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The 2025/26 season sees Ollikainen debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra at the NHK Music Festival, among others. She also returns to the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, and SWR Symphonieorchester. In March, she leads the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on their European tour.
Highlights from recent seasons include debuts and appearances with the Orchestre National de France, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Wiener Symphoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic. In the opera house, Ollikainen has conducted at the Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Royal Danish Opera, Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Finnish National Opera, and Gothenburg 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 Thorvaldsdottir's ARCHORA / AIŌN on Sono Luminus to critical acclaim; the album was selected as part of The New York Times's ‘Best Classical Music Albums of 2023’ and The 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, Ollikainen won the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition at the age of 21. Today, the support of young musicians is close to her 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.
2025/26 season / 377 words. Not to be altered without permission.