Leif Segerstam, born in 1944, ist one of Scandinavia‘s most interesting and many-sided musical talents. After his studies (violin, pianoforte, composition and conducting) at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki from 1952-63, he continued his studies at the Julliard School of Music in New York.

His career as conductor he started with positions at the opera houses of Helsinki, Stockholm and West-Berlin and guest performances at the Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro alla Scala Milano, Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, at the opera houses of Köln, Hamburg, München und Geneve and at the Salzburger Festspiele. At the Savonlinna Festival in Finland Segerstam conducted Salome, Boris Godunov, Don Carlo, Aida, the flying Dutchman, Fidelio and Macbeth. At the Finnish National Opera he conducted Wagner‘s Ring and Tannhäuser and at the Royal Stockholm Opera Korngold‘s Die tote Stadt, Massenet‘s Werther and Strauss‘ Capriccio.

Leif Segerstam was chief conductor of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchesters Wien (1975-82) and of the Finnish Radio-Symphony Orchestra Helsinki (1977-87). From 1983-89 he was General Music Director of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, whose Honorary Conductor he today still is. In December 1988 he was appointed chief conductor of the Danish Radio-Symphony Orchestra,. From 1995-2001 he has been chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Opera and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Leif Segerstam‘s numerous recordings have been acclaimed by the audience and the critics as well: works by Mahler, Nielsen and Sibelius and contemporary pieces with the Danish Radio-Symphony Orchestra, Scriabin and Schnittke with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Brahms with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. The Sibelius- and Rautavaara-recordings with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra habe been awarded with several international prizes.

As composer Leif Segerstam has shown enormous creativity. The list of his compositions include more than 93 symphonies, 29 string quartets, 11 violin- und 4 piano- and several other instrumental concerts, chamber and vocal music. Especially interesting are his cycles like the „Symphonic Thoughts“, which he has written because of the change of the millenium, the series "Impressions of Nordic Nature“ and orchestra works without conductor, among them a cycle dedicated to the twelve months.

Since autumn 1997 Leif Segerstam has been „Professor of Conducting“ at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In November 1998 he has been appointed by the Nordic Music Committee NOMUS for the Nordic Council Music Prize, for his work as „great master of the Scandinavian music“.

Among Leif Segerstam‘s current guest performances there are concerts in London, Detroit, Tokyo, Chicago, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, Bern, Munich, Dresden, Essen, Bonn, Graz, Toulouse, Köln, Düsseldorf, Oslo, Brussels and Strasbourg.


2005