Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen is one of the leading conductors of his generation. Highly acclaimed for his “thinking on a grand scale” and exceptional technique, he has gained international recognition and has conducted major orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Sydney Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra. In June 2024, he made a spectacular debut with the Danish National Orchestra, stepping in at the last minute to conduct Mahler’s 3rd Symphony. That same year, he debuted at Deutsche Oper Berlin with Tannhäuser, a performance that critics hailed as one of the most powerful Wagners of this venue.
The music of Richard Wagner occupies a central position in Pietari Inkinen’s work. In 2023, he led the new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival (directed by Valentin Schwarz). In summer 2021, he conducted Hermann Nitsch’s production of Die Walküre at the Green Hill. His acclaimed performances of the Ring Cycle at Opera Australia in 2013 and 2016 earned him the Helpmann Award for Best Musical Direction in 2014 and the Green Room Award for Best Opera Conductor in 2016. In 2014, he won the Franco Abbiati Prize from the Italian Association of Music Critics for the Rheingold at Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
Inkinen’s operatic engagements have also taken him to the Finnish National Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Semperoper Dresden, where he conducted a highly successful new production of Eugene Onegin. Pietari Inkinen served as Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern until the end of the 2024/25 season. Previously, he held chief positions with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, and the Ludwigsburg Festival Orchestra. During his tenure as Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, he recorded the complete Sibelius symphonies for Naxos. Another Sibelius cycle, live from Suntory Hall, was recorded with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Inkinen’s projects with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie include complete recordings of Dvořák and Prokofiev symphonies (SWRmusic/Naxos).
His work has been the subject of a 2023 documentary directed by Sven Rech, “Ein Taktstock und ein Reisepass -Pietari Inkinen Dirigent.”
Inkinen is also an accomplished violinist. He studied at the Cologne Music Academy with Zakhar Bron before taking further studies in conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
