Eero Lehtimäki (b. 1989) made his breakthrough by conducting the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra in concert on extremely short notice at Turku Music Festival in 2016. Since then, he has performed with almost all of the Finnish professional symphony orchestras, including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Filharmonia, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tapiola Sinfonietta. He worked as the artistic director and chief conductor of Joensuu City Orchestra from 2019 to 2022.
Eero started his conducting studies with Jorma Panula’s class for young conductors in 2010 and finished his conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy in spring 2016. He has also studied orchestral and opera conducting in Vienna with Johannes Wildner, Simeon Pironkoff, and Konrad Leitner. Eero has attended master classes of Jorma Panula and Valery Gergiev and studied privately with Hannu Lintu.
Before starting his conducting studies, Lehtimäki graduated from the Helsinki Conservatory of Music with clarinet and bass clarinet as main instruments, and he has also studied the historical clarinets in Austria, Germany, and France. He has been an Iitti Music Festival artist annually since 2013 and he is still irregularly performing as soloist and musician with various orchestras and chamber music groups. In addition to his acknowledgements as a musician, Lehtimäki has also graduated as a Master of Science (Technology) in acoustics at the Aalto University. He admires versatile sophistication and makes music to take people to places they could not even imagine.
Dec. 5, 2024 at 7 p.m.
Madetoja Hall, Oulu
Outi Tarkiainen: Joye
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7, ”Angel of Light”
Jean Sibelius: Finlandia, Op. 26
Feb. 19, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Paviljonki, Jyväskylä
Queen
Feb. 20, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Paviljonki, Jyväskylä
Queen
March 20, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
Madetoja Hall, Oulu
SCORE Game Music Concert
March 21, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Madetoja Hall, Oulu
SCORE Game Music Concert
March 29, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Helsinki Music Centre
Kotipelto X Louhimo Symphonic Rock
April 5, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Helsinki Music Centre
April 8, 2025 at 7 p.m.
Helsinki Music Centre
June 6, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 7, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 8, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 12, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 13, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 14, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
June 14, 2025
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Ilmajoki Music Festival 50th Anniversary Concert
More information coming soon
June 15, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Opera Arena, Ilmajoki
Uljas Pulkkis, music
Anneli Kanto, libretto
Tuomas Parkkinen, director
Eero Lehtimäki, conductor
(view the full cast by clicking the topic)
"As we all know, Eero Lehtimäki is a skillful and talented conductor, but also an outstanding speaker. Once again, we got to enjoy his no-nonsense but still so slender thoughts about the evening's programme, between the pieces. ( … ) On a more general level, we can note, that the programme this time never minded about the most typical cultural canon and surpised with its extraordinarily fresh and open-minded choices of composers and works. Lehtimäki of the finest sort!"
"The swan-like essence of Eero Lehtimäki and his particularly creative way of conducting is exciting. His art of conducting includes elements of contemporary dance, which brings visual delight to the musicians and listeners alike, and expresses musical ideas well."
"In Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, conductor Eero Lehtimäki relished with timbres and moods. Poetic hues and playful sprints spiced this interpretation rich in nuances, where Annaleena Jämsä's flute sounded dreamingly and low strings hummed. The performance was well-controlled and lovely.
In the vigorous, colourful, and precise interpreation of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9, the audience got to enjoy the furious and firm work of all the instrument groups. ( … ) In this symphony full of cheerful and even rejoicing feelings, it was pleasure to follow conductor Eero Lehtimäki's energetic and all-encompassing work.
When I was checking the concert programme beforehand, I was wondering to myself, why the Pohjola's Daughter by Jean Sibelius will still be heard after Shostakovich's Ninth. ( … ) However, the incredibly beautiful interpretation of this symphonic poem by Tampere Filharmonia and Eero Lehtimäki managed to wing the concert's atmosphere even higher than in Shostakovich. ( … ) The picturesqueness created with broad brush strokes combined with polished clarity of details and the charged and finalised playing of the orchestra turned the symphonic poem into a voluptuous ending for the concert."
"In Mozart's Symphony No. 38, things were let to develop to their full scale at peace. Eero Lehtimäki's psychologically insightful gestures guided the orchestra to listen to the sound, which makes the result always influential."
"[In The Lover by Jean Sibelius,] Lehtimäki has built the story with a fine interpretation of his own. You can hear the melodies in all the sections, but they form a uniform narrative. Harmonies were as beautiful as crystal balls and colors were coming and going between monotone and colourful. In Rautavaara, the sound is passionate and godly and the mood is warm. Nordgren's music has a scary atmosphere, while the sound is extremely fine and beautiful at the same time. ( … ) When the orchestra was playing the third movement of Nordgren's symphony, an earthquake of magnitude 5− started. Nevertheless, the orchestra kept playing as if nothing had happened. I shall never forget this."
"Lehtimäki seemed to enjoy the role of a storyteller. He conducted with a clear, broad, and determinate touch, cast magical charm of a fairytale and lightly dancing movement into the atmosphere, and extracted delicious and descriptive details out of the transparent fabric of fantasy throughout the journey."
contact@eerolehtimaki.com
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