Dima Slobodeniouk
conductor
[BBC Music Magazine] praised his performances for their “power, intelligence and refinement”: the man in question is Dima Slobodeniouk, who trained as a violinist in his native Moscow before dedicating himself to orchestral conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki from 1996. His teachers included Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula, and further studies also led him to Ilja Musin and Esa-Pekka Salonen: “I am a mixture of at least two cultures. I lived in Moscow until I was 16, then in Finland for 25 years.”
The combination of the musical strengths of both countries has made Slobodeniouk one of the most interesting conductors of his generation. Since 2013, he has been the principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, with which he launched a support programme that gives young, talented conductors the opportunity to work with a professional orchestra. Since the 2016/17 season, Dima Slobodeniouk has also been the principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the internationally renowned Sibelius Festival, which was founded by this orchestra. In addition to these engagements, he gives guest performances with top international orchestras (Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) – including the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he made his debut in 2018 with a Finnish-Russian programme. His verdict: “I have never experienced anything like the Philharmonie Berlin. It is one of a kind. There are magnificent halls, but the Philharmonie has a clarity and sonority that is unique. You really feel ’in’ the music, even on stage, where you often feel different from the audience. Everything is one world here.”
