Biography

Finnish conductor Kristian Sallinen is an exceptional young talent who exhibits a natural authority and charismatic flair on the podium. With significant orchestral debuts as well as numerous returns across the Nordic territory and beyond, he is rapidly gaining international attention.

The 2025/26 season features several notable engagements, including subscription debuts with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (season-closing concerts), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symfoniorkester and Oulu Sinfonia, as well as Sallinen’s opera debut with Finnish National Opera in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. First-time collaborations include Gothenburg Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Gävle Symphony Orchestra as well as his Australian debut with Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, while return appearances – all subscriptions – include RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Musica.

Highlights of 2024/25 included subscription debuts with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, as well as Norwegian, Swedish, Latvian and Portuguese debuts – again in subscription concerts – with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Musica. First-time collaborations and national debuts extended to Brussels Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Iceland Symphony orchestras, while Sallinen returned to the UK for his fourth engagement with BBC Symphony Orchestra as well as debut appearances with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

From Mozart and Beethoven to Sibelius, Kodály, Stravinsky and Bacewicz, Sallinen’s wide-ranging repertoire also features a strong interest in contemporary music; recent/forthcoming highlights include conducting ‘2024 festival composer’ Jessie Montgomery’s music at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival as well as world premiere performances of Jouni Hirvelä’s Helsinki Variations (Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, 2024) and Stephen James Webb’s Violin Concerto (Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, 2026). Throughout the 2025/26 season Sallinen champions the music of other contemporary Nordic compatriots such as Magnus Lindberg, Olli Kortekangas and Tebogo Monnakgotla.

Recent and upcoming collaborations with internationally renowned soloists, meanwhile, include Maxim Vengerov, Lawrence Power, Inmo Yang, Senja Rummukainen, Ava Bahari and Anu Komsi, to name a few. In January 2024 the television show “Song of My Life”, featuring Sallinen with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in concert, was broadcast to 850,000 viewers in Finland, roughly one in six of the country’s population.

Sallinen completed his Orchestral Conducting studies (with Sakari Oramo) at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in Spring 2025. A former student of Jorma Panula, he has been mentored by Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hannu Lintu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Susanna Mälkki, among others. His musical studies began at the age of five on the violin, and in 2013 he switched to the viola. A national prize-winner and former member of the Seele String Quartet, Sallinen has performed at festivals across Europe and appeared as a soloist with orchestras including Finnish Radio Symphony.

2025/26 season only. Please contact HarrisonParrott if you wish to edit this biography.