Music Director Designate

Tarmo Peltokoski

Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski will become the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s Music Director beginning in the 2026/27 season, after serving as Music Director Designate in 2025/26.

Peltokoski was awarded the title “Principal Guest Conductor” of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in January 2022, the first conductor to hold this position in the orchestra’s 42-year history.

In May 2022, Peltokoski was named Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. He started his term in the 2022/23 season. He was subsequently named Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest. In August 2022 at the age of 22, he completed his first Wagner Ring cycle at the Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival. In December 2022, Peltokoski was announced as Music Director of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

In recent seasons he made debuts with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Göteborgs Symfoniker as well as SWR Symphonieorchester at Pfingstfestspiele Baden-Baden and with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Summer festival debuts include Rheingau Musik Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, the Verbier Festival, Musikfest Bremen and Festival de Música y Danza Granada.

Tarmo Peltokoski returned to Eurajoki Bel Canto Festival to conduct Tristan und Isolde in April 2023. In summer 2023 he conducted Siegfried with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Don Giovanni at the Finnish National Opera in October 2023.

This August Peltokoski will conduct Wagner’s Götterdämmerung in Riga. In September he will make his BBC Proms debut at Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Symphony and later in the fall conduct Filarmonica della Scala and Philharmonia Zürich as well as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

In the spring of 2025 he will tour Germany with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, make his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Bayerisches Staatsorchester, conduct Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in Luxembourg and Brussels and will make his Japan debut conducting the NHK Symphony. In the summer of 2025 he will be conducting Parsifal with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra.

He has worked with soloists including Yuja Wang, Asmik Grigorian, Matthias Goerne, Julia Fischer, Golda Schultz, Martin Fröst, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Janine Jansen, Martin Helmchen, Leonidas Kavakos, Camilla Nylund and Sol Gabetta.

Tarmo Peltokoski began his studies with professor emeritus Jorma Panula at the age of 14 and studied with Sakari Oramo at the Sibelius Academy. He has also been taught by Hannu Lintu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Also an acclaimed pianist, he studied piano at the Sibelius Academy with Antti Hotti. His piano playing has been awarded at many competitions and he has appeared as a soloist with all major Finnish orchestras.

In October 2023 Tarmo Peltokoski signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His debut album was released in May 2024.

In 2022 he received the Lotto Prize at Rheingau Musik Festival and in 2023 he received the OPUS Klassik for his recording with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

In addition Tarmo Peltokoski has also studied composing and arranging, and especially enjoys music comedy and improvisation.