The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra ( Finnish:''Tampere Filharmonia'') is a Finnish orchestra based in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population ...

. Founded in 1930, and maintained by the municipality of Tampere since 1947, the orchestra is currently based in the Tampere Hall. The orchestra collaborates with the Tampere Opera and Tampere Ballet and regularly participates in the

Tampere Biennale The Tampere Music Festivals organises three music events in the city of Tampere, Finland. Tampere Jazz Happening The Tampere Jazz Happenitakes place every November, bringing together friends of modern jazz. It was first held in 1982. The uncompr ...

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

History

In 1929, the Tampere Music Board decided to establish a local orchestra, and entrusted the task of assembling the musicians to Elias Kiianmies, who became the orchestra's first chief conductor. The ensemble, first named the ''Tampereen Orkesteri'' (Tampere Orchestra) and consisting of 34 musicians, gave its first performance on January 6, 1930 in the Tampere Town Hall. In the spring of 1932, Eero Kosonen became chief conductor of the orchestra, and held the post for a record 37 years. In 1947, the municipality took over the orchestra, renaming it the ''Tampereen Kaupunginorkesteri'' (Tampere City Orchestra). Under the new name, the orchestra gave its first performance on January 9. During the 1970s, the number of musicians increased to 59. In 1974, the orchestra released its first record, Kalevi Aho's Symphony No. 4. Since then, 40 recordings have been released locally and internationally, on such labels as Finlandia and Ondine. As a part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, the orchestra made its first international tour, visiting

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

and

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linkö ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. The orchestra first toured the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1987.

In 1990, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-born American Leonid Grin became the orchestra's first chief conductor from outside of Finland. The orchestra relocated to the new 1756-seat Tampere Hall. In 1998,

Eri Klas Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor. Klas was born into a Jewish family in Tallinn. His mother was pianist Anna Klas. His father, Eduard Klas, was killed in 1941, during the Holocaust.''Eesti Entsüklope ...

became the orchestra's chief conductor, and held the post until 2006. Klas had the title of conductor laureate of the orchestra until his death in 2016. The orchestra received its current name in 2002. The size of the orchestra continued to increase and reached 97 musicians in 2005, thus becoming the only full-scale Finnish symphony orchestra outside

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. With the start of the 2013-2014 season, the orchestra's chief conductor is Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who first guest-conducted the orchestra in January 2010. He subsequently returned as a guest conductor in December 2011. In September 2012, the orchestra announced Rouvali's appointment as chief conductor, effective with the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. Following contract extensions with the orchestra, in April 2022, the orchestra announced that Rouvali is to conclude his chief conductorship at the close of the 2022-2023 season. In February 2022,

Matthew Halls Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

first guest-conducted the orchestra. In September 2022, the orchestra announced the appointment of Halls as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2023-2024 season, with an initial contract of 3 years. The orchestra has educational programmes aimed at children and youth, and is the first Finnish orchestra with a young listeners' club. Outside of classical music, the orchestra participated in the recording of the

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

album ''Vendetta'' by the Finnish band Celesty. They have also collaborated with such rock bands and musicians as

Eppu Normaali Eppu Normaali is one of the most popular rock bands in Finland. The band formed in 1976 in Ylöjärvi, a small town near Tampere. The band is the best-selling music artist in Finland, with certified sales of nearly two million records, and it ...

and Steve Vai.

Chief conductors

* Elias Kiianmies (1930–1932) * Eero Kosonen (1932–1968) * Juhani Raiskinen (1969–1973) * Jouko Saari (1973–1974) * Paavo Rautio (1974–1987) *

Atso Almila Atso Almila (born 13 June 1953, in Helsinki 1) is a Finnish orchestral conductor, music director, composer, trombonist and teacher. He has worked with most Finnish orchestras as a guest conductor or otherwise. Though he primarily operates in Fin ...

(1987–1989) * Ari Rasilainen (1989–1990) *

Leonid Grin Leonid Grin (Russian: Леонид Грин, IPA: �ɪɐˈnʲid ɡrʲin (born ) is an American conductor. Grin was born in Dnipropetrovsk ( UkSSR/ Ukraine). Trained from early childhood on as a pianist and composer, he later studied orchestra con ...

(1990–1994) * Tuomas Ollila (1994–1998) *

(1998–2006) *

John Storgårds John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds (born 20 October 1963 in Helsinki) is a Finnish violinist and conductor. Biography Storgårds studied violin with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and continued his violin studie ...

(2006–2009) * Hannu Lintu (2009–2013) * Santtu-Matias Rouvali (2013–present)

References

External links

*
Tampere Philharmonic Finnish-language page on the orchestra's history

Ondine record label page on Tampere Philharmonic

Discogs.com page on Tampere Philharmonic
{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1930 Finnish orchestras Tampere 1930 establishments in Finland