Sakari Oramo in conversation with Fergus McWilliam (15 min.)

After an absence of several years, Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo returned to the Berliner Philharmoniker in October 2018 to perform works by Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius plus Brett Dean’s Cello Concerto with the orchestra. In the latter, the soloist was Alban Gerhardt. In this interview with the Philharmoniker’s horn player Fergus McWilliam, the busy conductor discusses among other things his relationship to contemporary and northern European music, and explains the similarities between the mythical figures Peer Gynt and Lemminkäinen, to whom Grieg and Siblius dedicated their tone poems. Other topics include the conductor’s career, which has included him becoming the successor to Sir Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the influence of his past as a concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on how he relates to the various instrument sections of the orchestra.