January 1997
Foreign Bodies (2001), premiered by Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra,Jukka-Pekka Saraste; Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Kiel, 12 August 2001
Insomnia (2002), premiered by NHK Symphony Orchestra; Tokyo, 1 December 2002
Stockholm Diary (2004), premiered by Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Stockholm, Composer Festival, 27 October 2004
Helix (2005), premiered by World Orchestra for Peace,Valery Gergiev; London, 29 August 2005
Nyx (2010), premiered by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Paris, 19 February 2011
Gemini (2018/2019), premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic; Los Angeles, 26 October 2019 (consists of two originally independent piecesPollux andCastor)
Cello Concerto (2017), premiered by Chicago Symphony Orchestra,Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Chicago, 15 March 2017
Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra (2022), premiered by Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra,Iveta Apkalna, organ; Katowice, 13 January 2023
Floof (Songs of a Homeostatic Homer) (1988) for soprano and chamber ensemble, premiered by Toimii Ensemble, Anu Komsi, soprano; Helsinki, 27 August 1988
Five Images after Sappho (1999) for soprano and chamber ensemble, premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group,Laura Claycomb, soprano; Ojai, California, 4 June 1999
Wing on Wing for two sopranos and orchestra (2004), premiered by Los Angeles Philharmonic; Jamie Chamberlin andHila Plitmann, sopranos; 5 June 2004
Dona Nobis Pacem (2011) for SATB chorus, premiered at Chatelet Theatre, 4 February 2011
In addition to conducting his own compositions, Salonen has actively championed other composers' music, most notablyAnders Hillborg,Magnus Lindberg,Kaija Saariaho, andSteven Stucky. Many noteworthy compositions have even been dedicated to Salonen. Below is a list of some of the world premieres that he has conducted:
Prologue toOrango (orchestration by Gerard McBurney), Ryan McKinny (Veselchak, bass-baritone), Jordan Bisch (Voice from the Crowd/Bass, bass),Michael Fabiano (Zoologist, tenor), Eugene Brancoveanu (Orango, baritone), Yulia Van Doren (Susanna, soprano), Timur Bekbosunov (Paul Mash, tenor),Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, Music Director), Los Angeles Philharmonic (2 December 2011)
Esa-Pekka Salonen:Concerto for Alto Saxophone; Floof; Meeting; Nachtleider; Mimo II; Yta I; Yta II; Yta IIb; Yta III – Pekka Savijoki; Anu Komsi; Kari Krikku; Jukka Tiensuu; Jorma Valjakka; Mikael Helasvuo; Tuija Hakkila; Anssi Karttunen; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Avanti! Chamber Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen – Finlandia 0927 43815 2
Esa-Pekka Salonen:Five Images After Sappho; Gambit; Giro; LA Variations; Mania –Dawn Upshaw; Anssi Karttunen; Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; London Sinfonietta; Esa-Pekka Salonen – Sony SK89158
Wynton Marsalis:All Rise (Wynton Marsalis, trumpet;Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; Paul Smith Singers; Northridge Singers of California State University; Morgan State University Choir)
Igor Stravinsky:Le sacre du printemps & Symphony in Three Movements
André Jolivet: Concerto No 2 for trumpet & Concertino for trumpet, string orchestra & piano,Henri Tomasi: Concerto for trumpet & orchestra (Wynton Marsalis, trumpet)
Igor Stravinsky: Concerto for piano & wind instruments, Capriccio for piano & orchestra, Movements for piano & orchestra, & Symphonies of wind instruments (Paul Crossley, piano)
^Premiere:The Anvil, Basingstoke. London Premiere:Royal Festival Hall, 28 June 2012. Interview: 'Joseph Phibbs: Rivers to the Sea (New Commission)', Philharmonia Orchestra video, 2012,Vimeo. Listing/Review: Douglas Cooksey, 'Philharmonia Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen at Royal Festival Hall – Phibbs's Rivers to the Sea & Mahler's Resurrection Symphony',Classical Source.Archived 2 December 2016 at theWayback Machine Published by Ricordi.
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