Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation, demonstrating remarkable musical depth and integrity. Born in Heinola, Finland, he began his career as a violinist before training as a conductor with Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. An artist of exceptional versatility and breadth and renowned for his objective approach, he feels a special affinity with the sound and style of late Romantic music. He maintains a particularly strong connection to the works of Beethoven, Bruckner, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Sibelius and is internationally celebrated for his interpretations of Mahler. 

In April 2022, Jukka-Pekka was named as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He will begin his tenure in summer 2023. From 2010 to 2019, he served as Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne. During his term, the orchestra built a reputation both at home and abroad, touring Austria, Spain, the Baltics, and Asia. The symphonic cycles of Sibelius, Brahms and Beethoven were exceptionally well received. Previously, from 2006 to 2013, Jukka-Pekka Saraste was Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He was subsequently appointed Conductor Laureate, the very first such title bestowed by the orchestra. Earlier positions include the principal conductorships of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, where he is now Conductor Laureate, and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. He founded the Finnish Chamber Orchestra, where he remains the Artistic Advisor. Last but not least, Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists. Based in Finland, the foundation has run projects in Stockholm, Lausanne, Dortmund and Sofia. In 2020, it also created the annual Fiskars Summer Festival, an international platform for both Finnish and international artists to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next generation of conductors from all around the world. 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste's guest engagements have led him to the major orchestras worldwide, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Staatskapelle Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and the leading Scandinavian orchestras. In North America, he has conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, New York Philharmonic, as well as Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. In recent years, Jukka-Pekka Saraste has developed a strong profile in opera and, following concert performances of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Schönberg’s Erwartung and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, had great success at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna with a new scenic production of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, directed by Calixto Bieito, and Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at the Finnish National Opera. In the 2020-2021 season, he conducted a new staging of Reimann's Lear at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich which was revived in January 2023. 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste´s extensive discography includes the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Nielsen with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and several well-received recordings with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra of works by Bartók, Dutilleux, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev for Warner Finlandia. His CDs with WDR Symphony Orchestra for Hänssler have likewise earned him much critical praise. They include Schönberg’s Pelleas and Melisande, Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol, Brahms’ complete Symphonies as well as Mahler’s 5th and 9th Symphony and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. The complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies can be regarded as a legacy of his tenure in Cologne. 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has received the Pro Finlandia Prize, the Sibelius Medal, and the Finnish State Prize for Music. He holds honorary doctorates from York University, Toronto and Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. 

In 2023 he was awarded Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland. 

In January 2019, Tom Borrow was called on to replace renowned pianist Khatia Buniatishvili in a series of 12 concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. At only 36 hours' notice, he performed Ravel's Piano Concerto in G to sensational public and critical acclaim. The chief music critic of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation, Yossi Schifmann, hailed his performance as "brilliant... outstanding", ending his review with the words, "Tom Borrow is already a star and we will all surely hear more about him". Following this successful series Tom was further presented by the IPO in gala concerts held in London and Mexico City, and reinvited for a second subscription series. Later that year, International Piano magazine named him their ‘One To Watch’ and soon afterwards, Gramophone gave him the same accolade (“an exciting young pianist...individuality and elegance"). In December 2021, after his hugely-praised US debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, Musical America named Tom their 'New Artist Of The Month'. Tom has been named a BBC New Generation Artist for 2021-23, a highly prestigious scheme that will see him perform with all the BBC orchestras, at Wigmore Hall and many more during the two-year tenure, including multiple BBC broadcasts.  

Born in Tel Aviv in 2000, Tom Borrow has performed as soloist with all major orchestras of his native country, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Symphony Orchestra. He began studying piano aged five with Dr. Michal Tal at the Givatayim Music Conservatory, and currently studies with Prof. Tomer Lev of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University. Tom has been regularly mentored by Murray Perahia, through the Jerusalem Music Centre’s program for outstanding young musicians.  

Tom has won every national piano competition in Israel, including first prize at the Israeli Radio & Jerusalem Symphony Young Artist Competition in Jerusalem, and three first prizes at the "Piano Forever" Competition in Ashdod (in three different age categories). In 2018, he won the prestigious "Maurice M. Clairmont" award, given to a single promising artist once every two years by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and Tel-Aviv University.  

After the Israel Philharmonic success, Tom has been invited by major orchestras around the world - recent and forthcoming engagements include the Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Sao Paulo Symphony, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano, Basque National Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Ulster Orchestra and others - and is invited by leading conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Fabio Luisi, Sakari Oramo, Thierry Fischer, Robert Trevino, Peter Oundjian and Maxim Emelyanychev. Tom has also toured to Eastern Europe with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, to regular standing ovations, and to South Korea with the Tel Aviv Soloists.  

Equally in-demand on the chamber music and recital fronts, recent and upcoming engagements include the Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Ruhr Piano Festival, Schloss Nymphenburg, Vancouver Recital Society, Festival Piano Aux Jacobins (Toulouse), Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Bolzano Concert Society (Italy) and Bellerive Festival (Geneva). 

Throughout the many masterclasses Tom has participated in, he had the privilege of working under the instruction of such prominent artists and pedagogues as Sir András Schiff, Christoph Eschenbach, Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, and Tatiana Zelikman, among many others.  

WWFM Radio in the US have featured him as an outstanding young talent, and Interlude Magazine named him their Artist Of The Month. International Piano livestreamed Tom’s recital for the Rubinstein Virtual PianoFest, RAI Television livestreamed his concert with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov, and ETB Television (Spain) broadcast a performance of Brahms Piano Concerto No 2 with the Basque National Orchestra under Robert Trevino.