Throughout the evening, the depths of Mälkki’s connections with Stravinsky’s score and with the MET’s musical forces were apparent. These connections fostered an abiding sense of espousal of the piece’s distinctive harmonic language, poised between Mozart—Don Giovanni often peeks out of the pages of Act Two—and Reimann. This faith in the opera, manifested in every aspect of Mälkki’s conducting, yielded a performance that was as enlightening as it was entertaining.

Mälkki was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience, and then led a sparkling performance from the orchestra and chorus. The rhythms seemed to burst from her clear, detailed baton technique, and the instrumental colors were polished to a high sheen. The music seemed to shine all night with that special Stravinskyian light, which is like neon, even in the dark and tender stretches of the final scene. This was as energetic and fluent a performance as one has ever heard of this music, while still digging into the charm, pathos, and wit.

Susanna Mälkki
Susanna Mälkki
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Susanna Mälkki is sought-after at the highest level with symphony orchestras and in opera houses worldwide. In her final season as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, she concludes a seven-year tenure with a distinctive dynamism and imaginative flair to her programming. In addition to a full season in Finland, she leads the Helsinki orchestra on tour to the prestigious Lucerne and Edinburgh festivals, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Centre this season. View Full Bio
Mälkki can invest anything she touches with persuasive grandeur ...
San Francisco Chronicle
Susanna Mälkki appears regularly with top orchestras throughout Europe and North America; Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she was Principal Guest Conductor from 2017 until 2022, Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, the Münchner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Bayerischer Rundfunk and the Berliner Philharmoniker.

LATEST NEWS

04
SEP
2022
Fall Concerts with HPO
This fall, Susanna Mälkki will lead three captivating concerts with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. This will mark Ms. Mälkki’s final season as the chief conductor of the orchestra, a position she has held since 2016. As the first female appointed chief conductor of the[…]

31
AUG
2022
Act II of ‘Tristan und Isolde’ with HPO
On September 7 and 8, Susanna Mälkki will lead two special performances with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra which will highlight Act II of Richard Wagner’s epic opera, Tristan und Isolde, along with a starry cast. The program will begin with Richard Strauss’[…]

10
AUG
2022
HPO in Edinburgh and Lucerne
This August, Susanna Mälkki will lead the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra at two of the most renowned international music festivals in Europe: Edinburgh International Festival and the Lucerne Festival. These performances will feature bold selections from the orchestra’s[…]

View All News
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

SEP
30,2022

Tickets
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Helsinki Music Centre

Pekka Kuusisto, violin
Photo: Felix Broede

OCT
14,2022

Tickets
Kaija Saariaho 70
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Helsinki Music Centre

Anssi Karttunen, cello
Photo: Kaija Saariaho by Priska Ketterer

NOV
27,29
DEC
1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,2022

Tickets
Il Trittico
Gran Teatre del Liceu

Barcelona

View Full Schedule
LATEST PRESS
PrevNext
The Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki led the New York Philharmonic in a performance of the work that was so urgent, detailed and exciting that I forgot all about cresting sea and splashing waves. I was, instead, engrossed by the way Ms. Malkki brought out the colors, intricacies and radicalism of “La Mer”

The New York Times

Throughout the evening, the depths of Mälkki’s connections with Stravinsky’s score and with the MET’s musical forces were apparent. These connections fostered an abiding sense of espousal of the piece’s distinctive harmonic language, poised between Mozart—Don Giovanni often peeks out of the pages of Act Two—and Reimann. This faith in the opera, manifested in every aspect of Mälkki’s conducting, yielded a performance that was as enlightening as it was entertaining.

Voix des Arts

Mälkki was greeted with great enthusiasm by the audience, and then led a sparkling performance from the orchestra and chorus. The rhythms seemed to burst from her clear, detailed baton technique, and the instrumental colors were polished to a high sheen. The music seemed to shine all night with that special Stravinskyian light, which is like neon, even in the dark and tender stretches of the final scene. This was as energetic and fluent a performance as one has ever heard of this music, while still digging into the charm, pathos, and wit.

New York Classical Review

Susanna Mälkki confirme sa maîtrise et connaissance complètes de la partition, conduisant chaque épisode et chaque pupitre avec les indications de nuances, de couleurs et de caractères composant cette oeuvre.

Ôlyrix

Protagoniste essentiel de cette construction musicale et dramatique implacable, l’Orchestre de l’Opéra est porté à l’incandescence par Susanna Mälkki, qui se défait de l’objectivité analytique derrière laquelle elle se réfugie souvent dans la musique du XXe siècle, pour rechercher une expressivité décomplexée. Ce qui passe par moins de perfectionnisme e plus d’intensité, jusqu’à un interlude en ré mineur poignant à souhait. Sa baguette a tout à y gagner, et le public de moins de 28 ans venu en nombre à l’avant-première tenues ne s’y est pas trompé, qui a fait un triomphe, qui a fait un triomphe à un spectacle écouté dans un silence religieux.

Mälkki’s performance of Alexander Scriabin’s “The Poem of Ecstasy” after intermission was so big, deafening and daringly overpowering that it had a dazed perfection for those of us ecstatic enough to experience it.

I was struck by the exceptional degree of transparency in the opening minutes — almost like chamber music, only louder — and Mälkki was quick to jump headlong into the first fervent rush with evident delight, enforcing razor-sharp cutoffs later. The huge outpourings of chromatic sound in the penultimate climax and the impassioned final chord made their anticipated impact.

Susanna Mälkki is the conductor here and she knows instinctively when to unobtrusively tighten the emotional screws and when to sit back and simply let us take in Bartók's flabbergasting orchestral canvas. Pacing and phrasing are exemplary...

Orchestrally it’s magnificent; the Helsinki Philharmonic creates a sumptuously detailed sound world, which Mälkki focuses exactly on each unfolding layer of the drama.

Susanna Mälkki est une « rigoriste » de la partition, dont elle va chercher les moindre nuances, sans jamais prendre les libertés qu’on entend quelquefois chez certains chefs (y compris des légendes comme Toscanini). Par une science des dosages et une grande précision du geste, elle crée une dramaturgie musicale qui clarifie et approfondit la lecture, et qui à l’audition a produit des moments de pure stupéfaction.

Susanna Malkki lead a mind-opening performance of Mahler’s Fifth with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki led the New York Philharmonic in a performance of the work that was so urgent, detailed and exciting that I forgot all about cresting sea and splashing waves. I was, instead, engrossed by the way Ms. Malkki brought out the colors, intricacies and radicalism of “La Mer”