Product Code Database
Leif Selim Segerstam ( , 2 March 1944 – 9 October 2024) was a Finnish music composer, conductor, violinist, violist, and pianist. He is especially best known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works. He held many important positions in Finnish music industry both in Finland and around the world.
From 1963 until his death in 2024, Segerstam conducted a variety of orchestras in Finland, Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand. He was conductor at Finnish National Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was a chief conductor of ORF Symphony Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Danish National Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. He is widely known through his recordings, including complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Carl Nielsen, and Jean Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers. He is remembered for his contributions to Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality.
He taught as a professor of orchestra conducting at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Segerstam studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, piano with Jaakko Somero, violin with Leena Siukonen-Penttilä, composition with Einar Englund and Joonas Kokkonen, and conducting with Jussi Jalas. He received diplomas in violin and conducting in 1963. He studied further at the Juilliard School in New York City, violin with Louis Persinger, composition with Hall Overton and Vincent Persichetti, and conducting with Jean Morel, and received his postgraduate diploma in 1965.
Segerstam took part, as second conductor, in a 1968 tour of the Helsinki Philharmonic to the United States. He was chief conductor and music director of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1970 to 1972, and music director of the Finnish National Opera in 1973 and 1974. He began working with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the early 1970s. He conducted as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in London, with a repertoire including Verdi's Aida and Don Carlo, R. Strauss' Salome and Elektra and Wagner's Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer.
Segerstam served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra. At the same time, he was chief conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera again and of the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland until 2000.
He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the ORF Symphony Orchestra (1975 to 1982), the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (1982 to 1989), the Danish National Radio Symphony (1988 to 1995), and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (2012 to 2019). He guest-conducted many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and in Australia, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Salzburg Festival 1971-1975), the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo.
From autumn 1997 to spring 2013, he was professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His students include Rune Bergmann, Susanna Mälkki, Mikk Murdvee, Sasha Mäkilä and Markku Laakso.
In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in the Finnish film Pelicanman.
On 22 December 2015, while conducting the fourth and final movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's, Scheherazade, "Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman", around the 45 min mark, Segerstam gave his own alternative performance of the piece, and cried as if he were a pirate, to emulate the shipwreck moment in the symphonic poem's storyline.
In 2024, he was hospitalized after a "brief bout of pneumonia", dying after complications related to the disease at the hospital on 9 October 2024.
Most of his symphonies last for about 20 minutes, are formed of a single movement and can be performed without a conductor. His 37th symphony, for example, at its premiere featured Segerstam at the piano, leading the orchestra "in a relatively free form". This is partially inspired by Jean Sibelius Seventh symphony. More than a hundred of Segerstam's symphonies have been performed.
Many of his compositions are influenced by nature, and he was often praised for his contributions to Nordic music. He developed a personal approach to Aleatoric music through a style called "free pulsation" in which musical events interact flexibly in time, with his composition method persistent throughout his . His Fifth String Quartet, the "Lemming Quartet" (1970), ushered in his new chapter of post-expressionistic writing of the 1960s. This composition approach proved to be a quick way of writing large blocks of sound (the temporal order of events being left to the performer) and permitted an exceptionally prolific output. Instead of constituting individual works, his music is more like a musical stream of consciousness (under the headings of Thoughts, Episode and Orchestral Diary Sheet). It also means that there are numerous scorings of the same piece. This method was first used in the "Lemming Quartet".
Among Segerstam's juvenilia (1960–1969) are four string quartets from 1962–1966, and the post-impressionist ballet Pandora from 1967. The quartets are usually labeled as from his "Post-Expressionist" period. He composed 30 string quartets and numerous concertos, for violin, viola, cello and piano.
In 2015 Segerstam began work on an opera, Völvan, with a libretto by Elisabeth Wärnfeldt.
After they divorced, he married the Helsinki Philharmonic harpist Minnaleena Jankko in 2002; they had three children. In 2009 it was announced that their marriage would end.
In a 2024 interview, Segerstam mentioned being autism.
Segerstam died from pneumonia at a Helsinki hospital, on 9 October 2024, at the age of 80.
The following is a list of selected orchestral recordings conducted by Segerstam.
Awards
Honors
Recordings
Segerstam is widely known through his recordings, which include the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Carl Nielsen, and Jean Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers, such as the Americans John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish Allan Pettersson, and the Russian Alfred Schnittke.
+
!Album
!Label
!Year
!Orchestra – artists
!OCLC Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 288, "Letting the FLOW go on..." Alba 2016 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Brahms: Symphony No. 2 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 289, "When a Cat Visited" Alba 2018 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Brahms: Symphony No. 3 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 294, "Songs of a UNICORN heralding ..." Alba 2019 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 295, "ulFSöDErBlom in Memoriam ..." Alba 2019 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Louis Aubert: Orchestral Works – Cinéma / Feuille d'Images / Offrande / Dryade SWR Classic Archive 1994 Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz Beethoven: König Stephan / Leonore Prohaska (excerpts) Naxos 2020 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
The Key Ensemble, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis Beethoven: Die Ruinen von Athen Naxos 2020 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis Borup-Jørgensen: Sommasvit / Nordisk Sommerpastorale Dacapo 1995 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Rued Langgaard: Symphony No. 1 / From the Deep Chandos 1994 Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9 Chandos 1992 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Mahler: Symphony No. 3 Chandos 1991 Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir
Anne Gjevang, Copenhagen Boys' Choir Mahler: Symphony No. 4 Alba 2020 Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Mahler: Symphony No. 10 and 8 Chandos 1994 Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir Nørgård: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 Chandos 1997 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Nørgård: Symphony No. 2 / Sinfonia Austera Chandos 1996 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Nørgård: Symphony No. 3 / Concerto in due tempi Chandos 1996 Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 15 BIS 1994 Norrköping Symphony Orchestra Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 11 BIS 1993 Norrköping Symphony Orchestra Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 8 and 10 BIS 1998 Norrköping Symphony Orchestra Rautavaara: Before the Icons / A Tapestry of Life Ondine 2010 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Rautavaara: Garden of Spaces / Clarinet Concerto / Cantus arcticus Ondine 2005 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Richard Stoltzman Rautavaara: Harp Concerto / Symphony No. 8 Ondine 2001 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Marielle Nordmann Rautavaara: Manhattan Trilogy / Symphony No. 3 Ondine 2008 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Rautavaara: On the Last Frontier / Flute Concerto / Anadyomene Ondine 1999 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Patrick Gallois Rautavaara: Violin Concerto / Isle of Bliss / Angels and Visitations Ondine 1997 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Elmar Oliveira Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7 / Annunciations Ondine 1996 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Romantic Trombone Concertos BIS 1988 Bamberg Symphony
Christian Lindberg Ruders, P.: Saaledes saae Johannes / Gong / Tundra / Symphony No. 1 Chandos 1993 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Schmitt, F.: Orchestral Works – Danse d'Abisag / Habeyssée / Rêves / Symphony No. 2 SWR Classic Archive 2007 Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz Scriabin: Symphony No. 2 / Reverie / Le Poeme de l'extase BIS 1992 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Scriabin: Piano Concerto / Symphony No. 3 "Le divin poeme" BIS 1990 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Scriabin: Symphony No. 1 / Prometheus BIS 1991 Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 / In memoriam Chandos 1992 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Sibelius.: Symphony No. 2 / Finlandia Chandos 1992 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 / Valse triste Chandos 1992 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 / Scenes with cranes / Tapiola Chandos 1992 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 / The Tempest Suite No. 1 Chandos 1991 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 / Pohjola's Daughter / En saga Chandos 1991 Danish National Symphony Orchestra Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Naxos 2005 Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra and Male Chorus
External links
Categories: 1944 Births, 2024 Deaths, 20th-century Finnish Classical Composers, 20th-century Finnish Conductors, 20th-century Finnish Male Musicians, 20th-century Violists, 21st-century Finnish Classical Composers, 21st-century Finnish Conductors, 21st-century Finnish Male Musicians, 21st-century Violists, Academic Staff Of Sibelius Academy, Classical Musicians With Disabilities, Deaths From Pneumonia In Finland, Finnish Male Classical Composers, Finnish People With Disabilities, Finnish Violists, Finnish Autistic People, Autistic Musicians, Musicians From Vaasa, Sibelius Academy Alumni, Swedish-speaking Finns
|
|
