“Dynamic and sharp on the podium” (Bachtrack) and with a “scrupulous ear for instrumental color and blend” (Washington Post), Hannu Lintu maintains his reputation as one of the world’s finest conductors. This season, Lintu takes up the baton as music director of Orquestra Gulbenkian while continuing his tenure as chief conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, proving himself a master of both symphonic and operatic repertoire.
The appointments follow a stream of successful concerts with Orquestra Gulbenkian and breathtaking productions with the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, including Strauss’ Salome, Puccini’s Turandot and Britten’s Billy Budd. This season will see the completion of the house’s Ring Cycle with Wagner’s Götterdämmerung, as well as productions of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites and Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Highlights of the 2023-24 season include debuts with Berlin Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra and SWR Symphonieorchester, and returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and George Enescu International Festival.
Recent years have seen Lintu conduct the New York Philharmonic (concluding with an immediate reinvitation from the orchestra to perform at Bravo! Vail Festival), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Radio France, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, alongside Gil Shaham, Kirill Gerstein, Daniil Trifonov and Sergei Babayan.
Lintu has made several recordings for Ondine, BIS, Naxos, Avie and Hyperion. His diverse discography consists of Magnus Lindberg’s orchestral works, the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Stephen Hough and Lutoslawski’s Symphonies Nos. 1-4, all with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. His often-gilded work boasts two International Classical Music Awards and several nominations for Gramophone and Grammy Awards in recognition of recording projects such as Bartók’s Violin Concertos with Christian Tetzlaff, works by Sibelius featuring Anne Sofie von Otter, Rautavaara’s Kaivos, and the violin concertos of Sibelius and Thomas Adès with Augustin Hadelich and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in master classes with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.
2023-24
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