Leif Selim Segerstam ( , 2 March 1944 – 9 October 2024) was a Finnish music composer, conductor, violinist, violist, and pianist. He is especially best known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works. He held many important positions in Finnish music industry both in Finland and around the world.
From 1963 until his death in 2024, Segerstam conducted a variety of orchestras in Finland, Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand. He was conductor at Finnish National Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was a chief conductor of ORF Symphony Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Danish National Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, Segerstam taught as a professor of orchestra conducting at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He is remembered for his contributions to the Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality.
Early life Leif Segerstam was born on 2 March 1944 in Vaasa, to Selim Segerstam and Viola Maria Kronqvist, into a musical Swedish-speaking family. Selim made several song books as a living. Then, Segerstams moved to Helsinki in 1947. During Leif's time at school, he played violin and viola with Helsinki Youth Orchestra.
Career Segerstam's debut concert as a violinist was in 1962, and his conducting debut was in 1963, with Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in Tampere. Following the premiere, Segerstam was hired to conduct the Finnish National Opera, and a year later he conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducted contemporary works such as Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Shostakovich's First Symphony.
Segerstam studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, piano with Jaakko Somero, violin with Leena Siukonen-Penttilä, composition with Einar Englund and Joonas Kokkonen, and conducting with Jussi Jalas. He received diplomas in violin and conducting in 1963. He studied further at the Juilliard School in New York City, violin with Louis Persinger, composition with Hall Overton and Vincent Persichetti, and conducting with Jean Morel, and received his postgraduate diploma in 1965.
Segerstam took part, as second conductor, in a 1968 tour of the Helsinki Philharmonic to the United States. He was chief conductor and music director of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1970 to 1972, and music director of the Finnish National Opera in 1973 and 1974. He began working with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the early 1970s. He conducted as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in London, with a repertoire including Verdi's Aida and Don Carlo, R. Strauss' Salome and Elektra and Wagner's Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer.
Segerstam served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra. At the same time, he was chief conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera again and of the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland until 2000.
He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the ORF Symphony Orchestra (1975 to 1982), the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (1982 to 1989), the Danish National Radio Symphony (1988 to 1995), and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (2012 to 2019). He guest-conducted many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and in Australia, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Salzburg Festival 1971-1975), the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo.
From autumn 1997 to spring 2013, he was professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His students include Rune Bergmann, Susanna Mälkki, Mikk Murdvee, Sasha Mäkilä and Markku Laakso.
In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in the Finnish film Pelicanman.
On 22 December 2015, while conducting the fourth and final movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's, Scheherazade, "Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman", around the 45 min mark, Segerstam gave his own alternative performance of the piece, and cried as if he were a pirate, while invoking members of the orchestra to do the same, to emulate the shipwreck moment in the symphonic poem's storyline.
Compositions
As a composer, Segerstam is especially known for his many symphonies, which numbered 371 by March 2024.
Most of his symphonies last for about 20 minutes, are formed of a single movement and can be performed without a conductor. His 37th symphony, for example, at its premiere featured Segerstam at the piano, leading the orchestra "in a relatively free form". This is partially inspired by Sibelius' Seventh symphony. More than a hundred of Segerstam's symphonies have been performed.
Many of his compositions are influenced by nature, and he was often praised for his contributions to Nordic music. He developed a personal approach to aleatory composition through a style called "free pulsation" in which musical events interact flexibly in time, with his composition method persistent throughout his œuvre. His Fifth String Quartet, the "Lemming Quartet" (1970), ushered in his new chapter of post-expressionistic writing of the 1960s. This composition approach proved to be a quick way of writing large blocks of sound (the temporal order of events being left to the performer) and permitted an exceptionally prolific output. Instead of constituting individual works, his music is more like a musical stream of consciousness (under the headings of Thoughts, Episode and Orchestral Diary Sheet). It also means that there are numerous scorings of the same piece. This method was first used in the "Lemming Quartet".
Among Segerstam's juvenilia (1960–1969) are four string quartets from 1962–1966, and the post-impressionist ballet Pandora from 1967. The quartets are usually labeled as from his "Post-Expressionist" period. He composed 30 string quartets and numerous concertos, for violin, viola, cello and piano.
In 2015 Segerstam began work on an opera, Völvan, with a libretto by Elisabeth Wärnfeldt.
Personal life Segerstam was married to the violinist , concertmaster of the Finnish RSO; they had two children.
After they divorced, he married the Helsinki Philharmonic harpist Minnaleena Jankko in 2002; they had three children. In 2009 it was announced that their marriage would end.
In a 2024 interview, Segerstam mentioned being autistic.
Segerstam died from pneumonia at a Helsinki hospital, on 9 October 2024, at the age of 80.
Awards 1962, Segerstam won the International Maj Lind Piano Competition. 1999, he was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize for his work as a "tireless champion of Scandinavian Music". 2003, he received Svenska Kulturfonden's Prize for Music. 2004, he was awarded the annual State Prize for Music in Finland. 2005, he was awarded the Sibelius Medal. 2014, the President of Finland granted Segerstam the title of Professor
Honors Pro Finlandia medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland, 6 December 1992
Recordings Segerstam is widely known through his recordings, which include the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, Scriabin, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers, such as the Americans John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish Allan Pettersson, and the Russian Alfred Schnittke.
The following is a list of selected orchestral recordings conducted by Segerstam. +AlbumLabelYearOrchestra – artistsOCLCBrahms: Symphony No. 1 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 288, "Letting the FLOW go on..."Alba2016Turku Philharmonic OrchestraBrahms: Symphony No. 2 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 289, "When a Cat Visited"Alba2018Turku Philharmonic OrchestraBrahms: Symphony No. 3 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 294, "Songs of a UNICORN heralding ..."Alba2019Turku Philharmonic OrchestraBrahms: Symphony No. 4 / Segerstam.: Symphony No. 295, "ulFSöDErBlom in Memoriam ..."Alba2019Turku Philharmonic OrchestraAubert: Orchestral Works – Cinéma / Feuille d'Images / Offrande / DryadeSWR Classic Archive1994Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-PfalzBeethoven: König Stephan / Leonore Prohaska (excerpts)Naxos2020Turku Philharmonic OrchestraThe Key Ensemble, Chorus Cathedralis AboensisBeethoven: Die Ruinen von AthenNaxos2020Turku Philharmonic OrchestraChorus Cathedralis AboensisBorup-Jørgensen: Sommasvit / Nordisk SommerpastoraleDacapo1995Danish National Symphony OrchestraLanggaard: Symphony No. 1 / From the DeepChandos1994 Danish National Symphony Orchestra and ChoirMahler: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9Chandos1992Danish National Symphony OrchestraMahler: Symphony No. 3Chandos1991Danish National Symphony Orchestra and ChoirAnne Gjevang, Copenhagen Boys' ChoirMahler: Symphony No. 4Alba2020Turku Philharmonic OrchestraMahler: Symphony No. 10 and 8Chandos1994Danish National Symphony Orchestra and ChoirNørgård: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5Chandos1997Danish National Symphony OrchestraNørgård: Symphony No. 2 / Sinfonia AusteraChandos1996Danish National Symphony OrchestraNørgård: Symphony No. 3 / Concerto in due tempiChandos1996Danish National Symphony Orchestra and ChoirPettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 15BIS1994Norrköping Symphony OrchestraPettersson: Symphonies Nos. 7 and 11BIS1993Norrköping Symphony OrchestraPettersson: Symphonies Nos. 8 and 10BIS1998Norrköping Symphony OrchestraRautavaara: Before the Icons / A Tapestry of LifeOndine2010Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraRautavaara: Garden of Spaces / Clarinet Concerto / Cantus arcticusOndine2005Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraRichard StoltzmanRautavaara: Harp Concerto / Symphony No. 8Ondine2001Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraMarielle NordmannRautavaara: Manhattan Trilogy / Symphony No. 3Ondine2008Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraRautavaara: On the Last Frontier / Flute Concerto / AnadyomeneOndine1999Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraPatrick GalloisRautavaara: Violin Concerto / Isle of Bliss / Angels and VisitationsOndine1997Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraElmar OliveiraRautavaara: Symphony No. 7 / AnnunciationsOndine1996Helsinki Philharmonic OrchestraRomantic Trombone ConcertosBIS1988Bamberger SymphonikerChristian LindbergRuders, P.: Saaledes saae Johannes / Gong / Tundra / Symphony No. 1Chandos1993Danish National Symphony OrchestraSchmitt, F.: Orchestral Works – Danse d'Abisag / Habeyssée / Rêves / Symphony No. 2SWR Classic Archive2007Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-PfalzScriabin: Symphony No. 2 / Reverie / Le poeme de l'extaseBIS1992Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraScriabin: Piano Concerto / Symphony No. 3 "Le divin poeme"BIS1990Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraScriabin: Symphony No. 1 / Prometheé: Le poème du feuBIS1991Royal Stockholm Philharmonic OrchestraSibelius: Symphony No. 1 / In memoriamChandos1992Danish National Symphony OrchestraSibelius.: Symphony No. 2 / FinlandiaChandos1992Danish National Symphony OrchestraSibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 / Valse tristeChandos1992Danish National Symphony OrchestraSibelius: Symphony No. 3 / Scenes with cranes / TapiolaChandos1992Danish National Symphony OrchestraSibelius: Symphony No. 4 / The Tempest Suite No. 1Chandos1991Danish National Symphony OrchestraSibelius: Symphony No. 6 / Pohjola's Daughter / En sagaChandos1991Danish National Symphony OrchestraWagner: Tristan und IsoldeNaxos2005Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra and Male Chorus
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