Meet Sakari Oramo, the chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
He will be appearing at the BBC Proms four times this year, including at the Last Night of the Proms. But what else do we know about Sakari?
Who is Sakari Oramo?
Sakari Oramo, 58, is a Finnish conductor who has been chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2013. His links with England go back much further than that, however, as he was principal conductor and then music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2008. He is well known as an ardent champion of British music, and in 2009 was awarded an honorary OBE for services to music in Birmingham.
What BBC Proms is Sakari Oramo conducting this year?
Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in four BBC Proms in 2024. In two of them, he and his players celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Holst – with performances of the British composer’s The Cloud Messenger (plus the Elgar Cello Concerto) on 3 August and then, on 25 August, The Planets. In between these, on 9 August they scale the mighty peaks of Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. And then, on Saturday 14 September, it’s the big one: the Last Night of the Proms.
Has Sakari Oramo conducted the Last Night before?
Yes. On no fewer than five occasions, in fact – in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021. In doing so, he has followed in the recent tradition of chief conductors of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in conducting the Last Night on regular occasions, while also leaving the event free for different conductors to enjoy the spotlight in other years.
What music is Sakari Oramo best known for?
Though very much an all-rounder, he has won plaudits for his performances and recordings of orchestral and choral works by British composers. During his time at the CBSO, for instance, he introduced the music of John Foulds (1889-1930) to many listeners through two acclaimed discs of little-known composer’s orchestral works.
On more familiar ground, in 2008 the Elgar Society presented him with the prestigious Elgar Medal for his devotion to the great composer’s music including, in 2007, performances of all three oratorios – The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles and The Kingdom – at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. It’s not all about Britain, however, and Oramo’s performances and recordings of Finnish music, especially Sibelius, are also particularly highly rated.
Does he conduct any orchestras outside Britain?
Yes. His previous major posts have included those of chief conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in his home country and, in neighbouring Sweden, chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. For 14 years, he was also principal conductor of West Coast Kokkola Opera, also in Finland.
Was Sakari Oramo always a conductor?
No. Sakari Oramo began his career as a violinist. Before training as a conductor, he was concertmaster (leader) of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and he occasionally still plays in public – in 2014, for instance, he made his Proms debut as a violinist, joining fellow fiddler Janine Jansen for Prokofiev’s Sonata in C major for two violins. The move from bow to baton came in his 20s, in 1989. ‘In a way, stepping up from the first desk of the violins to the conductor’s podium is the longest step in musical life,’ Oramo told BBC Music Magazine’s All The Right Notes podcast earlier this year.
‘On the other hand, when I made that step, I had both a lot of support and many precedents – most Finnish conductors have been orchestral musicians beforehand. Not all have been violinists, but former string players do have a special possibility to shape an orchestra’s sound because so many of the musicians within it are string players – if you have an idea about string playing and sound, it makes it that much easier to give specific instructions.’
Where did Sakari Oramo learn to conduct?
Sakari Oramo was a pupil of the famous conducting teacher Jorma Panula, whose other pupils at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy have included Esa-Pekka Salonen, Osmo Vänska, Dalia Stasevska and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, all of whom have held important conducting posts in Britain and the US. ‘Jorma didn’t teach us all to be similar as conductors; he taught us distinctly to be different’ Oramo has told BBC Music Magazine.
‘He gave us a method of approaching music and conducting, but not a technical method of doing so. Many conducting teachers create clones of themselves or of each other, but Jorma made sure that all of his students conducted according to their own personality and according to their own personal needs. This is what, I think, sets him apart from any other big conducting teacher.’
And what is Oramo’s personality as a conductor?
Most musicians and audiences would probably agree that calmness, empathy and attention to detail are his hallmarks – for flamboyant showmanship, look elsewhere. ‘A conductor needs to seduce the orchestra to play at its best, and that’s the hard part!’ he says. ‘That’s where personality really comes into the equation.’
How well does he get on with his musicians?
Very well, by all accounts, although Oramo is the first to admit that he is the type to go home for a quiet evening in rather head out for a night on the town with his players. He is, meanwhile, ferociously loyal to musicians, as was demonstrated when, last year, he led the protests against the proposed closure of the BBC Singers, despite having such a high-profile BBC profile himself. Following discussions, the decision was later reversed.
Does Sakari Oramo have a musical family?
He is married to the leading Finnish soprano Anu Komsi, who herself has appeared at the BBC Proms on five occasions and who will this year be singing in the world premiere of Lara Poe’s Laulut maaseudulta (Songs from the Countryside) in the same Prom as Holst’s The Planets. His older son, Taavi Oramo, is also a conductor.