Esa-Pekka Salonen is known the world over as both a composer and a conductor. His restless innovation drives him constantly to reposition classical music in the 21st century. He is currently the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, where he works alongside eight Collaborative Partners from a variety of disciplines, ranging from composers to roboticists. He is the Conductor Laureate of three world-renowned orchestras: the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he served as Music Director from 1985 until 1995; the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music Director from 1992 until 2009; and the Philharmonia Orchestra, where he was Principal Conductor & Artistic Advisor from 2008 until 2021. Salonen also co-founded the annual Baltic Sea Festival, and served as its Artistic Director from 2003 until 2018.
Since joining the San Francisco Symphony, Salonen has worked to expand and embrace the possibilities of the orchestra, looking toward the future of classical music and its audience. Salonen’s 2023/24 season includes world premieres of Jesper Nordin’s violin concerto Convergences with Pekka Kuusisto, Anders Hillborg’s Piano Concerto with Emanuel Ax, and Jens Ibsen’s Drowned in Light, all of them with the San Francisco Symphony.
From 2015 to 2018, Salonen was Composer in Residence at the New York Philharmonic. He was the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Composer in Residence of the 2022/23 season. In October 2023, he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere of a short new work composed in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The 2023/24 season also sees Salonen lead his Sinfonia concertante for organ and orchestra with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, with Olivier Latry appearing as a soloist with both orchestras.
Esa-Pekka Salonen has received numerous major awards, including the UNESCO Rostrum for the work Floof, the Grawemeyer Award for his Violin Concerto, and the Nemmers Composition Prize. He has been awarded the royal Swedish medal Litteris et Artibus, the Pro Finlandia medal and Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Lion of Finland, and Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In 2020, he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
