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Esa-Pekka Salonen Biography

Esa-Pekka Salonen ( pronunciation (help·info): [ˈesɑˌpekːɑ ˈsɑlonen]; born June 30, 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Composer-In-Residence at the New York Philharmonic, Artistic Director and cofounder of the Baltic Sea Festival, and Artist in Association at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.

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Esa-Pekka Salonen Quotes

I think if you would like to describe composing as an act with one word, "slow" would be the word.

Composing, Like, Slow, Think, Thinking, Would Be

The Royal Festival Hall in London is nice; people hang out there. I think this inviting, non-exclusive character is very important.

Nice, Character, Thinking, Royal, Hall

I think we are in the process of getting the word out, and we haven't done very well yet. But we are trying.

Done, Process, Think, Thinking, Trying, Word

Somehow, conductor as this superhuman conduit between the masters and the masterpieces and the immortals.

Conductor, Conduit, Immortals, Masterpiece, Masters, Superhuman

Of course, if you think of a European or American household in the '50s, so what were the things that when people started climbing up the ladder, what did they buy? A fridge, a TV, I think piano was the number three item in say '53 or '54.

Climbing, Household, Item, Piano, Thinking

I think we still do have a PR problem in the sense that these institutions portray themselves quite often as a museum without the contemporary wing. For a young cutting-edge person, why would you get into that sort of business, which is very clearly geared towards dead or almost dead people?

Cutting, Museums, Portray, Quite, Sort, Thinking

There is such a suspicion in today's world of people who do more than one thing, who aren't specialized.

People, Suspicion, Thing, Today, World

I actually don't like this term, "classic. " It's wrong, but we don't have a better word at the moment.

Classic, Moments, Term, Word, Wrong

Conducting is intensely social. You work with a hundred people every day. You collaborate, you try to focus their thoughts, you try to give them a concept, you try to inspire them, and it's actually exhausting.

Focus, Giving, Intensely, People, Thoughts

Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.

Course, Firsts, Higher, Hill, Hills

After 30 years I have realized the greatest pleasure I can get is to have learnt.

Greatest, Greatest Pleasures, Pleasure, Years

I realized that the European dogma is not necessarily the only way to look at things.

Looks, Way, Dogma, Realized, European

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

Hear, Kind, Music, These Days, Want

If you think of the history, in the days of Brahms and Beethoven and all these guys, almost every concert was a new music concert. To play something old was really an exception.

Thinking, Play, Guy, History, Exception, Concert

I can't imagine how many first performances I've done, perhaps 500. Some of them have been very good, and some of course very bad.

500, Done, Firsts, Imagine

I was starting a group of musicians and we had a group of young composers in Finland back in the '70s, and the real conductors, the professional conductors at the time were not interested in our stuff.

Back, Groups, Musician, Real, Young

The players never think they project enough. In a hall that seats 3,300 people, it's a very scary thing to play so quietly that you can barely hear yourself.

People, Play, Player, Quietly, Scary, Thinking

If somebody had told me when I was starting composition in Helsinki in the '70s that I would end up in L. A. and to describe that journey, those 17 years with the philharmonic and building the hall and this and that, I would have said, "This is a fairy tale of the first order. "

Helsinki, Journey, Order, Philharmonic, Tale, Years

Lots of really interesting people move to U. S and decide to work here, because of this whole attitude and openness. I'm absolutely convinced that this is just the beginning. In a couple decades we will see an even more dramatic change.

Attitude, Beginning, Couple, Moving, Openness, Whole

You know, in some ways conducting is counter-intuitive. It's like winter driving in Finland - if you skid, the natural reaction is to fight with the wheel and jam on the brakes, which is the quickest way to get killed. What you have to do is let go, and the car will right itself. It's the same when an orchestra loses its ensemble. You have to resist the temptation to semaphore, and let the orchestra find its own way back to the pulse.

Back, Fighting, Finland, Know, Letting Go, Winter

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