Artistic Partners

A decade after he was invited to study with the Finnish conducting guru Jorma Panula, Erkki Lasonpalo is making a name for himself as a conductor who combines fluent technique with natural communicative spirit. After tutoring from Panula, Erkki continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Leif Segerstam, where he was awarded a Wegelius Foundation grant and graduated with the highest honours.

Since 2012, Erkki has conducted most of the major orchestras in Finland including the Helsinki, Tampere and Turku Philharmonic Orchestras and the Lahti, Oulu and Kuopio Symphony Orchestras. He has also been engaged by the City Orchestras of Lappeenranta, Vaasa, Pori, Jyväskylä and Joensuu as well as the Tapiola Sinfonietta and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. Erkki has augmented his growing experience in opera by working with the orchestra of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet and with Oulu Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival and Sakari Oramo’s West Coast Kokkola Opera Company. Outside Finland, Erkki recently made a successful debut with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavik.

Erkki is currently Artistic Director of the Heinävesi Music Festival, a post he has held since 2014. Since 2016 has been Artistic Director of the Kemi City orchestra, and since 2017 he has held the position of Artistic Partner of the Mikkeli City Orchestra. He is also the artistic director of the Helsinki Sinfonietta.

Like many of the most distinguished Finnish conductors working globally, Erkki laid the foundations of his musicianship as a professional instrumentalist. He studied violin at the Sibelius Academy and remains a member of the prize-winning Postiglione String Quartet. He signed to Nordic Artists Management in 2017.

Daniel Raiskin Dirigent/conductor Photo: Marco Borggreve

A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on violin and viola, he got inspired to take up the baton by an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula. Raiskin, who cultivates a broad repertoire, often looks beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes.

From the 2018/19 season onwards, Daniel Raiskin will be Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and since 2017/18 he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Artistic Partner of the Chamber Orchestra St. Michael Strings in Finland. Daniel Raiskin’s engagements in the 2018/19 season include appearances with Netherlands Symphony Orchestra und Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecilia. Moreover, he will give his debut with St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

Daniel Raiskin was Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (season 2017/18), Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005-2016) and held the same title with the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015).

His regular guest engagements include the Athens State Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Clásica Santa Caecilia, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Slovenska Filharmonia Bratislava, State Academic Symphony of Russia „Svetlanov“, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

His appearances in the opera house have included Carmendirected by Calixto Bieito for the Dutch company Opera Zuid, and at the Theater Koblenz, where he also conducted Shostakovich’s The Nose. Raiskin conducted the Minsk Orchestra in an acclaimed production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Opera Festival 2011 in St. Margarethen/ Austria.

Among the major soloists with whom Daniel Raiskin has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Kari Kriikku, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Steven Osborne, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya and Alexei Volodin.

Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel and the label AVI received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include two Louis Glass Symphony cycles with the label CPO, Lutosłlawski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophèteand Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.