Ondine is a Finnish classical record label founded in 1985 in

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 ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Its catalogue with several award-winning releases includes over 600 titles with major Finnish and international artists. Ondine's roster of artists and ensembles include conductor and pianist

Christoph Eschenbach Christoph Eschenbach (; born 20 February 1940) is a German pianist and conductor. Early life Eschenbach was born on 20 February 1940 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland) as Christoph Ringmann. His parents were Margarethe (née Jaross), a ...

, conductors

Hannu Lintu Hannu Petteri Lintu (born 13 October 1967) is a Finnish conductor. Early life and education Hannu Lintu was born in Rauma, the son of Johannes Lintu, an electrical engineer, and his wife Lilja Lintu (née Toivonen), a photographer. He studied p ...

, Robert Trevino,

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

, Olari Elts, Jaime Martín,

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conducting, 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 Sw ...

Jukka-Pekka Saraste Jukka-Pekka Saraste (born 22 April 1956) is a Finnish conductor and violinist. Biography Saraste was born in Heinola, the son of teachers Kauko Pekka Saraste and Ritva Leena-Marjatta (Ruoranen) Saraste. He was trained as a violinist at the Cons ...

Sakari Oramo Sakari Markus Oramo, (born 26 October 1965) is a Finnish conductor. He is chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Born in Helsinki, Oramo is the son of two music academics who taught at the Sibelius Academy, Ilk ...

Leif Segerstam 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 vari ...

John Storgårds John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds (born 20 October 1963) is a Finnish conductor and violinist. Biography John Storgårds was born in Helsinki, the son of economist Gunnar Storgårds and his wife Marjatta (Ikonen) Storgårds. He studied violin with E ...

and

Mikko Franck Mikko Franck (born 1 April 1979) is a Finnish conductor and violinist. Biography Franck was born in Helsinki. He began learning the violin at the age of 5 and started violin studies at the Sibelius Academy in 1992. The Academy let Franck conduct ...

, orchestras such as The

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...

, the

Orchestre de Paris The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. History In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ...

, the

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish: ''Radion sinfoniaorkesteri'', Swedish: ''Radions symfoniorkester''; abbreviated as RSO) is a Finnish Radio orchestra, broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasti ...

Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra () is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was founded in 1925 with Walther ...

Royal Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. It also gave mont ...

, the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

, the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

, 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

Czech Philharmonic The Czech Philharmonic () is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. Its principal performing venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall. History The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orche ...

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra ( ''(ERSO)'') (formerly known as the Symphony Orchestra of the Estonian Radio Committee, Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Estonian SSR State Symphony Orchestra) is a symphony orchestra based in Talli ...

, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and the

Helsinki Philharmonic The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (; ; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic Orchestra was the first pe ...

, Tetzlaff String Quartet,

Latvian Radio Choir The Latvian Radio Choir (Latvijas Radio koris) is the professional chamber choir of Latvian Radio which was founded in 1940 by the Latvian conductor Teodors Kalnins. Following the musical direction by Edgars Račevskis (1963–1986) and Juris K ...

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is a professional choir based in Estonia. It was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was its conductor for twenty years. In 2001, Paul Hillier followed Kaljuste's tenure, becoming the EPCC's princi ...

, pianists

Lars Vogt Lars Vogt (8 September 1970 – 5 September 2022) was a German classical pianist, conductor and academic teacher. Noted by ''The New York Times'' for his interpretations of Johannes Brahms, Brahms, Vogt performed as a soloist with major orchestr ...

Olli Mustonen Olli Mustonen (born 7 June 1967) is a Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer. Biography Mustonen studied harpsichord and piano from the age of five with Ralf Gothóni and then Eero Heinonen. He studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaar ...

, violinists

Christian Tetzlaff Christian Tetzlaff (born 29 April 1966) is a German violinist who has performed internationally, with a focus on chamber music. Biography Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg. His parents were amateur musicians and met in a church choir. He began playi ...

Pekka Kuusisto Pekka Kuusisto (born 7 October 1976) is a Finnish musician. Biography Kuusisto comes from a musical lineage. His grandfather was the composer and organist Taneli Kuusisto, his father Ilkka Kuusisto, who had many functions in Finnish musical l ...

, cellist

Truls Mørk Truls Olaf Otterbech Mørk (born 25 April 1961) is a Norwegian cellist. Biography Mørk was born in Bergen, Norway to a cellist father, John Fritjof Mørk, and a pianist mother, Turid Otterbech. His mother began teaching him the piano when he ...

, clarinetist Kari Kriikku and singers

Gerald Finley Gerald Hunter Finley, (born January 30, 1960) is a Canadian bass-baritone opera singer. Early life Finley was born in Montreal and studied music at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Ottawa, the University of Ottawa, King's College, Cambridge and ...

Soile Isokoski Soile Marja Isokoski (born 14 February 1957) is a Finnish lyric soprano, active in opera, concert works and lieder. Life and career Isokoski was born in Posio, Finland. She graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (a cantor-organist dipl ...

and Dmitry Hvorostovsky. In recent years the label has received several awards, including

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

awards and nominations as well as Gramophone Awards, BBC Music Magazine Awards, and ICMA Awards. The label has maintained a long and fruitful association with the Finnish composers

Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a List of compositions by Einojuhani Rautavaara, gre ...

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; 14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023) was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the En ...

and

Magnus Lindberg Magnus Gustaf Adolf Lindberg (born 27 June 1958) is a Finnish composer and pianist. He was the New York Philharmonic's composer-in-residence from 2009 to 2012 and the London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer-in-residence from 2014 to 2017. Ear ...

, having recorded the premieres of many of their works and garnering many awards along the way. The recording of Einojuhani Rautavaara's 7th Symphony (Angel of Light), was released in 1996 to a huge commercial success gaining a

nomination. Ondine has also released premiere recordings of several works by living Baltic composers, including

Pēteris Vasks Pēteris Vasks (born 16 April 1946) is a Latvian composer. Biography Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player wit ...

and

Erkki-Sven Tüür Erkki-Sven Tüür (; born 16 October 1959) is an Estonian composer. Life and career Tüür was born in Kärdla on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. He studied flute and percussion at the Tallinn Music School from 1976 to 1980 and composition wi ...

History

The roots of Ondine date back to 1985 when founder Reijo Kiilunen released the very first Ondine album under the auspices of the renowned Finnish Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. The label's initial mission was to produce one live album at the Festival each season. The fourth album, however, featured Einojuhani Rautavaara's opera ''Thomas'', raising major international attention and opening up the possibility for North American distribution. Kiilunen, who was running the Festival's concert agency and had begun the recording activity part-time, soon decided to devote himself fully to the development of this new business, producing and editing the first 50 releases himself. In 1991, Seppo Siirala joined as producer, and the Helsinki-based company has been expanding steadily since. Today, Ondine continues to uphold its reputation as one of the most respected labels in classical music.

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

acquired Ondine in 2008 and became the company's global distributor.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control

Ondine Records Ondine is a Finnish classical record label founded in 1985 in Helsinki, Finland. Its catalogue with several award-winning releases includes over 600 titles with major Finnish and international artists. Ondine's roster of artists and ensembles i ...

Finnish record labels Record labels established in 1985 IFPI members 1985 establishments in Finland

History

See also

References

External links