Conductor Teemu Hämäläinen

The versatile musician Teemu Hämäläinen began his career as a violinist. Conducting studies with professor Jorma Panula and a mentoring relationship with conductor John Nelson subsequently led Hämäläinen to embark on a professional conducting career. 

 

In addition to the core classical repertoire, Hämäläinen has conducted opera, musical plays, premieres of contemporary orchestral works and ‘crossover’ collaborations, e.g. with the pop singer Ida Elina and the jazz virtuoso Juhani Aaltonen, with whom he recorded the album Carmina Sacra, combining Aaltonen's jazz-inspired improvisations with a string orchest ra led by Hämäläinen. He recently conducted the first performance of Olli Kortekangas’ Requiem at Turku Cathedral. 

 

Alongside his work as a guest conductor with Finnish professional orchestras including the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Joensuu City Orchestra and St. Michel Strings, Teemu Hämäläinen is artistic director and chief conductor of the Finnish-based Sinfonietta Fortis. He has also appeared in China and the Czech Republic. 

 

Arranging and writing orchestrations is an integral part of Teemu Hämäläinen’s artistic identity. His output as an orchestrator includes a wide variety of songs and song cycles ranging from Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Brahms’ Vier ernste Gesänge to contemporary pop-music. A significant number of the orchestrations featuring on the album Ballad  – Classical and Romantic orchestral songs from Finland and Sweden with Helena Juntunen and Sinfonietta Fortis were written by Teemu Hämäläinen. 

 

Hämäläinen is especially well-known for his collaboration with singers. He has worked together with many internationally renowned Finnish vocalists including the sopranos Helena Juntunen, Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, Mari Palo and Tuuli Lindeberg, mezzo-soprano Melis Jaatinen, tenor Tuomas Katajala, baritone Tommi Hakala and basses Jaakko Ryhänen and Esa Ruuttunen.