Hannu Lintu

Hannu Lintu continues his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The appointment follows a series of hugely successful collaborations with the company – including Tristan und Isolde in 2016, Sibelius’s Kullervo in 2017, Berg’s Wozzeck in 2019 and Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos in 2020 – and reflects Lintu’s shifting focus into the field of opera. In the past season he conducted Strauss’ Salome and Britten’s Billy Budd. This season’s productions will include the majority of the house’s rescheduled Ring Cycle which will recommence with Die Walküre in September 2022. Lintu recently completed his eighth and final season as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor.

Guest highlights of the 2022/23 season include the highly anticipated debut with New York Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony and returns to St. Louis and BBC Symphony orchestras. Lintu also guest conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal.

Lintu has made several recordings for Ondine, BIS, Naxos, Avie and Hyperion for which he has received several accolades including two ICMA awards and two GRAMMY nominations.

Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at the L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.