Santtu-Matias Rouvali is chief conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and artistic director of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in his native Finland. From 2017 to 2025, he was also chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
In 2022, Rouvali made his BBC Proms debut with the Philharmonia, and each year the conductor and orchestra perform at the Mikkeli Festival in Finland. In September 2025, the Philharmonia’s 80th anniversary was celebrated with a major tour of the United States, concluding with a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Rouvali has regularly guest conducted such orchestras as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Vienna Symphony, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the orchestras of New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Since his impressive debut with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in January 2020, he has returned annually, most recently in March 2025, when he conducted works by Clyne, Rachmaninoff and Sibelius.
Steadily building an extensive discography with his orchestras in London and Tampere, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra he completed a Sibelius cycle that earned him a Gramophone Editor's Choice, a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and a Diapason d'Or, among other awards.
Originally a percussionist, Rouvali studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Jorma Panula, Leif Segerstam and Hannu Lintu, among others.