Santtu-Matias Rouvali is an internationally renowned conductor who as of 2022 was principal conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Sweden’s Gothenburg Symphony and Finland’s Tampere Philharmonic. Born in Lahti, Finland, in 1985, Rouvali grew up in a musical family, both of his parents having played in the Lahti Symphony. He began as a percussionist, performing with several Finnish orchestras before studying conducting at Finland’s Sibelius Academy. Various guest conducting appearances in 2009-10 led to Rouvali becoming the Tampere Symphony’s chief conductor in 2013. His appointments with both the Philharmonia and Gothenburg came in 2017. As a conductor, Rouvali demonstrated a combination of rhythmic precision and fluid melodic phrasing that made him popular with orchestras and audiences around the world. He has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic and others. On record, Rouvali has demonstrated the breadth of his stylistic range, delivering discs that capture the glory of Bernstein, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and more. One of his most widely embraced recordings was a 2019 release with the Gothenburg Symphony of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 (1899) and En Saga(1892). In 2020 and 2021, Rouvali responded to Covid-19 lockdown measures by conducting a number of live streamed concerts with each of his orchestras.