The conductor Okko Kamu began his career in 1969 by winning the very first Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin. Since then he has conducted many of the world’s best orchestras, including those in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Berliner Philharmoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – as well as opera houses such as the New York Metropolitan, the Royal Opera House, Convent Garden and the Bolshoi and Kirov operas in Russia.

Okko Kamu’s career has included periods as principal conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked with the Finnish National Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm and been guest conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Okko Kamu has recorded over 100 CDs, and he concluded a successful period as principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in his native country Finland with a new recording of all of Sibelius’ symphonies for BIS in 2016. This followed an earlier series of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon – an assignment he shared with Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Okko Kamu has been a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since 1994.