LAC (Lugano art and culture)

LuganoMusica: Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra

29 March 2023

Edited by Manuela Lozza

Soloist violinist Julian Rachlin Scheduled Beethoven, Sibelius and Mendelssohn's Concerto in E minor

Monday 3rd April, thanks to the LuganoMusica programme, the Philharmonia Orchestra will arrive at the LAC. This is the main British orchestra, today led by the XNUMX-year-old Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

Rouvali , together with Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Lahav Shani and Klaus Mäkelä, is among the young and extraordinary talents on the podium to whom the LuganoMusica season this year is dedicating great attention.

The program combines Ludwig van Beethoven 's Leonora III Overture with the Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82 by his compatriot Jean Sibelius.

At the center is Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, performed by Julian Rachlin. The Austrian violinist of Lithuanian origin, a former guest of LuganoMusica , has performed with nearly all the world's leading orchestras over a thirty-year career and interprets one of the most iconic masterpieces for violin and orchestra.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Philharmonia Orchestra

At just 35, Rouvali is principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony and artistic director of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Rouvali combines a marked musical refinement with a particular attention to the musicians of the orchestra, real collaborators and allies.

Perhaps for this reason the Philharmonia Orchestra immediately wanted him as a guide. In June 2019, the Times wrote: "Rouvali has made an impressive start to his tenure as director-designate of the Philharmonia, transforming this relatively offbeat program into a full-fledged party." Shortly thereafter the Philharmonia would name him chief conductor for the 2021-2022 season.

Rouvali attaches great importance to the balance between work and leisure – an opportunity to devote time to his family and his many outdoor passions, from fishing to carpentry – and he wants the same for his musicians. He said in an interview: «Conducting is about character, you have to be a psychologist. It's about leadership. You need to like being in front of people, enjoy performing, but you need to know how to handle people in front of you, how to collaborate."

Son of two professors of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, as a very young boy he began to participate in his parents' orchestra rehearsals, observing the teamwork of musicians and conductor and remaining enchanted by the rhythmic gait of the timpani, which a few years later he would transform into the danced and eloquent gesture that distinguishes it.