Finns take pole position at Salzburg 2025

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norman lebrecht

March 06, 2024

Nikolaus Bachler, head of the Salzburg Easter Festival, has engaged the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen to be Orchestra in Residence in 2025. It’s a first for any Finnish group.

Esa-Pekka says: ‘The FRSO was the first professional orchestra I ever conducted. I’ve been delighted and proud to watch it develop into a world-class ensemble.

In other Salzburg news for Easter 2025, the centerpiece will be a new production of Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Khovanshchina’, staged by British director Simon McBurney. Salonen will also conduct two concerts with music by Sibelius, Mahler and himself. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg will play three more concerts, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, Maxim Emelyanychev and Tabita Berglund.