Hailed as "exacting and exuberant" (The New York Times), Osmo Vänskä is recognized for his compelling interpretations of the standard, contemporary and Nordic repertoires. Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003, Vänskä is internationally in demand as a guest conductor and has received extraordinary acclaim for his work with many of the world"s leading orchestras, including the Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. He has also developed regular relationships with the Mostly Mozart Festival (New York) and the BBC Proms.

The 2013/14 season brings performances with the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Washington"s National Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Wiener Symphoniker, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony.

Recording for BIS, Vänskä gained distinction as a recording artist with his landmark Sibelius cycle with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra - described by Gramophone as "the finest survey of the past three decades." In 2012 a new recording of Sibelius" Second and Fifth Symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra was released and nominated for a Grammy Award, followed by Symphonies Nos.1 and 4 in Spring 2013. A further Minnesota Orchestra record - the second featuring Beethoven"s Piano Concertos with Yevgeny Sudbin - will be released in 2014.

Formerly Music Director of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Vänskä studied conducting at Finland"s Sibelius Academy and was awarded first prize in the 1982 Besançon International Young Conductor"s Competition. He began his professional music career as a clarinetist, holding the co-principal chair of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the principal chair of the Turku Philharmonic, and in recent years has enjoyed a return to the clarinet, including on a recent recording of Kalevi Aho"s chamber works.

Vänskä is the recipient of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Musical America"s 2005 Conductor of the Year award, and the Arts and Letters award from the Finlandia Foundation. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Glasgow and the University of Minnesota, as well as the 2010 Ditson Award from Columbia University for his support of American music. In 2013 he received the Annual Award from the German Record Critics" Award Association for his extensive involvement in BIS"s project to record the complete works of Sibelius.

This is his first appearance at PMF.