John Storgårds
John Storgårds is a Finnish conductor notable for his commitment to contemporary music. He also has a top-level career as a concert violinist.
Storgårds was born in Helsinki on October 20, 1963. He grew up as part of Finland's Swedish-speaking minority. Storgårds began his musical career on the violin and studied with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. He moved on to Israel, studying with Chaim Taub. Storgårds performed with various orchestras, sometimes holding the position of concertmaster, and he co-founded the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. These experiences stimulated his interest in conducting, and he landed a stint as conductor of the Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra. Storgårds returned to the Sibelius Academy for conducting lessons from Eri Klas and Jorma Panula, meanwhile continuing his violin career as concertmaster of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 1996, he became the artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland in Finland's far north; he remained in that position as of the early 2020s and lives with his family in the orchestra's home city of Rovaniemi.
Storgårds made his recording debut as a violinist, performing with the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra under conductor Hannu Lintu as soloist in a recording of Kaija Saariaho's Graal théâtre for violin and reduced orchestra in 2002. That recording appeared on the Ondine label, and Storgårds has continued with that label as both violinist and conductor. Storgårds became the principal guest conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, and his first recording as a conductor came with that group the following year, leading performances of the Symphony No. 2 and Mannheim Rocket of John Corigliano. That marked the beginning of an emphasis on contemporary music in Storgårds' career, both Scandinavian and otherwise. Storgårds was chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 2008 to 2015, and he appeared as a guest conductor with all of the major Nordic orchestras as well as with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, the London Philharmonic, and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, among other groups. In the 2021-2022 season, he made his first appearance as a guest with the Berlin Philharmonic. Storgårds became the principal guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in 2012 and of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada, in 2015; as of the early 2020s, he was still in both those positions.
He has continued to record as both a violinist, performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Op. 47, in 2010 with the Helsinki Philharmonic under Frank Peter Zimmermann, and as a conductor, recording the complete symphonies of Sibelius with the BBC Philharmonic and including three fragments that may have been notes for the composer's destroyed Symphony No. 8. He also recorded the complete symphonies of Nielsen with that group. Despite his dual specialties, Storgårds has rarely led an orchestra from the violin. In 2022, he conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in a new recording of the Sibelius and Nielsen violin concertos with young virtuoso Johan Dalene, and by that time, his recording catalog comprised well over 50 items.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 13 - Part: De profundis
Estonian National Male Choir, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds, Albert Dohmen
Symphonies - To be released on 17 May 2024 by Chandos
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer / Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été / Duparc: Mélodies
Soile Isokoski, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Ondine on 31 Jul 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Outi Tarkiainen: The Earth, Spring's Daughter & Saxophone Concerto "Saivo"
Virpi Raisanen, Jukka Perko, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 7 Aug 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
HAYDN, J.: 7 letzten Worte unseres Erlosers am Kreuze (Die) (The 7 Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross) (Storgards)
Tapiola Sinfonietta, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Antheil: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6, Spectre of the Rose Waltz, Archipelago & Hot-Time Dance
John Storgårds, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Antheil: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 & Over the Plains
John Storgårds, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 May 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Per Nørgård: Orchestral Works
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by BIS on 25 Aug 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Antheil : Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 & Other Works
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Antheil: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1 May 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Per Nørgård : Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Symphonies - Released by Dacapo on 10 Jun 2016
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Erich Wolfgang Korngold : Much Ado About Nothing, op.11 - Sinfonietta, op.5
Mati Turi, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 29 Oct 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
SAARIAHO, K.: Graal Theatre / Solar / Lichtbogen
John Storgårds, Avanti Chamber Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies de chambre
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 14 Jun 2012
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Korngold: Symphony in F sharp major, Op. 40
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 5 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kalevala Suite, Aurora borealis, Cheremis Fantasia
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Samuli Peltonen, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 26 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Media Artes, Vol. 3
Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra, Frans Helmerson, John Storgårds, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Eivind Aadland, Tuomas Ollila
Classical - Released by Chamber Sound on 3 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MIELCK, E.: Symphony in F minor / Konzertstuck in D major
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, John Storgårds, Sakari Oramo
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nørgård: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 10 Jun 2016
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
PANUFNIK, A.: Sinfonia di sfere / Heroic Overture / Sinfonia sacra (Tampere Philharmonic, Storgards)
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 11 Sep 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
CORIGLIANO, J.: Symphony No. 2 / The Mannheim Rocket (Helsinki Philharmonic, Storgards)
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Selja
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Annimaria Rinne, Seppo Kantonen, Ville Herrala, John Storgårds, Ville Pynssi
Jazz - Released by Alba on 27 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo