Osterfestspiele Salzburg (Salzburg Easter Festival), one of the most prestigious of its kind in Europe, has invited the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen to be its Orchestra in Residence in spring 2025. The honour has previously been held by such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Staatskapelle Dresden, and the invitation can be regarded as a historic distinction for a Finnish orchestra.
Founded by Herbert von Karajan in 1967, the Osterfestspiele is an annual ten-day festival of opera, orchestral concerts and chamber music. Its present Director, Nikolaus Bachler, has added dance and electronic music.
In addition to leading soloists in the world of music, the festival engages an Orchestra in Residence and a Festival Conductor. From 1967 to 2012 the honour was held by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. The orchestra will be back in 2026, its place having been taken from 2013 to 2022 by the Staatskapelle Dresden under Christian Thielemann.
“In the interim three years, we’re inviting along a new top orchestra each year,” says Nikolaus Bachler. Last year it was the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons; this year the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia will be appearing under Antonio Pappano, and the orchestra for 2025 is the Finnish Radio Symphony.
“I am therefore particularly pleased to welcome the Finnish National Radio Orchestra, the most important Nordic symphony orchestra, to the Salzburg Easter Festival for the first time. The extraordinary precision of the playing, the fascinating brilliance of the sound and the long-standing, almost friendly relationship with Esa-Pekka Salonen make the orchestra the ideal partner for our exciting programmes in 2025.”
Yle’s Creative Director Ville Vilén is impressed by the recognition received by the FRSO. “An invitation to such a famous festival can be regarded as a historic honour. And the FRSO really does deserve it. It also says just how much respect there is in the world for Finnish expertise.”
“I’m also pleased that the orchestra is the FRSO, which was the first professional orchestra I ever conducted,” says Esa-Pekka Salonen of the forthcoming collaboration. “I’ve been delighted and proud to watch it develop into a world-class ensemble.”
At the 2025 festival the FRSO will perform Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina (April 12 & 21) and give three concerts (April 13, 14 & 20): of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 on April 13 & 20 and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 and the Cello Concerto by Esa-Pekka Salonen on April 14. The soloist in the concerto will be the young Finnish cellist Senja Rummukainen and the conductor of all the performances will be Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Appearing in the FRSO’s concert series at the Musiikkitalo in Helsinki while the FRSO is in Salzburg will be the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä on April 4, and Sir András Schiff will play Bach’s Goldberg Variations at piano recitals on April 9 & 10.
