Santtu-Matias Rouvali
conductor
The 2024–25 season is Santtu-Matias Rouvali’s final as chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra following a successful eight-year tenure. He continues as principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and honorary conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra.
Throughout this season and last, he continues his relationships with top-level orchestras and soloists across Europe, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and returns to North America for concerts with New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This season, he also makes his debut with The Cleveland Orchestra.
Continuing their strong touring tradition, Rouvali and the Philharmonia Orchestra toured Finland and Estonia in fall 2024 and will be 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.
The end of Rouvali’s tenure with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is marked by a tour to Germany and the Czech Republic, followed by a celebration concert in Gothenburg. He completes his Sibelius symphony cycle recording with Alpha Classics, the previous releases of which have been highly acclaimed with awards, including the Gramophone Editor’s Choice Award, the Choc de Classica, a prize from the German Record Critics, the prestigious Diapason d’Or, and Radio Classique’s Trophée.
Philharmonia Records’ first release — the double album Santtu Conducts Strauss — was released in March 2023 following recent releases of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Santtu Conducts Mahler — the second album from Philharmonia Records, featuring Mahler’s Second Symphony — was released in September 2023 followed by Santtu Conducts Stravinsky on the same label in March 2024. Another prominent album — featuring Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Benjamin Grosvenor, Nicola Benedetti, and Sheku Kanneh-Mason — was released on Decca in May 2024.