Hannu Lintu has confirmed his position among the constellation of brilliant young Finnish conductors. He works regularly with all the major orchestras in Finland, including the Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony and the Tampere Philharmonic. Recent debuts include the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de Lille, Malaysian Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, and the Vancouver Symphony. Upcoming engagements include the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, and a return to the Nagoya Philharmonic in Japan.
In Europe, Mr. Lintu has made guest appearances with the Berlin Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Orchestre National de Belgique, Swedish Radio Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, and the Norwegian and Danish radio orchestras. Outside Europe, he has led the Oregon Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and the Nagoya Philharmonic. Festival appearances include the Adelaide Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Flanders Festival and the Golden Autumn Festival in Beijing.
Equally at home in opera, Hannu Lintu has conducted several productions for the Finnish National Opera including Bizet's Carmen, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Wagner's Parsifal, Aulis Sallinen's King Lear and Kalevi Aho's Before We Are All Drowned. In 2004, he conducted a concert performance of Gianni Schicchi at the Grant Park Festival in Chicago and recorded Tauno Pylkkanen's opera Mare and Her Son. Future opera engagements include La Traviata and a new opera by Mikko Neiniö, The Snake's Moment.
For Ondine and Naxos, Hannu Lintu has released CDs of works by Rautavaara, Saariaho and Luca Francesconi with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Orchestra and the Danish National Radio Orchestra. He has made two recordings with the Helsingborg Symphony for Danacord: “The Sound of Shakespeare” and the two piano concertos of Shostakovich with pianist Oleg Marshev. Also for Ondine, he is currently recording two CDs of music by Finnish composer Jouni Kaipainen with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchesta
Hannu Lintu has held artistic director positions with the Helsingborg Symphony, Turku Philharmonic and the Bergen Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and was the artistic director of their 2005 Summer Sounds Festival, reflecting his strong commitment to contemporary music.
Born in Finland, Hannu Lintu began his musical studies with the cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He continued there to study conducting with Eri Klas and Jorma Panula, and later at the Accademia Chigiana in Italy with Myung Whun Chung. Mr. Lintu was first-prize winner at the 1994 Nordic Conductor's Competition in Bergen, Finland.
Hannu Lintu will be conducting Fleisher Plays Beethoven March 20-22, 2008.