Esa-Pekka Salonen - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...

Early career

Salonen, born in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland, studied horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

and composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

at the Sibelius Academy

Sibelius Academy

The Sibelius Academy is a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki. The Academy is the only music university in Finland. It is among the biggest European music universities...

in Helsinki

Helsinki

, as well as conducting with Jorma Panula

Jorma Panula

Jorma Panula is a Finnish conductor, composer, and professor of conducting.Panula is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy, where he studied the organ, church music and conducting...

. His conducting classmates included Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...

and Osmo Vänskä

Osmo Vänskä

Osmo Antero Vänskä is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer.He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic . He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982...

.
Another classmate on the composition side was the composer Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

and together they formed the new-music appreciation group Korvat auki and the experimental ensemble Toimii

Toimii

Toimii is an ensemble for new music founded in the spring of 1980 by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg with several other young composers and instrumentalists connected with the Sibelius Academy...

("Ears open" and "It works" in the Finnish language

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

). Later, Salonen studied with the composers Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...

, Niccolò Castiglioni

Niccolò Castiglioni

Niccolò Castiglioni was an Italian composer, pianist, and writer on music.Castiglioni was born and raised in Milan, where he began studying piano at the age of 7. He received his performer's diploma from the Milan Conservatory in 1952, and graduated there in composition in 1953...

and Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius.-Life:...

.

His first experience with conducting came in 1979 with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra based in Helsinki, and is the chief radio orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company . The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre...

, though he still thought of himself principally as a composer; in fact, Salonen has said that the primary reason he took up conducting was to ensure that someone would conduct his own compositions. In 1983, however, he replaced an indisposed Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...

to conduct a performance of Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

's Symphony No. 3

Symphony No. 3 (Mahler)

The Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler was written between 1893 and 1896. It is his longest piece and is the longest symphony in the standard repertoire, with a typical performance lasting around ninety to one hundred minutes.- Structure :...

with the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

in London

London

at very short notice without ever having studied the score before that time, and it launched his career as a conductor. He was subsequently principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1994.

Salonen was principal conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a radio orchestra based in Stockholm, Sweden, and affiliated with Sveriges Radio . The orchestra broadcasts concerts on the Swedish Radio-P2 network....

from 1984 to 1995.

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Salonen made his U.S. conducting debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Los Angeles Philharmonic

in 1984. His initial reaction was as follows:

"I had no idea what to expect. But the one thing that I didn't expect was when an older player came to talk to me after the first concert and said, 'Consider this your future home.' Something was going on, because I felt the same. I sensed with an absolute certainty that this orchestra, in whatever way, was going to be a very important part of my life. Always."

In 1989, he was offered the title of Principal Guest Conductor by Executive VP Ernest Fleischmann

Ernest Fleischmann

Ernest Martin Fleischmann was a German-born American impresario who served for 30 years as executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he upgraded to become a top-ranked orchestra...

and was to take the orchestra on a tour of Japan; however, controversy ensued when André Previn

André Previn

André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...

, the orchestra's Music Director at the time, was not consulted on either the Principal Guest appointment or the tour, and objected to both. Continued friction between Fleischmann and Previn led to Previn's resignation in April 1989. Four months later, Salonen was named the orchestra's tenth Music Director, officially taking the post in 1992 and holding it until 2009.

Salonen's tenure with the orchestra first began with a residency at the 1992 Salzburg Festival

Salzburg Festival

The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

in concert performances and as the pit orchestra in a production of the opera Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...

; it was the first time an American orchestra was given that opportunity. Salonen later took the orchestra on many other tours of the United States, Europe, and Asia, and residencies at the Lucerne Festival

Lucerne Festival

- History :The festival was founded in 1938 with a series of concerts in the gardens of Wagner's villa conducted by Arturo Toscanini, who had formed an orchestra with members of different orchestras and soloists for the concert...

in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, The Proms

The Proms

The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...

in London, in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

for a festival of Salonen's own works, and perhaps most notably, in 1996 at the Théâtre du Châtelet

Théâtre du Châtelet

The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...

in Paris for a Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

festival conducted by Salonen and Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...

; it was during this Paris residency that key Philharmonic board members heard the orchestra perform in improved acoustics and were re-invigorated to lead fundraising efforts to complete construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall

Walt Disney Concert Hall

The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...

.

Under Salonen's leadership, the Philharmonic has become an extremely progressive and well-regarded orchestra. Alex Ross of The New Yorker said this:

The Salonen era in L.A. may mark a turning point in the recent history of classical music in America. It is a story not of an individual magically imprinting his personality on an institution – what Salonen has called the "empty hype" of conductor worship – but of an individual and an institution bringing out unforeseen capabilities in each other, and thereby proving how much life remains in the orchestra itself, at once the most conservative and the most powerful of musical organisms.

In 2007, Salonen and the orchestra announced the conclusion of his music directorship in 2009, with Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist. He is currently the principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony in Gothenburg, Sweden, and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California...

taking his place.

Before Salonen's last concert as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on April 19, 2009, the orchestra announced his appointment as its first ever "Conductor Laureate". In addition, the LA Philharmonic created the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund "for the express purpose of supporting the commissioning and performance of new works" as a way to honor his support of contemporary classical music during his tenure as Music Director. At its inception, it was endowed with $1.5 Million.

During Salonen's tenure as music director, the orchestra gave 120 pieces their world or American debuts and commissioned over 54 new works. By the time he stepped down, he had served as music director longer than anyone else in the orchestra's history, leading the orchestra in 973 concerts and 23 tours.

Philharmonia and subsequent career

In November 2006, the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

announced the appointment of Salonen as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor at the beginning of the 2008/09 season. His initial contract was for 3 years. Salonen has conducted several commercial recordings with the Philharmonia, including music of Berlioz and Schönberg. In November 2010, the Philharmonia announced the extension of Salonen's contract to 2014.

Salonen has stated a desire to conduct Wagner's

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

Parsifal, but turned down an offer of The Ring Cycle

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...

at Bayreuth. His Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

conducting debut was in November 2009 with the Patrice Chéreau

Patrice Chéreau

Patrice Chéreau is a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor, and producer.-Biography:Patrice Chéreau was born in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, and went to school in Paris. At a young age he became well-known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre...

production of Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janácek

Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...

's From the House of the Dead

From the House of the Dead

From the House of the Dead is an opera by Leoš Janáček, in three acts. The libretto was translated and adapted by the composer from the novel by Dostoyevsky...

Personal life

Salonen and his wife Jane Price, a former musician with the Philharmonia Orchestra, have three children, two daughters, Ella Aneira and Anja Sofia, and one son, Oliver.

When Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

's former Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

residence at 1260 North Wetherly Drive was put up for sale, Salonen strongly considered buying the property; however, after visiting the house and, among other things, noting that indentations from Stravinsky's piano were still visible in the carpet, he was intimidated by the prospect of trying to compose in the same house where Stravinsky had written many important works, including Symphony in Three Movements, the Concerto in D for Strings, The Rake's Progress, Orpheus, Agon, the Cantata, and Mass. He ultimately decided not to buy the house.

In April 2010, Salonen was elected a Foreign Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In May 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

, and later the same day spoke at the graduation ceremony for the USC Thornton School of Music

USC Thornton School of Music

The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States...

Career highlights

1981 – Completed first large scale work, ...auf den ersten Blick und ohne zu wissen...
1983 – Co-founded Avanti! Chamber Orchestra
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra
The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra is a Finn ensemble that focuses on contemporary music. The ensemble when it performs varies in size from a solo player to a symphony orchestra. Avanti! Chamber Orchestra won the Gramophone Prize with their first recording...

in Finland with Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...
1985 – Appointed chief conductor of Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a radio orchestra based in Stockholm, Sweden, and affiliated with Sveriges Radio . The orchestra broadcasts concerts on the Swedish Radio-P2 network....
1992 – Wins the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers
International Rostrum of Composers
The International Rostrum of Composers is an annual forum organized by the International Music Council that offers broadcasting representatives the opportunity to exchange and publicize pieces of contemporary classical music...
1992 – Became Music Director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

of Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
1993 – Becomes the first conductor to receive the prestigious Siena Prize of the Accademia Chigiana
Accademia Musicale Chigiana
The Accademia Musicale Chigiana is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition...
1995 – Artistic Director of Helsinki Festival
Helsinki Festival
The Helsinki Festival is the largest multi-arts festival in Finland. It is also called Finland's biggest cultural event in terms of visitors...
1997 – Conducts Ligeti's
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

opera, Le Grand Macabre, at the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

with the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
1997 – World premiere of LA Variations in Los Angeles
2000 – Conducting sabbatical to concentrate on composing
2003 – Opening concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...

with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, subsequently televised in the United States on PBS Great Performances
2005 – Festivals of his own compositions, performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
2006 – Named "Musician of the Year" by Musical America
2007 – "The Tristan Project," performed in Los Angeles and New York
2007 – World premiere of his Piano Concerto with Yefim Bronfman
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.-Biography:He was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and emigrated to Israel at the age of 15...

(piano) and the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
2008 – Began tenure as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
2009 – World premiere of his Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz
Leila Josefowicz
Leila Bronia Josefowicz , is an American/Canadian classical violinist.-Biography:Josefowicz was born in Missisauga, Ontario, Canada. When she was a young child her family moved to Los Angeles, California where she started studying violin at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method...

(violin) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
2011 – Salonen wins the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition
Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition)
The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition is an annual prize instituted by H. Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985...

for his Violin Concerto

Composing

Among Salonen's compositions are ...auf den ersten blick und ohne zu wissen... (1980, a saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

with a title taken from Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century...

's The Trial

The Trial

The Trial is a novel by Franz Kafka, first published in 1925. One of Kafka's best-known works, it tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor the reader.Like Kafka's other novels, The Trial was never...

), Floof for soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

and ensemble (1982, on texts by Stanisław Lem) and the orchestral L.A. Variations (1996).

Salonen has stated that his time in California has helped him to be more "free" in his compositions. Mark Swed, chief music critic of the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

, described it this way:

When [Salonen] arrived in Los Angeles, he still liked to consider himself a composer-conductor, but the truth was that he had stopped writing music. "The obvious and easy explanation for me to give to people when they were asking why there hadn't been any new pieces for a while was that I had been conducting so much, I had no time," he said. "But that was only half the explanation."

As a European Modernist, Salonen said, he had been inculcated with negatives, such as to avoid melody, harmonic identity and rhythmic pulse. Secretly, though, he was attracted to John Adams, who was then dismissed overseas as being simplistic. "Only after a couple of years here did I begin to see that the European canon I blindly accepted was not the only truth," he said. "Over here, I was able to think about this rule that forbids melody. It's madness. Madness!"

Without a European musical elite looking over his shoulder, Salonen began to feel that it was fine to have his own ideas. "My focus moved from an ideological principle to a pleasure principle" is how he described the composition of his breakthrough piece, "LA Variations," which the Philharmonic premiered in 1997.

Although a work of great intricacy and virtuosity that doesn't ignore Salonen's Modernist training, "LA Variations" builds on rhythmic innovations closer to Adams. The piece proved an immediate hit, so much so that Salonen was stunned by the reaction and then by the score's continuing success – it has been taken up by several other conductors and had more than 80 performances worldwide.

In order to devote more time to composition, Salonen took a year's sabbatical from conducting in 2000, during which time he wrote a work for solo horn (Concert Étude, the competition piece for Lieksa Brass Week), Dichotomie for pianist Gloria Cheng, Mania for the cellist Anssi Karttunen and sinfonietta, and Gambit, an orchestral piece that was a birthday present for fellow composer and friend Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

.

In 2001, Salonen composed Foreign Bodies, his largest work in terms of orchestration, which incorporated music from the opening movement of Dichotomie. Another orchestral piece, Insomnia, followed in 2002, and another, Wing On Wing, in 2004. Wing On Wing includes parts for two sopranos and distorted samples of architect Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry

Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...

's voice as well as a fish.

As is apparent with his interpretations of such avant-garde works as Jan Sandström's Motorbike Concerto

Motorbike Odyssey

Motorbike Odyssey is the Trombone Concerto No. 1 by Swedish composer Jan Sandström. The concerto for solo tenor trombone and large orchestra, written in 1989, is sometimes called Motorbike Concerto. It was dedicated to the trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg...

, Esa-Pekka Salonen voices a distaste for ideological and dogmatic approaches to composition and sees music creation as deeply physical. In the liner notes for Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...

's release of Wing On Wing, he is quoted saying "Musical expression is bodily expression, there is no abstract cerebral expression in my opinion. It all comes out of the body." A recurring theme in his music is the fusion of or relationship between the mechanical and the organic.

Salonen has among his intended composing projects a proposed opera based on the novel The Woman and the Ape by Peter Høeg

Peter Høeg

Peter Høeg is a Danish writer of fiction. He received a Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Copenhagen in 1984.-Early life:Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark...

Selected compositions

World premiere details shown where available, Salonen conducting unless otherwise shown

1980 Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra (...auf den ersten blick und ohne zu wissen...) (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra based in Helsinki, and is the chief radio orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company . The orchestra primarily gives concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre...

, Pekka Savijoki, saxophone; 22 September 1981, Helsinki)
1982 Giro for orchestra (Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra based in Tampere. Founded in 1930, and maintained by the municipality of Tampere since 1947, the orchestra is currently based in the Tampere Hall...

, Finland; 27 November 1981), revised 1997 (Avanti! chamber orchestra, Summer Sounds; 29 June 1997, Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...

)
1982 Floof (Songs of a Homeostatic Homer) for soprano and chamber ensemble (Anu Komsi, soprano, Toimii Ensemble; 27 August 1988, Helsinki)
1992 Mimo II for oboe and orchestra (Jorma Valjakka, oboe, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; 14 December 1992, Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

)
1996 LA Variations for orchestra (Los Angeles Philharmonic; January 16, 2007, Los Angeles)
1999 Five Images after Sappho for soprano and chamber ensemble (Laura Claycomb
Laura Claycomb
Laura Claycomb is an American lyric coloratura soprano opera singer.-Background:Laura Claycomb grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she excelled in church and school choir, winning numerous youthful competitions She won a full scholarship to Southern Methodist University, where she completed two...

, soprano; Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group; June 4, 1999, Ojai, California
Ojai, California
Ojai is a city in Ventura County, California, USA. It is situated in the Ojai Valley , surrounded by hills and mountains. The population was 7,461 at the 2010 census, down from 7,862 at the 2000 census.-History:Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of the valley...

)
2000 Dichotomie for solo piano (Gloria Cheng, piano; December 4, 2000, Los Angeles)
2000 Mania for cello and orchestra or ensemble (Anssi Karttunen, cello, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Summer Sounds; 2 July 2000, Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...

)
2001 Foreign Bodies (Finish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...

; 12 August 2001, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Kiel)
2002 Insomnia (NHK Symphony Orchestra; Tokyo, 1 December 2002)
2002 Lachen Verlernt (Laughing Unlearned), chaconne for violin (Cho-Liang Lin
Cho-Liang Lin
Cho-Liang Lin , born in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is a Taiwanese American violinist who is renowned for his appearances as a soloist with major orchestras. "Musical America" named him its "Instrumentalist of the Year" in 2000...

, violin; 10 August 2002, La Jolla
La Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...

, California, La Jolla SummerFest)
2004 Wing on Wing for orchestra and two sopranos (Los Angeles Philharmonic; Jamie Chamberlin and Hila Plitmann
Hila Plitmann
Hila Plitmann is an operatic soprano specializing in the performance of new works. She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband, composer Eric Whitacre, and their son.- Career :...

, sopranos; June 5, 2004)
2005 Helix (World Orchestra for Peace, Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...

; August 29, 2005, London)
2007 Piano Concerto (Yefim Bronfman
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.-Biography:He was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and emigrated to Israel at the age of 15...

, piano; New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...

; February 1, 2007, New York)
2009 Violin Concerto (Leila Josefowicz
Leila Josefowicz
Leila Bronia Josefowicz , is an American/Canadian classical violinist.-Biography:Josefowicz was born in Missisauga, Ontario, Canada. When she was a young child her family moved to Los Angeles, California where she started studying violin at the age of three and a half using the Suzuki method...

, violin; Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...

; April 9, 2009, Los Angeles)

Selected world premiere performances

In addition to conducting his own compositions, Salonen has actively championed other composers' music, most notably Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

, Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho is a Finnish composer.Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by...

, and Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky

Steven Stucky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and...

. Many noteworthy compositions have even been dedicated to Salonen. Below is a list of some of the world premieres that he has conducted:

John Adams

"Naïve & Sentimental Music," Los Angeles Philharmonic (February 19, 1999)
"The Dharma at Big Sur," Tracy Silverman (electric violin), Los Angeles Philharmonic (October 24, 2003)

Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

"Haags Hakkûh" (The Hague Hacking) – Double Piano Concerto, Katia and Marielle Labèque
Katia and Marielle Labèque
The French sisters Labèque, Katia and Marielle , form an internationally known piano duo. They have performed and recorded most of the repertoire for two pianos, spanning the instrumental, chamber, and concerto genres encompassing musical periods from Baroque through contemporary.Katia and...

(pianos), Los Angeles Philharmonic (January 16, 2009)

John Corigliano

John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...

The Red Violin
The Red Violin
The Red Violin is a 1998 Canadian drama film directed by François Girard. It spans three centuries and five countries as it tells the story of a mysterious violin and its many owners...

(motion picture score), Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...

(violin), Philharmonia Orchestra

Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...

Esa (in Cauda V), Los Angeles Philharmonic (February 16, 2001)

Anders Hillborg

Eleven Gates, Los Angeles Philharmonic (May 4, 2006)

William Kraft

William Kraft is a composer, conductor, teacher, and percussionist.-Undergrad and Graduate School Years :...

The Grand Encounter, English Horn Concerto, Carolyn Hove (English horn), Los Angeles Philharmonic (January 16, 2003)

Peter Lieberson

Peter Lieberson was an American composer. He was ballerina and choreographer Vera Zorina and Goddard Lieberson, president of Columbia Records....

Neruda Songs, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was an American mezzo-soprano, known for the dramatic power of her vocal artistry as well as her commitment to performing infrequently-heard Baroque era and contemporary works...

(mezzo-soprano), Los Angeles Philharmonic (May 20, 2005), winner: 2008 Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition)
Grawemeyer Award (Music Composition)
The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition is an annual prize instituted by H. Charles Grawemeyer, industrialist and entrepreneur, at the University of Louisville in 1984. The award was first given in 1985...

Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

Kraft for solo ensemble & orchestra, Finnish Radio Orchestra and the TOIMII-ensemble (September 4, 1985)
Campana in Aria for horn and orchestra, Hans Dullaert (horn), Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland (June 1998)
Fresco for orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, (1998)
Cello concerto, Anssi Karttunen
Anssi Karttunen
Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish cellist.Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to the most recent composers. He performs with most world-class orchestras in Europe , Asia Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a Finnish cellist.Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to...

(cello), Orchestre de Paris (May 1999)
Chorale for orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (2002)
Parada for orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra (2002)
Sculpture for orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, (October 6, 2005)

Larry Lipkis

"Harlequin" for bass trombone and orchestra, Jeffrey Reynolds (bass trombone), David Weiss
David Weiss
David Weiss may refer to:* David Weiss , Swiss multi-media artist* David Weiss , author of Naked Came I* David C. Weiss, acting US Attorney for Delaware, succeeded Colm Connolly...

(musical saw
Musical saw
A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is the application of a hand saw as a musical instrument. The sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin...

), Los Angeles Philharmonic (May 23, 1997)

Steven Mackey

Steven Mackey is an American composer, guitarist, and music educator.-Life:As a musician growing up listening to and performing vernacular American musics as well as classical music, Mackey's compositions are informed by rock and jazz, though in an avant-garde vein...

"Deal" for electric guitar and large ensemble, Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

(guitar), Joey Baron
Joey Baron
Joey Baron is an American avant-garde jazz drummer probably best known for his work with Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn, and John Zorn...

(drums), Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group (April 17, 1995)

Colin Matthews

Colin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...

Horn Concerto, Richard Watkins
Richard Watkins
Richard Watkins is a concerto soloist and chamber music player. He was Principal Horn of the Philharmonia from 1985 to 1996, a position he relinquished to devote more time to his solo career....

(horn), Philharmonia Orchestra (April 2001)

David Newman

David Newman (composer)

David Louis Newman is an American composer and conductor known particularly for his film scores. In a career spanning nearly forty years, he has composed music for nearly 100 feature films.-Life and career:...

Tales from 1001 Nights with film by Yoshitaka Amano
Yoshitaka Amano
is a Japanese artist. He began his career as an animator and has become known for his illustrations for the anime Vampire Hunter D and for his character designs, image illustrations and title logo designs for the Final Fantasy video game series developed by Square Enix . His influences include...

, Los Angeles Philharmonic (April 30, 1998)

Gabriela Ortiz

-Biography:Gabriela Ortiz Torres was born in Mexico City of parents who were folk musicians. She learned folk music at home, and then studied in Paris at the Ecole Normale de Musique. She returned to Mexico City due to the illness of her mother, and studied composition there with Mario Lavista at...

Altar de Piedra, concerto for percussion ensemble & orchestra, Kroumata
Kroumata
Kroumata is a Swedish percussion ensemble founded in 1978 in Stockholm. The name derives from the ancient Greek word for percussion instruments....

(percussion), Los Angeles Philharmonic, January 2003

Arvo Pärt

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...

Symphony No. 4, Los Angeles
Symphony No. 4 (Pärt)
Los Angeles is the fourth symphony by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.Pärt's previous symphonies are scored for full orchestra, but this one is only scored for string orchestra, harp and percussion .The work was commissioned by Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and the Canberra International Music...

, Los Angeles Philharmonic (January 10, 2009)

Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...

Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic (February 24, 1994)

Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...

Symphony (The Stages of Life), Los Angeles Philharmonic (April 29, 1993)

Kaija Saariaho

Du Kristal, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (September 1990)
"…a la fumée," Petri Alanko (alto flute) and Anssi Karttunen
Anssi Karttunen
Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish cellist.Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to the most recent composers. He performs with most world-class orchestras in Europe , Asia Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a Finnish cellist.Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to...

(cello), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (March 1991)
Graal Theatre for violin and orchestra, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...

(violin), BBC Symphony Orchestra (September 1995)
Adriana Mater
Adriana Mater
Adriana Mater is the second opera by the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with a libretto in French by her frequent collaborator, Amin Maalouf. The National Opera of Paris and the Finnish National Opera jointly commissioned the opera. It received its world premiere at the Opéra Bastille on 3 April...

, Orchestra & Choir of the Paris Opera (April 2006)

Rodion Shchedrin

Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Russian composer. He was one оf the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990.-Life and Works:...

Piano Concerto No. 5, Olli Mustonen
Olli Mustonen
Olli Mustonen is a Finnish pianist, conductor and composer.- Biography :He studied harpsichord and piano from the age of five with Ralf Gothóni and then Eero Heinonen. He studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara from 1975...

(piano), Los Angeles Philharmonic (October 21, 1999)

Roberto Sierra

Roberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany...

"Con madera, metal y cuero" for percussion soloist and orchestra, Evelyn Glennie
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...

(percussion), Los Angeles Philharmonic (January 21, 1999)

Steven Stucky

Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary (after Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...

), for wind ensemble (February 1992)
Concerto for Two Flutes, Anne Diener-Zentner (fka Anne Diener-Giles) and Janet Ferguson (flutes), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Feb 23, 1995)
Ancora, Los Angeles Philharmonic (October 5, 1995)
American Muse, Sanford Sylvan
Sanford Sylvan
Sanford Sylvan is an American baritone, born in New York City in 1953. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1994 as Leporello in Don Giovanni by Mozart....

(baritone), Los Angeles Philharmonic (October 29, 1999)
Second Concerto for Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic (March 12, 2004) (Winner: 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Music
Pulitzer Prize for Music
The Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...

)
Radical Light, Los Angeles Philharmonic (October 18, 2007)

Augusta Read Thomas

Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer.Augusta Read Thomas was born in Glen Cove, New York. She attended The Green Vale School and later moved on to St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then studied composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale University and at the Royal Academy of...

Canticle Weaving: Trombone Concerto #2, Ralph Sauer
Ralph Sauer
Ralph Sauer is an American trombonist and teacher. He was Principal Trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 32 years.-Biography:Sauer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated of the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Emory Remington.He was the Principal Trombonist of...

(trombone), Los Angeles Philharmonic (March 29, 2003)

Mark-Anthony Turnage

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...

From the Wreckage for trumpet and orchestra, Håkan Hardenberger
Håkan Hardenberger
Håkan Hardenberger is a Swedish trumpeter. Taking up the trumpet at the age of eight under the guidance of hometown teacher Bo Nilsson, Hardenberger pursued further studies at the Paris Conservatoire, with Pierre Thibaud, and in Los Angeles with Thomas Stevens...

(trumpet), Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (September 5, 2005)
From All Sides, Chicago Symphony and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an American dance company based in Chicago. HSDC performs in downtown Chicago and its metropolitan area and tours nationally and internationally throughout the year....

(January 25, 2007)

Recordings

Salonen is renowned for his dedication to performing and recording contemporary music. His 1985 recording of Witold Lutosławski's Symphony No. 3 won the 1985 Gramophone Award

Gramophone Award

The Gramophone Awards are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry, often referred to as the Oscars for classical music. The winners are selected annually by critics for the Gramophone magazine and various members of the industry, including...

, the Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

, and a Caecilia Prize for Best Contemporary Recording. He later recorded Lutosławski's Symphony No. 4 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Los Angeles Philharmonic

, once for Sony Classical

Sony Classical Records

Sony Classical Records was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. In 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12" record...

, and later in a live recording at Walt Disney Concert Hall for Deutsche Grammophon

Deutsche Grammophon

. He also worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

to record the complete works of György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

for Sony Classical, but unfortunately the project was left unfinished due to lack of funding.

Concerto for Alto Saxophone; Floof; Meeting; Mimo II; Yta I; Yta II; Yta IIb; Yta III – Pekka Savijoki; Anu Komsi; Kari Krikku; Jukka Tiensuu; Jorma Valjakka; Mikael Helasvuo; Tuija Hakkila; Anssi Karttunen; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Avanti! Chamber Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen – Finlandia 0927 43815 2
Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

: Piano Concertos 1, 2, and 3 (Yefim Bronfman
Yefim Bronfman
Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist.-Biography:He was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and emigrated to Israel at the age of 15...

, piano) (Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

); Sony Classical SBK89732
Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

: Symphony No. 3 (Anna Larsson
Anna Larsson
Anna Larsson is a Swedish contralto. Her international debut was made with the Berlin Philharmonic and the conductor Claudio Abbado in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in 1997...

, contralto; Ralph Sauer
Ralph Sauer
Ralph Sauer is an American trombonist and teacher. He was Principal Trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 32 years.-Biography:Sauer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated of the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Emory Remington.He was the Principal Trombonist of...

, trombone; Donald Green, posthorn; Martin Chalifour, violin; Paulist Boy Choristers of California, Women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale
Los Angeles Master Chorale
The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1964 by Roger Wagner to be one of the three original resident companies of the Music Center of Los Angeles County...

); Sony Classical S2K60250
Five Images After Sappho; Gambit; Giro; LA Variations; Mania – Dawn Upshaw; Anssi Karttunen; Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; London Sinfonietta; Esa-Pekka Salonen – Sony SK89158
Foreign Bodies; Insomnia; Wing on Wing – Anu Komsi; Piia Komsi; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Salonen – Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...

477 5375
Red Violin – Joshua Bell, solo violin; Philarmonia Orchestra; Sony Classical SK63010
Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....

: The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring
The Rite of Spring, original French title Le sacre du printemps , is a ballet with music by Igor Stravinsky; choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky; and concept, set design and costumes by Nicholas Roerich...

; Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...

: St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later and very popular "fantasy for orchestra" arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain , based on the vocal score of the "Dream Vision...

(original version); Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

: Suite, The Miraculous Mandarin
The Miraculous Mandarin
The Miraculous Mandarin or The Wonderful Mandarin Op. 19, Sz. 73 , is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918–1924, and based on the story by Melchior Lengyel. Premiered November 27, 1926 in Cologne, Germany, it caused a scandal and was subsequently banned...

; Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...

477 6198

Los Angeles Philharmonic recordings

Complete list of Esa-Pekka Salonen's recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

External links

Esa-Pekka Salonen – Official Website
Esa-Pekka Salonen at Sony Classical
Sony Classical Records
Sony Classical Records was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. In 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12" record...
Esa-Pekka Salonen biography at ChesterNovello
Esa-Pekka Salonen gives us his perspective on Turangalîla-Symphonie, including the first time he heard the piece, and how you conduct such a colossal work
NewMusicBox cover: Esa-Pekka Salonen in conversation with Frank J. Oteri, June 2, 2005
(video excerpts from NewMusicBox)
Los Angeles Times Photo Gallery: "Career retrospective: Esa-Pekka Salonen"
Interactive timeline of Esa-Pekka Salonen's career

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