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After more than a decade of paying regular visits as principal guest conductor and then chief guest conductor, John Storgårds is now able to call the BBC Philharmonic home. The Salford-based orchestra has announced the 59-year-old Finn as its new chief conductor with immediate effect, filling a vacancy left by the departure of Omer Meir Wellber last summer.

While some appointments involve a daring plunge into the unknown for both conductor and orchestra, in this instance it’s based on a familiarity borne out of years of working together on stage and in the studio since Storgårds first conducted the BBC Philharmonic in 2010. Highlights have included widely acclaimed recordings of Nielsen’s and Sibelius’s complete symphonies for the Chandos label – the latter set featured the first recordings of the remaining fragments of Sibelius’s discarded Eighth Symphony.

Initially a violinist, Storgårds studied with conductor Jorma Panula at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy before forging his early career in his home country. He has been artistic director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Europe’s most northerly professional orchestra, for 25 years, and has also held chief conductor posts with the Helsinki Philharmonic and Tampere Philharmonic orchestras. Outside Finland, he has been principal guest conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, since 2015.

‘It is with pure enthusiasm that I’m now going to be the orchestra’s new chief conductor,’ says Storgårds about his new appointment. ‘Over my many years of collaboration with the BBC Philharmonic, our partnership has been built on great musicmaking and trust. Together, we have already completed a number of fantastic projects. The BBC Philharmonic is widely known as an extraordinarily brilliant, skilful and versatile orchestra. I am very proud to be continuing our musical journey together!’

In appointing a Finn, the BBC Philharmonic is following in the footsteps of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, for whom Osmo Vänskä was chief conductor from 1996-2002, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where Sakari Oramo has been chief conductor since 2013. The BBC Symphony Orchestra also boasts another Finn, Dalia Stasevska, as its current principal guest conductor.

BBC Philharmonic Chief conductors since 1980

Edward Downes (1980-91; English) Yan Pascal Torte