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The Most Famous

CONDUCTORS from Finland

This page contains a list of the greatest Finnish Conductors. The pantheon dataset contains 97 Conductors, 6 of which were born in Finland. This makes Finland the birth place of the 7th most number of Conductors behind United States and Austria.

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Finnish Conductors of all time. This list of famous Finnish Conductors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Leif Segerstam (1944 - )

With an HPI of 55.59, Leif Segerstam is the most famous Finnish Conductor. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.

Leif Selim Segerstam ( LAYF, Swedish: [ˈlɛjf ˈsěːɡɛʂʈam]; born 2 March 1944) is a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist and pianist, especially known for writing 371 symphonies (as of January 2024), along with other works in his extensive oeuvre. Segerstam has conducted a variety of orchestras since 1963; mostly American, Australian and European. He is widely known through his recordings, which include the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers, such as the American composers John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish composer Allan Pettersson and the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke. His contributions to the Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality, have contributed to his fame. He is well known for his high energy during performances, contributing to the musicality of the orchestra as a whole.

2. Paavo Berglund (1929 - 2012)

With an HPI of 49.82, Paavo Berglund is the 2nd most famous Finnish Conductor. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund (14 April 1929 – 25 January 2012) was a Finnish conductor and violinist.

3. Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958 - )

With an HPI of 49.75, Esa-Pekka Salonen is the 3rd most famous Finnish Conductor. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Esa-Pekka Salonen (pronounced [ˈesɑˌpekːɑ ˈsɑlonen] ; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

4. Robert Kajanus (1856 - 1933)

With an HPI of 49.11, Robert Kajanus is the 4th most famous Finnish Conductor. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Robert Kajanus (2 December 1856 – 6 July 1933) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and interpreter of the music of Jean Sibelius.

Pantheon has 6 people classified as conductors born between 1856 and 1958. Of these 6, 4 (66.67%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living conductors include Leif Segerstam, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The most famous deceased conductors include Paavo Berglund and Robert Kajanus. As of April 2022, 1 new conductors have been added to Pantheon including Osmo Vänskä.