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Eva Ollikainen

Conductor
Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Iceland Symphony Orchestra

  • With her elegant, expressive body language, natural stage presence and infectious musicality, Eva Ollikainen is one of the leading conductors of our time. Since 2020, she has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra which celebrates their 75th anniversary this season. Previously, she was Chief Conductor of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. 

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  • The 2024/25 season sees Ollikainen make major debuts including Orchestre National de France, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Auditorium-Orchestre National de Lyon. Elsewhere, she makes her Musikverein debut with the Wiener Symphoniker and returns to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Helsinki Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and Baltimore Symphony, and conducts an August Everding production of The Magic Flute at the Staatsoper Berlin.  


    Highlights from recent seasons include appearances with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra as well as with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, SWR Symphonieorchester and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. In the opera house, Ollikainen has conducted at the Semperoper Dresden, Royal Danish Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Kungliga Operan Stockholm and the Finnish National Opera. 


    Curious about contemporary music, Eva Ollikainen has performed a wide range of repertoire with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and is well known for championing the music of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, with whom Ollikainen has a close artistic partnership. In 2023, Ollikainen and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra released Anna Thorvaldsdottir ARCHORA / AIŌN on Sono Luminus to critical acclaim; the album was selected as part of New York Times's Best Classical Music Albums of 2023 and Boston Globe's 10 best classical albums of the year. This release follows the world premiere of ARCHORA, which was given by Ollikainen at her BBC Proms debut in 2022 with the BBC Philharmonic; the premiere was selected as one of The Guardian’s Classical Highlights of 2022. 


    A former student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy, Eva Ollikainen won the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition at the age of 21. Today, the support of young musicians is close to her own heart. She teaches regularly at the Sibelius Academy and leads masterclasses at the Fiskars Summer Festival, Nordisk Dirigentforum and institutions such as the Peabody Institute and the Royal Danish Academy of Music. She founded the Iceland Symphony‘s Conducting Academy in 2021. 

    2024/25 season / 388 words. Not to be altered without permission.

Performances

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'She is a powerhouse'

Los Angeles Times

'Ollikainen went on to end her concert with Sibelius’s Second Symphony, in a performance of bold gestures and striking colours, played with great vivacity by the BBC Philharmonic'

The Guardian

'It was here that Ollikainen showed her true worth, focusing on the glittering delicacies of Tchaikovsky’s filigree scoring. The result was enchanting...'

The Scotsman

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Intermusica represents Eva Ollikainen worldwide.

Dennis Gerlach
Director, Munich
+44 20 7608 9919
dgerlach@intermusica.com

Aimee Chow
Joint Head of Artist Management
+44 20 7608 9949
achow@intermusica.com

Elsa Thiemar
Assistant Artist Manager
+44 (0) 20 76089937
ethiemar@intermusica.com

All artists

Chansonnier

HK Gruber

Counter-tenor

Tim Mead

Harpsichord

Richard Egarr

Piano accompanist

Roger Vignoles

Saxophone

Jess Gillam

Contralto

Avery Amereau