Singapore Symphony Orchestra Appoints New Music Director

Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu will step into the role

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) recently announced that the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu will serve as its next Music Director. He succeeds Hans Graf, and will be appointed for an initial term of three years, beginning with the 2026/27 season.

Lintu will also spend two weeks conducting the SSO during the 2025/26 season, under the title of Music Director Designate.

Lintu is a graduate of Finland's Sibelius Academy, where he studied cello and conducting, the latter with the celebrated Finnish teacher Jorma Panula. In 1994 he won First Prize at Bergen's Nordic Conducting Competition.

Presently, he serves as Music Director of Orquestra Gulbenkian and Chief Conductor of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, presiding over a wide range of repertoire in both the symphonic and operatic domains.

As guest conductor, Lintu has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre National de Radio France, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Berlin, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, among others.

"I am delighted to be joining the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as its next Music Director," said Lintu. ​"The SSO is an orchestra with a vibrant energy as well as a passion and dedication to artistic growth. I look forward to collaborating with these wonderful musicians and the wider community, and to exploring new creative heights and engaging deeply with audiences both here in Singapore and internationally."

"I am thrilled to welcome Hannu Lintu to the SSO family," said Goh Yew Lin, Chair of the Singapore Symphony Group. "He is an artist of uncommon breadth who from his debut concert with the SSO in 2017 demonstrated an immediate and warm rapport with both musicians and audience. We look forward to an exciting musical journey together under his artistic leadership."