Olari Elts
Conductor

Olari Elts’ passion for distinctive programming rich with invention has earned him much praise on the international music scene. He began his tenure as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in 2020.

Elts has appeared as a guest conductor with renowned orchestras such as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Soloists with whom he has collaborated include Gautier and Renaud Capuçon, Brett Dean, Isabelle Faust, Alban Gerhardt, Martin Grubinger, Martin Helmchen, Stephen Hough, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, Kari Kriikku, Karita Mattila, Alexander Melnikov, Daniel Lozakovich, Baiba Skride, Simon Trpčeski and Antoine Tamestit.

In the 2023/2024 season, Elts led the BBC Symphony Orchestra on tour to Poland, returning to Festiwal Eufonie for the second time. He conducted the season-opening concert of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, giving the Finnish première of Abel Selaocoe’s cello concerto Four Spirits. Other return engagements included the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and Polish Baltic Philharmonic in Gdańsk, where he was joined by pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. He also made débuts with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta de València, the Aalborg and Wuppertal symphony orchestras and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. Following recent successful international tours with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in the UK, Germany and France, Elts’ contract as the orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Music Director was extended for a further five years.

As a champion of contemporary Baltic composers such as Erkki-Sven Tüür and Heino Eller, Elts has released recordings of Eller’s symphonic poems as well as Violin Concerto with Baiba Skride and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Also widely celebrated by critics are his Ondine recordings of Tüür’s works with Tapiola Sinfonietta, including the viola concerto Illuminatio with Lawrence Power, Symphony No 5 and the accordion concerto Prophecy with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. His 2016 recording of Brahms arrangements by Glanert and Berio with the same orchestra also received high praise. Other albums include the Borgström and Shostakovich violin concertos with Eldbjørg Hemsing and the Vienna Symphony, and music by Kalevi Aho recorded with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Kymi Sinfonietta, under the BIS label. His latest album features music by award-winning Norwegian composer Øyvind Torvund, in collaboration with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Elts also made his mark in the opera field, having conducted titles such as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Idomeneo, and Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust. Crossing genres, he toured to the Konzerthaus Berlin with a theatre-concert production which combined Mendelssohn’s and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Tallinn-based theatre company NO99. For Bernstein’s 100th anniversary, Elts conducted the film On the Waterfront with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg.

Elts was Principal Guest Conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra from 2007-2020, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011-2014, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2007-2010. He was Artistic Advisor of the Kymi Sinfonietta from 2018 to 2022, and the Orchestre National de Bretagne from 2006-2011. He was also Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2001-2006. Born in Tallinn in 1971, he founded the contemporary music ensemble, NYYD Ensemble.