John Storgårds

Conductor

John Storgårds is Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra - a post he has held for 30 years. He has a dual career as conductor and violin virtuoso, and is widely recognised for his creative flair for programming. From the 2026/27 season he takes up two new positions: Music Director of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. He appears regularly with orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

John Storgårds first conducted the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2017, leading the Iceland premiere of Hafliði Hallgrímsson's Five Songs for Soprano and Orchestra with soprano Helena Juntunen, alongside Sibelius's Sixth Symphony. He first conducted the orchestra back in 2012 in both Szymanowski violin concertos with violinist Christian Tetzlaff.