Olari Elts

Newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic from the 2011/12 season, Olari Elts’ passion for distinctive programming rich with invention has earned him much praise on the international music scene. Alongside traditional repertoire, Olari Elts has a strong commitment to contemporary music, with close associations with fellow Estonians, Arvo Pärt and Erki Sven Tüür. In addition to his new position in Helsinki, Olari Elts also remains Principal Guest of the Estonian National Symphony and Artistic Advisor for the Orchestre de Bretagne.

Olari Elts appears regularly with such orchestras as the City of Birmingham Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, SWR Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse and the Cincinnati Symphony, with whom he made his US debut. In Japan, he works frequently with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. A popular guest in Australia and New Zealand, he conducts the symphony orchestras in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Soloists with whom he collaborates include Jean Yves Thibaudet, Simon Trpceski, Stephen Hough, Isabelle Faust, Viviane Hagner, Gautier Capucon and Kari Kriikku.

Highlights with guest orchestras this season include his return to the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky) and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (Sibelius), his debut with the Colorado Symphony (Wagner, Brahms), the RTE National Symphony Orchestra Dublin with soloist Baiba Skride (Mozart, Strauss) and the Nederlands Radio Kamerfilharmonie with soloist Barnábas Kelemen (Brahms, Schubert). He returns to the Ensemble Orchestra de Paris (Dutilleux, Escaich, Pärt and Mozart, Schumann, Haydn), Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (Mozart, Tchaikovsky) as well as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and the Pannon Philharmonic.

In the opera field, he has led several productions at the Estonian National Opera, including Britten’s Albert Herring and Puccini’s Il Trittico, as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Idomeneo with Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. During the autumn of 2008, he conducted performances of Marschner’s Der Vampyr in both Hungary and Rennes, returning to Opéra de Rennes in 2010 for Berlioz’s La Damnation du Faust.

Winner of the International Sibelius Conductors’ Competition in Helsinki in 2000, Olari Elts became Principal Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2001-2006. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for three seasons from the 2007/08 season.

Born in Tallinn in 1971, Olari Elts is founder and director of his own contemporary music ensemble, NYYD Ensemble. The ensemble takes its name from the international festival of new music in Estonia, where it gave its debut performance in 1993.

Photo © Marco Borggreve