Osmo's Finnish Finale

As most Minnesota Orchestra fans know, our music director, Osmo Vänskä, is a very big deal in Finland. When we perform there, we're frequently met at the border by TV cameras and print reporters, and they're not there to capture the tour escapades of our viola section. (Although, come to think of it, that would be one hell of an entertaining thing to record.) Osmo's work in his home country - first as principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic, and then as the conductor who transformed the little-known Sinfonia Lahti into an internationally acclaimed recording and touring orchestra - is well-documented, and an apt comparison could be made between Osmo's 20-year tenure in Lahti and what Sir Simon Rattle accomplished with England's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

This past week was Osmo's last hurrah with his Lahti band. He's served as their chief conductor since 1988, and unlike many conductors, who dump their smaller orchestras the moment they land a bigger gig, he's stuck with Lahti even while taking on music directorships with the BBC Scottish Symphony, and of course, us. He and his wife, Pirkko, still have a home in a small town between Lahti and Helsinki, and despite spending the majority of their year in Minneapolis (US immigration laws restrict the amount of time landed immigrants can spend abroad and still work in America,) they make a point of getting back to Finland whenever possible.

Osmo's last concert as Sinfonia Lahti's music director was pretty hefty stuff, and definitely aimed at Finland's musical connoisseurs. The first half featured the world premiere of a new concerto for percussion ensemble by Icelandic composer Áskell Másson, with the deeply impressive Kroumata as soloists. (Kroumata will be with us in Minneapolis in a few weeks as part of our season-ending Percussion Festival...) Following intermission was Bruckner's monumental 9th Symphony, which is always an event.



The concert actually took place two days ago, so it's too late for a last-minute whirlwind trip to Lahti, but through the efforts of ClassicLive, a great fledgling company based in that same city, you can actually watch a high-quality audio and video stream of the concert anytime between now and May 29. It's not a free service - you have to set up an account and pay for the time you spend watching their streams - but I'm telling you, it's worth it. They have an impressive amount of content available from multiple European orchestras (behind-the-scenes stuff and a few bits of silliness like Osmo whistling in addition to full-length concerts,) the quality of the sound and picture is absolutely top-of-the-line, and their rates are pretty reasonable (as little as €5 - I think that's around $7.75 at the moment,) especially if you plan to watch more than a single concert. (Full disclosure: a friend of mine works for the company.)

Osmo's departure from Lahti means that we are now officially his only orchestra, which ought to lead to some interesting speculation over the coming years. Lots of conductors maintain multiple music directorships in America and overseas, and while Osmo already spends an almost unheard-of number of weeks each year conducting us (I believe it's 19 weeks next year, as compared with an average of 12-15 for most American MDs,) I'd be surprised if his name didn't surface on the wish lists of any number of European and/or Asian bands looking for new leadership. With his reputation for significantly elevating the national and international profiles of the orchestras he leads, we may be sharing him again sooner rather than later...