Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, John Storgårds enjoys a dual career as a conductor and violin virtuoso; he is widely recognised for his creative flair for programming and his rousing yet refined performances. As Artistic Director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, a title he has held for nearly twenty-five years, he has earned global critical acclaim for the ensemble’s adventurous performances and award-winning recordings. He appears with such orchestras as WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre national de France, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and all major Nordic orchestras, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra which he served as Chief Conductor from 2008 to 2015. Further afield, he appears with leading orchestras in Australia, Japan, and the United States. He collaborates with soloists such as Yefim Bronfman, Sol Gabetta, Kirill Gerstein, Håkan Hardenberger, Kari Kriikku, Gil Shaham, Baiba Skride, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Frank Peter Zimmermann, as well as Soile Isokoski and Anne Sofie von Otter.

His vast repertoire includes all the symphonies by Sibelius, Nielsen, Bruckner, Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann. He regularly performs world premieres, many works, such as Per Nørgård’s Symphony No. 8 and Kaija Saariaho’s Nocturne for solo violin, having been dedicated to him. During the 2019 / 20 season he returned to the BBC Proms with the BBC Philharmonic with which he will embark on a major European tour. He will also return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, both at the Wiener Konzerthaus and on tour to Asia. Having studied violin with Chaim Taub, John Storgårds became concert master of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, then studied conducting with Jorma Panula and Eri Klas. He received the Finnish State Prize for Music in 2002 and the Pro Finlandia Prize in 2012.