Salonen, Esa-Pekka (1958– )

Finnish conductor and composer. He studied the French horn and made his UK conducting debut in 1983 with the London Philharmonia Orchestra. He was appointed chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and became music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992.

Salonen made the first recording of Lutoslawski's Symphony No. 3 in 1986. His hard-edged, relentless style has been compared to that of conductor Pierre Boulez. His compositions include Horn Music I (1976) and Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (1980). Floof (1982) is an experimental piece (heavily revised and finalized in 1990) that uses texts by the Polish science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem; it won the UNESCO Rostrum prize in 1992, and has been widely performed and broadcast in Europe and the USA. During 1996, Salonen composed a major orchestral piece, L.A. Variations, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and premiered in January 1997. Another orchestral work, Gambit, premiered in 1998 in Amsterdam. Five Images After Sappho, a song-cycle for soprano and 14 instruments, premiered in 1999.