Osmo Vänskä to Conclude Two-Decade Tenure with Lahti Symphony in 2008

By Vivien Schweitzer
June 9, 2006

Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä will step down as chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra after the 2007-08 season.

Vänskä will conclude a two-decade tenure with the Finnish orchestra, which began when he became music director in 1988. He scaled down his role to chief conductor in 2004; after 2008 it is expected he will become condutor laureate.

During Vänskä’s tenure the Lahti Symphony Orchestra has risen in prominence and made almost 60 recordings, which have received awards from Gramophone and MIDEM. The orchestra toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Japan; his tenure also saw the construction of the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, which will host his last concert in May 2008.

Vanska recently extended his contract with the Minnesota Orchestra through 2011.