“Susanna Mälkki is one of the world’s top conductors, widely sought between her appearances in Helsinki [where she serves as chief conductor] and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, of which she is the principal guest conductor,” writes Joshua Barone in Sunday’s (1/2) New York Times. “She leads [the New York Philharmonic] at Carnegie Hall on Jan. 6.… ‘My standpoint has always been that since I do not wish that my gender is something that is held against me, I also shall not use it to benefit from it,’ Mälkki said…. Her work, she said, should speak for itself…. Mälkki [became] the principal cellist of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in her mid-20s. But she also studied conducting and longed to move into that field…. Among the first major conductors to see Mälkki wield a baton was her compatriot Esa-Pekka Salonen…. In 1998, she made the leap to full-time conducting…. From 2006 until 2013 [she was] the director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain….. The Helsinki Philharmonic recently announced that Mälkki would step down in summer 2023 and become the orchestra’s chief conductor emeritus. A mix of symphonic and opera appearances will follow.”
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