Susanna Mälkki

Susanna Mälkki (born Helsinki, Finland, 13 March 1969) is a Finnish conductor. Trained as a cellist as a pupil of Hannu Kiiski, she later studied conducting with Jorma Panulacite news | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4156735,00.html | title=In a class of her own | publisher="The Guardian" | author=Charlotte Higgins |date=22 March 2001 | accessdate=2007-01-19] , as well as Eri Klas and Leif Segerstam, at the Sibelius Academy. She has also studied at London's Royal Academy of Music [Andrew Clark, "Idealist with a determined streak." Financial Times, 1 March 2005.] . She participated in a Sibelius Academy Conductor's Workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1998, under the supervision of Panula and Esa-Pekka Salonen [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E4D7103EF934A15751C0A96E958260&sec=&pagewanted=all Allan Kozinn, "CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Gestures, Nods and Eyebrows to Inspire Conductors." New York Times, 27 February 1998.] ] .

From 1995 to 1998, she was first cellist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO). She left her position with the GSO to devote herself to conducting ^[2] . From 2002-2005, she was the music director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/arts/11arts.1.html?ex=1169269200&en=64d529d590851742&ei=5070 Lawrence Van Gelder (compiler), "Arts, Briefly": "On the Conductorial Front". New York Times, June 11, 2005.] ] . Her debut with the Ensemble InterContemporain (EIC) was in August 2004, in a program of Harrison Birtwistle at the Lucerne Festival. She became the EIC's Music Director in 2006.

Her other work in contemporary music includes opera productions. Mälkki conducted the Finnish premiere of Thomas Adès' Powder Her Face in 1999, which led to Adès inviting Mälkki to be his assistant for further performances of this opera in the UK, at the Almeida Theatre, where, as she noted, "I ended up conducting some of the performances". She has also conducted Neither by Morton Feldman (text of Samuel Beckett) in Copenhagen in 2004, and Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin at the Finnish National Opera. Her guest conducting engagements have included work with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) [cite news | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/03/27/bmcbso27.xml | title=Seven Words is one too many | publisher="Telegraph" | author=Matthew Rye |date=27 March 2001 | accessdate=2007-02-16] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,699226,00.html Review from The Guardian, 28 March 2001, of concert with BCMG with music of David Sawer, Bent Sorensen, and Claire Chipperfield.] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,705313,00.html Review from The Guardian, 2 February 2002, of premiere of Deirdre Gribbin work "Venus Blazing".] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,743202,00.html Review from The Guardian, 6 May 2002, of BCMG performance of Feldman/Beckett Neither.] ] [cite news | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/05/09/bmivan09.xml | title=Masterpiece of music-theatre rescued from oblivion | publisher="Telegraph" | author=Ivan Hewett | date=9 May 2002 | accessdate=2007-02-16] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/06/19/bmgeof19.xml "A pace that makes rigor mortis seem athletic". Telegraph, 19 June 2002.] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,951709,00.html Review from The Guardian, 8 May 2003, of BCMG performance of Param Vir's Theatre of Magical Beings.] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1432572,00.html Review from The Guardian, 8 March 2005, of BCMG performance of music by Huw Watkins and Stuart MacRae.] ] . In 2006, she conducted Kaija Saariaho's La Passion de Simone at Peter Sellars' New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna [Mark Swed, "Getting inside a haunting outsider". Los Angeles Times, 29 November 2006.] .

Mälkki made her New Zealand conducting debut in November 2006 with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=18&objectid=10409580 William Dart, "Instinctive desire to bring out beauty". New Zealand Herald, 8 November 2006.] ] [ [http://www.captimes.co.nz/rev/27/n/1010/NZSOconductorSusannaM228lkki.boss Garth Wilshere, Review of NZSO, conductor Susanna Mälkki, violin soloist Vadim Repin, Michael Fowler Centre. Capital Times, 8 November 2006.] ] . Her North American conducting debut was in February 2007 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra [Sarah Bryan Miller, "Orchestra sails through a nautical theme". St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 February 2007.] . Her conducting debut at the BBC Proms was in July 2007, leading the London Sinfonietta. [cite news | url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/proms2007/story/0,,2140066,00.html | title=London Sinfonietta/Malkki (review of Prom 25, 2007) | publisher="The Guardian" | date=2 August 2007 | accessdate=2007-08-03] [cite news | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/08/02/nosplit/bmproms102.xml | title=BBC Proms review: Epic density and scope | publisher="Telegraph" | author=Ivan Hewett | date=1 August 2007 | accessdate=2007-08-04]

She has recorded two works of Stuart MacRae for the NMC label, Two Scenes from the Death of Count Ugolino and Motus [cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,1862267,00.html | title=MacRae: Violin Concerto; Two Scenes From the Death of Count Ugolino; Motus, etc, Tetzlaff/ BBCSSO/ Volkov/ Lixenberg/ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/ Malkki | publisher="The Guardian" | author=Andrew Clements | date=1 September 2006 | accessdate=2007-08-03] , and "Tiroirs" of David Sawer, also for the NMC label. [cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2003743,00.html | title=Sawer: Tiroirs; From Morning to Midnight - Suite; The Memory of Water etc; BBCSO/ Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/ Brabbins/ Malkki | publisher="The Guardian" | author=Andrew Clements | date=2 February 2007 | accessdate=2007-08-03]

References

External links

* [http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artists/Susanna_Malkki.asp Link to her official agency biography (Harrison Parrott)]

* [http://www.ensembleinter.com/director.php Ensemble InterContemporain biography (in French)]
* [http://www.fennicagehrman.fi/highlights/hl15_malkki.pdf Henna Salmela, Susanna Mälkki: interpreting Puumala (interview about the composer Veli-Matti Puumala).]
* [http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=136 Stuart MacRae, "Violin Concerto". NMC catalog listing, NMC D115.]
* [http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/?page=catalogue/item.html&id=140 David Sawer, "Tiroirs" et al., NMC catalog listing, NMC D116.]