Pietari Inkinen

Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen is Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie since 2017, and Music Director of the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul since 2022. Praised for his “thinking on a grand scale”, Inkinen has conducted many of the world’s most notable orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and many more.

The music of Richard Wagner occupies a central position in Inkinen's work. In 2023, he conducted the production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival (directed by Valentin Schwarz). In the summer of 2021, amidst the pandemic restrictions, he conducted three performances of Die Walküre on the Green Hill. His acclaimed performances of the Ring Cycle with Opera Australia in 2013 and 2016 brought Inkinen two awards: Australia’s Helpmann Awards in 2014 for Best Music Direction and a Green Room Award for Best Opera Conductor in 2016. He was also awarded Italy ́s National Association of Music Critics ́ Franco Abbiati Prize for best show, for his 2014 Rheingold, which he conducted in the Palermo’s Teatro Massimo.

Inkinen was chief conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele. While Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, he recorded a complete cycle of the Sibelius symphonies for Naxos and a further live Sibelius cycle recorded with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Suntory Hall.

Inkinen is also an accomplished violinist. He studied at the Cologne Music Academy with Zakhar Bron before taking further studies in conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.