Leif Segerstam

Leif Selim Segerstam<ref name="u" /> (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, 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, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers. He is remembered for his contributions to Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality.<ref name=NYT>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Service" />

He taught as a professor of orchestra conducting at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Early life

Leif Segerstam was born on 2 March 1944 in Vaasa,<ref name="BR">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Mäkelä">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> to Selim Segerstam and Viola Maria Kronqvist, into a musical Swedish-speaking family.<ref name="Dahlström">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Selim made several song books as a living.<ref name="i">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Then, Segerstams moved to Helsinki in 1947. During Leif's time at school, he played violin and viola with Helsinki Youth Orchestra.<ref name="Dahlström" />

Career

Segerstam's debut concert as a violinist was in 1962,<ref name="Dahlström" /> and his conducting debut was in 1963, with Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in Tampere.<ref name="h" /> Following the premiere, Segerstam was hired to conduct the Finnish National Opera, and a year later he conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducted contemporary works such as Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Shostakovich's First Symphony.<ref name="Dahlström" />

Segerstam studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki,<ref name="u" /><ref name="Naxos" /> piano with Jaakko Somero, violin with Leena Siukonen-Penttilä, composition with Einar Englund and Joonas Kokkonen, and conducting with Jussi Jalas.<ref name="Mäkelä" /> He received diplomas in violin and conducting in 1963.<ref name="Turun" /> He studied further at the Juilliard School in New York City,<ref name="Naxos" /> violin with Louis Persinger, composition with Hall Overton and Vincent Persichetti, and conducting with Jean Morel,<ref name="Mäkelä" /> and received his postgraduate diploma in 1965.<ref name="u" /><ref name="Turun" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Segerstam took part, as second conductor, in a 1968 tour of the Helsinki Philharmonic to the United States.<ref name="Dahlström" /> 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.<ref name="Ondine" /> He began working with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the early 1970s.<ref name="Turun" /><ref name="The D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dahlström" />

Segerstam served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007,<ref name="McCarthy" /> and held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra.<ref name="Naxos" /> At the same time, he was chief conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera again<ref name="Ondine" /> and of the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland until 2000.<ref name="The D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia" />

File:KOCIS London Korea Classic 01 (7696506306).jpg

Segerstam with the Philharmonia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 31 July 2012

He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the ORF Symphony Orchestra (1975 to 1982),<ref name="BR" /><ref name="McCarthy" /> the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (1982 to 1989),<ref name="BR" /><ref name="Turun" /> the Danish National Radio Symphony (1988 to 1995), and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (2012 to 2019).<ref name="McCarthy" /> He guest-conducted many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and in Australia,<ref name="u">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="h">Template:Cite book</ref> including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Salzburg Festival 1971-1975), the Chicago Symphony,<ref name="Morris">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo.<ref name="Violin Channel">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From autumn 1997 to spring 2013, he was professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.<ref name="Naxos" /><ref name="McCarthy" /> His students include Rune Bergmann,<ref name="Violin Channel" /> Susanna Mälkki,<ref name="Morris" /> Mikk Murdvee, Sasha Mäkilä and Markku Laakso.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in the Finnish film Pelicanman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Compositions

Template:See also As a composer, Segerstam is especially known for his many symphonies, which numbered 371 by March 2024.<ref name="McCarthy" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="JesusOfMusic">Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Leif Segerstam.jpg

Segerstam at Turku Main Library, in 2011

Most of his symphonies last for about 20 minutes, are formed of a single movement and can be performed without a conductor.<ref name="McCarthy" /> His 37th symphony, for example, at its premiere featured Segerstam at the piano, leading the orchestra "in a relatively free form".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This is partially inspired by Sibelius' Seventh symphony.<ref name="Service">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> More than a hundred of Segerstam's symphonies have been performed.<ref name="Service" />

Many of his compositions are influenced by nature, and he was often praised for his contributions to Nordic music.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He developed a personal approach to aleatory composition through a style called "free pulsation" in which musical events interact flexibly in time,<ref name="k">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> with his composition method persistent throughout his œuvre.<ref name="n" /> His Fifth String Quartet, the "Lemming Quartet" (1970), ushered in his new chapter of post-expressionistic writing of the 1960s.<ref name="Grove">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Grove" /> This method was first used in the "Lemming Quartet".<ref name="Naxos">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="n">Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref name="Dahlström" /><ref name="n" /> He composed 30 string quartets and numerous concertos, for violin, viola, cello and piano.<ref name="McCarthy" />

In 2015 Segerstam began work on an opera, Völvan, with a libretto by Elisabeth Wärnfeldt.<ref name="k" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Segerstam was married to the violinist Template:Ill, concertmaster of the Finnish RSO; they had two children.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Rausch" />

After they divorced, he married the Helsinki Philharmonic harpist Minnaleena Jankko in 2002; they had three children.<ref name="i" /><ref name="m" /> In 2009 it was announced that their marriage would end.<ref name="m">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Rausch">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

In a 2024 interview, Segerstam mentioned being autistic.<ref name="JesusOfMusic" />

Segerstam died from pneumonia at a Helsinki hospital, on 9 October 2024, at the age of 80.<ref name="McCarthy">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=NYT/>

Awards

• 1962, Segerstam won the International Maj Lind Piano Competition.<ref name="Dahlström" />
• 1999, he was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize for his work as a "tireless champion of Scandinavian Music".<ref name="Naxos" /><ref name="Ondine" />
• 2003, he received Svenska Kulturfonden's Prize for Music.<ref name="Naxos" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 2004, he was awarded the annual State Prize for Music in Finland.<ref name="Naxos" /><ref name="Turun">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• 2005, he was awarded the Sibelius Medal.<ref name="Naxos" />
• 2014, the President of Finland granted Segerstam the title of Professor<ref name="The D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia" />

Honors

• Pro Finlandia medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland, 6 December 1992<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Recordings

Segerstam is widely known through his recordings, which include the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and 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.<ref name="Ondine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="k" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The following is a list of selected orchestral recordings conducted by Segerstam.

Album	Label	Year	Orchestra – artists	OCLC
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 288, "Letting the FLOW go on..."	Alba	2016	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 289, "When a Cat Visited"	Alba	2018	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 294, "Songs of a UNICORN heralding ..."	Alba	2019	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 295, "ulFSöDErBlom in Memoriam ..."	Alba	2019	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Aubert: Orchestral Works – Cinéma / Feuille d'Images / Offrande / Dryade	SWR Classic Archive	1994	Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz	Template:OCLC
Beethoven: König Stephan / Leonore Prohaska (excerpts)	Naxos	2020	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra The Key Ensemble, Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis	Template:OCLC
Beethoven: Die Ruinen von Athen	Naxos	2020	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis	Template:OCLC
Borup-Jørgensen: Sommasvit / Nordisk Sommerpastorale	Dacapo	1995	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Langgaard: Symphony No. 1 / From the Deep	Chandos	1994	Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir	Template:OCLC
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9	Chandos	1992	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Mahler: Symphony No. 3	Chandos	1991	Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir Anne Gjevang, Copenhagen Boys' Choir	Template:OCLC
Mahler: Symphony No. 4	Alba	2020	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Mahler: Symphony No. 10 and 8	Chandos	1994	Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir	Template:OCLC
Nørgård: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5	Chandos	1997	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Nørgård: Symphony No. 2 / Sinfonia Austera	Chandos	1996	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Nørgård: Symphony No. 3 / Concerto in due tempi	Chandos	1996	Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir	Template:OCLC
Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 15	BIS	1994	Norrköping Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 11	BIS	1993	Norrköping Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 8 and 10	BIS	1998	Norrköping Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Before the Icons / A Tapestry of Life	Ondine	2010	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Garden of Spaces / Clarinet Concerto / Cantus arcticus	Ondine	2005	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Richard Stoltzman	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Harp Concerto / Symphony No. 8	Ondine	2001	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Marielle Nordmann	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Manhattan Trilogy / Symphony No. 3	Ondine	2008	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: On the Last Frontier / Flute Concerto / Anadyomene	Ondine	1999	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Patrick Gallois	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Violin Concerto / Isle of Bliss / Angels and Visitations	Ondine	1997	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Elmar Oliveira	Template:OCLC
Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7 / Annunciations	Ondine	1996	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Romantic Trombone Concertos	BIS	1988	Bamberger Symphoniker Christian Lindberg	Template:OCLC
Ruders, P.: Saaledes saae Johannes / Gong / Tundra / Symphony No. 1	Chandos	1993	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Schmitt, F.: Orchestral Works – Danse d'Abisag / Habeyssée / Rêves / Symphony No. 2	SWR Classic Archive	2007	Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz	Template:OCLC
Scriabin: Symphony No. 2 / Reverie / Le Poeme de l'extase	BIS	1992	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Scriabin: Piano Concerto / Symphony No. 3 "Le divin poeme"	BIS	1990	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Scriabin: Symphony No. 1 / Prometheus	BIS	1991	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 / In memoriam	Chandos	1992	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius.: Symphony No. 2 / Finlandia	Chandos	1992	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 / Valse triste	Chandos	1992	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 / Scenes with cranes / Tapiola	Chandos	1992	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 / The Tempest Suite No. 1	Chandos	1991	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Sibelius: Symphony No. 6 / Pohjola's Daughter / En saga	Chandos	1991	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Template:OCLC
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde	Naxos	2005	Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra and Male Chorus	Template:OCLC

External links

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