Why many of the classical world’s top conductors come from Finland

For a country with a population of just slightly more than 5.5 million people, Finland exerts a surprisingly outsized influence on the international classical scene, especially in the world of conducting.

It has produced an extraordinary array of top-level conductors, and four of the nation’s best known will be featured as part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2025/26 Season: Mikko Franck, CSO Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pekka Kuusisto.

No one knows for sure the secret of Finland’s classical-music prowess, but it starts with the country’s early childhood musical education. The country has some 100 music institutes, which are subsidized by the federal and local governments. According to the website of the International School of Music Finland, what it calls “music playschool” is the most common activity of Finnish children younger than 7 years old.

At the same time, Finland has about a dozen opera companies and 30 professional orchestras, including five in Helsinki alone. “Finland probably has more orchestras in relation to its population than any other country in the world,” according to the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras. “These orchestras are also remarkably evenly spread throughout the country.” Municipalities provide about 60 percent of the funding for orchestras, and the Finnish government supplies another 25 percent through the Theatre and Orchestra Act, passed in 1993.

“It is so ingrained in our culture; there is never a question about the government putting a lot of money into it,” said Osmo Palonen, director of advanced studies at Finland’s top music school, the Sibelius Academy, told the China Daily. “Music is for everyone in Finland, not just something for the elite.”

While Finland has excelled in virtually all aspects of classical music, it has gained acclaim for its conductors in large part because of the training at the Sibelius Academy, especially during the tenure of Jorma Panula from 1973 through 1994. He later taught in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Among his students are many of the guest conductors who have come to Chicago, including such luminaries as Osmo Vänskä. Other Finnish conductors who have led the CSO in recent seasons are Hannu Lintu, Susanna Mälkki and John Storgårds.

People often ask Franck about Panula’s teaching approach, but he said his mentor’s method is really about not having a method. “For him, it’s always about the student’s own natural abilities,” Franck said told Experience CSO. “He’s not trying to make all the students be something that doesn’t come naturally. He wants to find for each student their own way and their own conducting language.”

That said, there are certain basic principles of the Finnish conducting school, and those include clear physical technique and consistent support of the musicians. “The biggest point is as a conductor, if you can’t help the musicians, at least try not to disturb them too much,” Franck said. “That’s kind of the golden rule that I also now try to [instill in] my students when I’m teaching.”

Here is a look at the Finnish conductors leading the CSO in 2025/26:

Mikko Franck, Sept. 25-28: Franck, who served as music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 2015 to 2025, regularly works with the Vienna State Opera and has an extensive list of significant orchestras he has conducted. With the CSO, he leads a French-themed program consisting of two piano concertos by Maurice Ravel with Alice Sara Ott as soloist; Bizet’s fiery Carmen Suite, and Camille Pépin’s shimmering Celestial Waters.

Mäkelä, Klaus Oct. 16-18: CSO’s Zell music director designate kicks off his 25/26 residencies with an all-Berlioz program consisting of the composer’s Symphonie fantastique (featured on his latest disc on Decca) and Harold in Italy, the latter with violist Antoine Tamestit as soloist. 

Mäkelä, Klaus, Dec. 18-20: Mäkelä returns to lead Beethoven’s buoyant Seventh Symphony, alongside two contemporary works inspired by Beethoven: Jörg Widmann’s Con brio and Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza. Yunchan Lim, the youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition, is soloist in the enchanting Piano Concerto of Robert Schumann — a composer with the soul of a poet.

Salonen, Esa-Pekka, Jan. 29-Feb. 1 and Feb. 5-7: The esteemed guest conductor begins his two-week CSO residency with a program pairing Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony, which paints a landscape of peaks and forests, with Beethoven’s luminous Second Piano Concerto, with Daniil Trifonov as soloist.

For his second week, Salonen leads a voyage set to two evocative visions of the ocean: Debussy’s La mer and Gabriella Smith’s showpiece for cello, Lost Coast, inspired by a hiking trip along the Northern California coastline. It was written for Chicago native Gabriel Cabezas, who joins the CSO for this program. Another illustrative marvel, Debussy’s Images conjures up French folk dances, English-Scottish jigs and a Spanish street festival.

Mäkelä, Klaus: Ein Heldenleben, Feb. 19-21 and The Rite of Spring, March 5-6: Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä begins his two-week winter residency at Symphony Center with Richard Strauss’ showpiece filled with action, valor and romance: Ein Heldenleben. Mäkelä pairs the work with music from his native Finland: Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen, a symphonic portrait of the life and romantic escapades of that nation’s folk hero. For his second week, Mäkelä leads the CSO in a showcase of three 20th-century masterpieces: Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Darius Milhaud’s Le Bœuf sur le toit and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

Pekka Kuusisto: Time Shifting, May 21-23: Conductor and violinist Pekka Kuusisto wraps up this season’s Finnish podium turns with a dynamic program anchored by former Mead Composer-in-Residence Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury, alongside folk- and dance-inspired works by Grieg and Rautavaara. Trading baton for bow, Kuusisto is soloist in Kreisler’s vibrant, Vivaldi-inspired Violin Concerto.