Leif Segerstam

Leif Selim Segerstam was born on March 2, 1944, in Vaasa into a musical family. Studying violin, piano, and conducting at the Sibelius Academy and the Juilliard School in New York, he emerged as one of the most charismatic, visually unmistakable conductors of his generation.

Segerstam served as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Danish National Radio Symphony, the Austrian Radio Symphony, and the Royal Swedish Opera, acclaimed especially for his interpretations of Sibelius, Mahler, and Allan Pettersson. As a composer, he wrote an astonishing 352 numbered symphonies, pioneering a conductorless 'free-pulsative' orchestral technique where musicians interpret micro-motifs freely within timed structural pulses. He was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1999.