MUSIC

The Houston Symphony presents Hannu Lintu Conducts Sibelius 2.  Thursday, March 18, and Saturday-Sunday, March 20-21. 

Experience the poetic soundscapes, relentless drumbeat and volcanic climaxes of his fellow Scandinavian’s music.

Born in Finland, Lintu began his musical studies with the cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy before moving on to study conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung Whun Chung at the Accademia Chigiana in Italy and in 1994 won the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen.

Lintu assumed the position of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra from September 2009. Previously he has held Artistic Director positions with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (2002-2005) and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (1998-2001). He is a regular guest conductor of the Finish Radio Symphony and of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra in Finland, where he was Artistic Director of their 2005 Summer Sounds Festival, reinforcing his strong commitment to contemporary music.

Working extensively across the world, Lintu has made recent European appearances with the Deutsches Symphonic Orchestra Berlin, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Belgique, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly conducts all the major orchestras in his native Finland. Outside Europe he has recently worked with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Houston Symphony, Sydney Symphony and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestras. Festival appearances include the Berliner Festspiele, Golden Autumn Festival in Beijing, Flanders Festival and the Adelaide Festival.

Lintu has conducted a number of opera productions with Finnish National Opera including Wagner Parsifal directed by Harry Kupfer, Bizet Carmen, Aulis Sallinen King Lear, Kalevi Aho Before we are all Drowned and most recently a new opera by Mikko Heiniö, The Snake’s Moment. Elsewhere he has conducted a concert performance of Gianni Schicchi at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, recorded Tauno Pylkkanen’s opera Mare and her son with Estonian National Opera and conducted Magic Flute for Savonlinna opera.

Forthcoming highlights include performances with Ensemble Intercontemporain, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, RTVE Madrid, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Royal Flemish Philharmonic.

Amongst his recordings, Lintu has released CDs of works by Rautavaara, Saariaho and Luca Francesconi with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony and Danish National Radio Symphony for Ondine and Naxos. He made two recordings with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra for Danacord: “The Sound of Shakespeare” and Shostakovich piano concertos (with pianist Oleg Marshev). Recent releases include works by the Finnish composer Jouni Kaipainen with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra for Ondine and works by Schumann, Dietrich, Gernsheim and Volkmann on Hyperion with the Berlin Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester.

Scheduled Program:
Beethoven: Leonore Overture No. 3
Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2

Artists:
Hannu Lintu, (pictured) conductor
Alban Gerhardt, cello