Thursday’s (11/4) Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) reports, “Conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, 52, has signed a three-year extension to his contract as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. His term at the helm will now go through to 2014 at least. Salonen joined the Philharmonia Orchestra at the beginning of the 2008/2009 season, after having spent seventeen years as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His next big project with the Philharmonia will be Infernal Dance, a year-long series of concerts focusing on the major orchestral works—and more besides, including the string quartets—of enigmatic Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881-1945). Salonen plans to take the 20-concert series on tour to a total of eleven European cities and will hold a separate Bartók-themed festival with the New York Philharmonic, entitled Hungarian Echoes.”
Posted November 4, 2010
