Hong Kong Philharmonic Taps Tarmo Peltokoski, 24, as Music Director

In Friday’s (7/4) Associated Press, Ronald Blum writes, “Tarmo Peltokoski was hired Thursday to succeed Jaap van Zweden as music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Peltokoski, at 24 far younger than most music directors, will start a four-year term in the 2026-27 season after serving as music director designate in 2025-26, the philharmonic said…. Peltokoski grew up in Finland and studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Jorma Panula, a famed 93-year-old conductor, composer and teacher whose students have included Esa-Pekka Salonen, Susanna Mälkki, Osmo Vänskä and Klaus Mäkelä…. Just 28, Mäkelä was hired in April to succeed Riccardo Muti as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra starting in 2027-28. Peltokoski’s hiring marks a generational change in Hong Kong…. Peltokoski made his debut with the Hong Kong orchestra in June 2023 … Peltokoski, who lives in Helsinki, has been music director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra since 2022-23, an appointment that runs through the 2024-25 season. He becomes music director of France’s Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in 2025-26…. Founded in 1947 as the Sino-British Orchestra, the ensemble was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974. It presents about 150 concerts over a 44-week season.”