Olari Elts

b. April 24, 1971, Tallinn

Olari Elts (1971) is a conductor with a broad international reach, whose passion for unique and exciting concert programs have brought him recognition around the world. Since 2020, Elts is Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Since 2018, he has been also the artistic advisor of the Kymi Sinfonietta.

Olari Elts began his conducting studies at Tallinn Music High School and continued at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre under Kuno Areng, Roman Matsov, Paul Mägi, and Eri Klas. He improved his skills at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Uroš Lajovic. He has participated in master courses of Jorma Panula, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Neeme Järvi. He has received the 1st prize at the International Jorma Panula Conducting Competition in Vaasa, Finland (1999) and at the International Sibelius Conductors Competition in Helsinki, Finland (2000).

Olari Elts was Principal Guest Conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra from 2007–2020 and held the same position at Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011–2014. He was also Artistic Advisor of the Orchestre de Bretagne from 2006–2011, Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2007–2010, and Chief Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2001–2006.

Olari Elts has appeared as a guest conductor with such orchestras as Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Lyon, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Ulster Orchestra, and others.

Olari Elts’ recordings have also received attention and recognition. The performances and recording of Eller's music with ENSO, which started in 2013, has been released on two CDs (2018 and 2019) by the Finnish record company Ondine, the most recent of which won the title of Classical Album of the Year at the Estonian Music Awards. Also widely celebrated by critics are his Ondine recordings of Erkki- Sven Tüür works with Tapiola Sinfonietta including the Viola Concerto with Lawrence Power, and Tüür’s Symphony No. 5 for electric guitar, orchestra, big band and the Accordion Concerto Prophecy with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. His 2016 recording of Brahms’ arrangements (by Detlev and Berio) with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra received also high ratings. Elts’ discography also includes the Borgström and Shostakovich violin concertos with Eldbjørg Hemsing and the Wiener Symphoniker under the BIS label, and Poul Ruders’ Symphony No. 5 with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra by Bridge Records.

As an opera conductor, Olari Elts has conducted Britten’s Albert Herring, Puccini’s three one-act operas Il trittico, Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Estonian National Opera), concert performance’s of Mozart’s Idomeneo both in Estonian and Latvia, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust (Opéra de Rennes) and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Norway). Crossing genres, Elts toured to the Konzerthaus Berlin with the theatre-concert production which combines Mendelssohn and Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Tallinn-based theatre company NO99. For Bernstein’s 100th anniversary, Elts conducted the film On the Waterfront with live orchestral accompaniment of the soundtrack.

Olari Elts has won the Estonian Cultural Endowment Annual Award (1997), the Order of the White Star IV Class (2001), Cultural Award of the Republic of Estonia (2004), the Latvian Grand Music Award (2005), and the Annual Prize of the Endowment for Music of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (2012, 2017, 2020 with ENSO).

Olari Elts: homepage
More info: Konzertdirektion Schmid

2021