Dima Slobodeniouk has been named the next Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, to succeed Okko Kamu in autumn 2016.
Slobodeniouk will also head the annual Sibelius Festival. “We are looking forward to our time with Slobodeniouk with great enthusiasm,” the Orchestra’s General Manager, Teemu Kirjonen, has said.
Born in Russia in 1975, Slobodeniouk studied in Finland and has strong ties to the country and its musical culture. He has conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia since 2013 and will continue to spend some of his time there while Principal Conductor at Lahti.
The Lahti Symphony Orchestra specialises in Finnish composers, most of all Jean Sibelius, the namesake of the Festival, the orchestra’s home venue and Finland’s greatest conservatoire. Kalevi Aho was Composer-in-Residence from 1992 to 2011, and the orchestra also has strong ties to Joonas Kokkonen, Sebastian Fagerlund and Einojuhani Rautavaara. The LSO has performed at the BBC Proms, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Vienna’s Musikverein. Its many records on the independent Scandinavian label BIS have won great critical acclaim.
By Robbie Carney