Sakari Oramo
is Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. A guest conductor at the highest international level and a prolific recording artist, his performances combine structural cohesion with authority, elegance and passionate delivery.

Guest engagements during the 2021/22 season include returns to the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra.

Engagements in the past season have included his final concerts as Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic as well as guest appearances with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Berliner Philharmoniker.

In 2018 he conducted the European premiere of Brett Dean’s new Cello Concerto, performed by Alban Gerhardt with Berliner Philharmoniker. Oramo has most recently worked with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, Wiener Philharmoniker, Czech Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras.

2021/22 marks Oramo’s ninth season with the BBCSO. With this Orchestra he continues to champion new and rarely performed works – including William Alwyn’s opera Miss Julie, Betsy Jolas’ Onze Lieder, and the world premiere of Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ Violin Concerto (performed by Baiba Skride) – presenting them alongside stalwarts such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto (with Håkan Hardenberger). The season also includes performances at the Last Night of the Proms 2021 and at the Barbican 40th Anniversary celebration. Oramo is a regular conductor at the BBC Proms and during the summer of 2019 he conducted several with the BBCSO and Chorus – including the Last Night of the Proms, which he has previously conducted in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra between 1998 and 2008, Oramo has served as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s Honorary Conductor since 2012, following a decade as their Chief Conductor. He was also Principal Conductor of the West Coast Kokkola Opera from 2004 to 2018 and Principal Conductor of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra from 2013 to 2019. An accomplished violinist, Oramo was originally concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2014 he made his debut in the BBC Proms Chamber Music series, performing Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins with Janine Jansen.

Recording successes include the BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestra award for Nielsen Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, which completes their highly acclaimed Nielsen cycle on the BIS label, and a Gramophone Award win in the 2019 Orchestral category for Rued Langgaard Symphonies Nos.2 & 6 and Jacob Gade’s Tango Jalousie with Wiener Philharmoniker and soprano Anu Komsi. Busoni’s Piano Concerto with Kirill Gerstein recorded with Boston Symphony Orchestra (Myrios) won in the Audio and Video category at the 2020 ICMA awards. Other recent releases include the BBC Symphony Orchestra orchestral works by Sibelius (including the Lemminkäinen Suite), Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos.2 and 3 with Yevgeny Sudbin, and Florent Schmitt: Suites from ​‘Antoine et Cléopâtre’ & Symphony No.2.