Leif Selim Segerstam ( , 2 March 1944 – 9 October 2024) was a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist, and pianist, especially known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works. From 1963 onward Segerstam conducted a variety of orchestras in Europe, the Americas and Australia. He was conductor at the Finnish National Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was chief conductor of the ORF Symphony Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Danish National Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. He is widely known through his recordings, including the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers. He is remembered for his contributions to the Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality. He taught as professor of orchestra conducting at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

in Helsinki.

Life and career

Leif Segerstam was born on 2 March 1944 in

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ), to Selim Segerstam and Viola Maria Kronqvist, into a musical Swedish-speaking family. Selim made several song books as a living. The Segerstams then moved to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 1947. During Leif's time at school, he played the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and the

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

with the Helsinki Youth Orchestra. Segerstam's debut concert as a violinist was in 1962, and his conducting debut was in 1963, with Rossini's ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

'', in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

. Following the premiere, Segerstam was hired to conduct the Finnish National Opera, and a year later he conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducted contemporary works such as Stravinsky's '' Symphony of Psalms'' and Shostakovich's First Symphony. Segerstam studied at the

in Helsinki, piano with Jaakko Somero, violin with Leena Siukonen-Penttilä, composition with Einar Englund and

Joonas Kokkonen Joonas Kokkonen (; 13 November 1921 – 2 October 1996) was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera ''The Last Temptations'' has received over 500 performa ...

, and conducting with Jussi Jalas. He received diplomas in violin and conducting in 1963. He studied further at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

in New York City, violin with Louis Persinger, composition with Hall Overton and Vincent Persichetti, and conducting with Jean Morel, and received his postgraduate diploma in 1965. Segerstam took part, as second conductor, in a 1968 tour of the Helsinki Philharmonic to the United States. He was chief conductor and music director of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1970 to 1972, and music director of the Finnish National Opera in 1973 and 1974. He began working with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the early 1970s. He conducted as a guest at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York City, La Scala in Milan and the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in London, with a repertoire including Verdi's '' Aida'' and '' Don Carlo'', R. Strauss' '' Salome'' and '' Elektra'' and Wagner's '' Tannhäuser'' and Der fliegende Holländer''. Segerstam served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra. At the same time, he was chief conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera again and of the

Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival () is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake scenery. Origin The birth ...

in Finland until 2000. He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the ORF Symphony Orchestra (1975 to 1982), the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (1982 to 1989), the Danish National Radio Symphony (1988 to 1995), and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (2012 to 2019). He guest-conducted many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and in Australia, including the Chicago Symphony, the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo. From autumn 1997 to spring 2013, he was professor of orchestra conducting at the

in Helsinki. His students include Rune Bergmann, Susanna Mälkki, Mikk Murdvee, Sasha Mäkilä and Markku Laakso. In 2004 he made a

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

in the Finnish film '' Pelicanman''. In 2024, he was hospitalized after a "brief bout of pneumonia", dying after complications related to the disease at the hospital on 9 October 2024.

Compositions

As a composer, Segerstam is especially known for his many symphonies, which numbered 371 by March 2024. Leif Segerstam

Most of his symphonies last for about 20 minutes, are formed of a single movement and can be performed without a conductor. His 37th symphony, for example, at its premiere featured Segerstam at the piano, leading the orchestra "in a relatively free form". This is partially inspired by Sibelius' Seventh symphony. More than a hundred of Segerstam's symphonies have been performed. Many of his compositions are influenced by nature, and he was often praised for his contributions to Nordic music. He developed a personal approach to aleatory composition through a style called "free pulsation" in which musical events interact flexibly in time, with his composition method persistent throughout his '' œuvre''. His Fifth String Quartet, the ''"Lemming Quartet"'' (1970), ushered in his new chapter of post-expressionistic writing of the 1960s. This composition approach proved to be a quick way of writing large blocks of sound (the temporal order of events being left to the performer) and permitted an exceptionally prolific output. Instead of constituting individual works, his music is more like a musical stream of consciousness (under the headings of ''Thoughts'', ''Episode'' and ''Orchestral Diary Sheet''). It also means that there are numerous scorings of the same piece. This method was first used in the ''"Lemming Quartet"''. Among Segerstam's

juvenilia Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appear as retrospective publications, some time after the author has become well known for later works. Bac ...

(1960–1969) are four string quartets from 1962–1966, and the post- impressionist

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

''Pandora'' from 1967. The quartets are usually labeled as from his "Post- Expressionist" period. He composed 30 string quartets and numerous concertos, for violin, viola, cello and piano. In 2015 Segerstam began work on an opera, ''Völvan'', with a libretto by Elisabeth Wärnfeldt.

Personal life

Segerstam was married to the violinist , concertmaster of the Finnish RSO; they had two children. After they divorced, he married the Helsinki Philharmonic harpist Minnaleena Jankko in 2002; they had three children. In 2009 it was announced that their marriage would end. In a 2024 interview, Segerstam mentioned being autistic. Segerstam died from pneumonia at a

hospital, on 9 October 2024, at the age of 80.

Awards

* 1962, Segerstam won the International Maj Lind Piano Competition. * 1999, he was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize for his work as a "tireless champion of Scandinavian Music". * 2003, he received Svenska Kulturfonden's Prize for Music. * 2004, he was awarded the annual State Prize for Music in Finland. * 2005, he was awarded the Sibelius Medal. * 2014, the

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

granted Segerstam the title of Professor

Honors

* ''Pro Finlandia'' medal of the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

, ''6 December 1992''

Recordings

Segerstam 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 Americans John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish Allan Pettersson, and the Russian

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

. The following is a list of selected orchestral recordings conducted by Segerstam.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Segerstam, Leif 1944 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Finnish classical composers 20th-century Finnish conductors (music) 20th-century Finnish male musicians 20th-century violists 21st-century Finnish classical composers 21st-century Finnish conductors (music) 21st-century Finnish male musicians 21st-century violists Academic staff of Sibelius Academy Classical musicians with disabilities Deaths from pneumonia in Finland Finnish male classical composers Finnish people with disabilities Finnish violists Autistic musicians People from Vaasa Sibelius Academy alumni Swedish-speaking Finns