Osmo Vänskä

Osmo Vänskä ( born February 28, 1953 in Sääminki, Finland) is a Finnish conductor.

Vänskä began his musical career as a clarinetist. After completing his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and in Berlin with Karl Leister, he was initially first clarinetist in the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra ( 1971-1977 ) and from 1977 to 1982 deputy first clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic. The conducting examination at the Sibelius Academy he laid in 1979 with Jorma Panula. 1982 won Vänskä the Conducting Competition in Besancon.

Vänskä was from 1988 to 2008 chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony, from 1993 to 1996 and of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and since 1996 chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Since 2003, Vänskä chief conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, a position for which he faces up to 2014/15 under contract. 2004 Vänskä began with the Minnesota Orchestra in a five -year project include the complete Beethoven symphonies. Vänskä lives in Minneapolis at the moment.

First international attention and recognition became the conductor with a CD recording for the first time the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius in the original version - also together with the revised version - presented. Soloist of both versions is Leonidas Kavakos. This recording was followed by the recording of the complete symphonies 7 and all the orchestral works of Jean Sibelius. Also appeared on the Swedish label BIS are recordings with works Kalevi Aho of, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Bernhard Crusell, Uuno Klami, Sofia Gubaidulina and Joonas Kokkonen.