指揮／歐可．卡穆

「歐可•卡穆是個不可多得的人才。我了解，他只做他想做的事，因此散發出一種罕見的特質。但盡管不尋常，SCO能擁有他，等待便是值得的」。賣可‧吐爾第，天使報信/二○一○年三月
歐可•卡穆…一位充滿能量與洞察力的指揮(雷‧班列特：今日經典)，久經鍛鍊塑造出其響譽盛名的自主性，以及給人有條不紊的感覺。位於其家鄉芬蘭全球知名的拉蒂交響樂團中，歐可•卡穆同時也擔任首席指揮代表。在2011、2012年將開始其任職，他也已開始為拉蒂的BIS錄製完整的西貝柳斯作品集，這是在他與赫伯特•馮•卡拉揚、柏林愛樂為德意志留聲機公司共同製作後的新作品。他也是新加坡交響樂團的首席客座指揮，並擁有許多不同的頭銜，包含芬蘭國家廣播公司交響樂團的首席指揮、奧司樂愛樂樂團與赫爾辛基愛樂管弦樂團首席指揮、以及荷蘭國家廣播公司首席指揮、也是芬蘭國家歌劇院首席指揮、瑞士皇家歌劇院首席指揮、伯明罕市交響樂團與指揮洛桑室內交響樂團首席客座指揮。一九六九年時，當他贏得第一屆於柏林舉辦的國際指揮大賽時，歐可•卡穆自此聲名大噪，也開啟於歐洲、美國的演出，以及與柏林愛樂交響樂團所錄製的第一張專輯。
歐可•卡穆的客座演出被解讀為─多數世界知名交響樂團與歌劇院的點名冊，包含波士頓、芝加哥、舊金山、拉斯維加斯、柏林愛樂交響樂團、柏林德意志交響樂團、斯圖加特廣播交響樂團、維也納交響樂團、蘇黎世市政廳管弦樂團、以色列愛樂樂團、捷克愛樂樂團、俄羅斯愛樂樂團、讀賣日本交響樂團、札幌交響樂團、大都會交響樂團、日本愛樂樂團、東京愛樂樂團和東京交響樂團、以及倫敦愛樂樂團、倫敦交響樂團、愛樂樂團、倫敦的皇家愛樂樂團等。哈雷交響樂團(「任何指揮家能進到非位於捷克的交響樂團指揮，聽起來已相當優秀，卡穆達成了這項豐功偉業」二○一○年五月)、伯明罕市立交響樂團、皇家利物浦交響樂團、蘇格蘭室內樂團與英國室內樂團。歌劇院為紐約大都會歌劇院、柯芬花園皇家歌劇院、俄羅斯和柯洛夫歌劇院，以及蘇黎世歌劇院與哥特堡歌劇院。今日，卡穆於世界音樂中心擔任指揮工作，雖然與多數指揮家有所不同，他同時也堅持要於戶外享受音樂生活，這也使他經常出現於令人玩味的場所，同時滋養其內在心靈，也讓他與赫爾辛堡交響樂團、斯雅蘭特交響樂團首席指揮、新加坡交響樂團連結在一塊。
卡穆生於赫爾辛基的音樂家庭。其父親於赫爾辛基愛樂樂團演奏低音大提琴，卡穆兩歲時便與他的第一位老師─維諾‧阿拉加─學習小提琴，維諾同時也是赫爾辛基愛樂樂團的領導人，在他和歐尼‧舒昂奈學習之前，卡穆於西貝流士音樂學院學習小提琴。之後，卡穆成為舒昂奈四重演奏組的領導人物，二十歲時，成爲芬蘭國家歌劇院管弦樂團的小提琴首席。卡穆也錄製了為唱片公司，如：Finlandia和Musica Sveciae等公司錄製了超過一百片CD，其中貝華德四首交響曲和為拿索斯公司錄製的鋼琴協奏曲，都獲得卓越且彌足珍貴的「金音叉」大獎。所錄製的非主流音樂作品包含了─薩利能的「Complete Music for String Orchestra」、與潘德列茨基、武滿、舒昂奈所製作的長笛協奏曲，以及更多的經典與羅曼蒂克時期的中心音樂。
一九九四年一月十一日起，歐可卡穆即為瑞典皇家音樂學院的一員。

Conductor: Okko Kamu

"Okko Kamu is a treasure. He only does what he wants to do, I understand, and thus has a certain rarity value. But even if it's once in a blue moon the SCO can get him, it's worth the wait." Michael Tumelty, The Herald/ 19th March '10

Okko Kamu, ".... a conductor of great energy and insight" (Rad Bennet: ClassicsToday), enjoys a reputation for spontaneity tempered by sensitivity and disciplined feeling and is chief conductor designate of the world famous Lahti Symphony Orchestra in his native Finland. He will take up his title from the start of the '11/12 season where he has already begun to record a complete Sibelius cycle for BIS in Lahti which follows an earlier one he shared with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmoniker for Deutsche Grammophon. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra with many previous titles which have included chief conductorships with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Nederlands Radio Symphony Orchestra alongside positions with the Finnish National Opera, Swedish Royal Opera and as Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. He first came to prominence in 1969 when he won the first Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin, an achievement which led to engagements in Europe and the USA and the first recordings he made with the Berlin Philharmoniker.
Okko Kamu's guest appearances read as a roll call of major orchestras and opera houses around the world including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Berlin Philharmonic and Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Stuttgart Radio, Vienna Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle, Israel Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic, the Yomiuri, Sapporo, Metropolitan, Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and Tokyo Symphony orchestras in Japan as well as the LPO, LSO, Philharmonia Orchestra and RPO in London alongside The Hallé Orchestra ("Any conductor that gets a non-Czech orchestra sounding like one is exceptional and Kamu achieved the feat ..... " May '10), CBSO and RLPO, Scottish Chamber and English Chamber orchestras in the UK. Amongst the opera houses are New York's Metropolitan, Royal Opera at Covent Garden, The Bolshoi and Kirov in Russia plus Zürich and Göteborg. Today he conducts in the world's musical centres, although unusually amongst conductors he also insists on having a life outside music making which has led to him appearing regularly in interesting places which feed his inner spirit and brought him titles with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Sjaelland Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Okko Kamu was born into a musical family in Helsinki. His father played double bass in the Helsinki Philharmonic and he began playing the violin at the age of two with his first teacher, Väinö Arjava, who led his father's orchestra, before he continued lessons with Onni Suhonen at the Sibelius Academy where he also studied the piano. Later he became leader of the Suhonen Quartet and, at the age of 20, concertmaster of Finnish National Opera Orchestra before becoming a staff conductor there. He has recorded more than 100 CDs for labels like Finlandia and Musica Sveciae, amongst others, and his recordings of Berwald's four symphonies and piano concerto for Naxos have both received the distinguished and rare "Diapason d'Or" award. Recorded repertoire of music outside the mainstream has included Aulis Sallinen's "Complete Music for String Orchestra" and flute concertos by Penderecki, Takemitsu and Sallinen alongside more central music of the classical and romantic eras.
Okko Kamu has been a member of the Swedish Royal Music Academy since 1994. January '11