Artists

• Dima Slobodeniouk

  Conductor

  Praised for his exhilarating approach and energetic leadership by musicians and audiences alike, Dima Slobodeniouk has become one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. He works with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra.

  In the 2022–23 season Slobodeniouk has been invited to make his debuts with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. He returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphonieorchester, Minnesota Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and received re-invitations to the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and WDR Sinfonieorchester, as well as special returns to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, where he was music director until 2022. Slobodeniouk enjoys working with soloist including Leif Ove Andsnes, Khatia Buniatishvili, Seong-Jin Cho, Kirill Gerstein, Augustin Hadelich, Barbara Hannigan, Håkan Hardenberger, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Beatrice Rana, Baiba Skride, Yuja Wang, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.

  Slobodeniouk’s recent notable recordings include collaborations with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Nicolas Altstaedt (on Alpha) and music inspired by the Finnish folk epic, the Kalevala, (BIS). Other releases on BIS include works by Kalevi Aho with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which won the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Award; a later disc of Aho's Sieidi and his Fifth Symphony; as well as concert suites of music from Prokofiev’s opera The Gambler and ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. For the Ondine label, he recorded works by Perttu Haapanen and Lotta Wennäkoski with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

  Slobodeniouk was music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia from 2013 to 2022; while there he started a conducting initiative to give aspiring conductors podium time and the opportunity to work with him on select repertoire. He has also served as principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra from 2016 to 2021, as well as artistic director of the Sibelius Festival. Born in Moscow, Dima Slobodeniouk studied violin at the Moscow Central Music School and continued studies at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, where he also took up his conducting studies.

  Learn more about Dima Slobodeniouk

• J’Nai Bridges

  Mezzo-Soprano

  J’Nai Bridges is a two-time Grammy Award–winning American mezzo-soprano, known for gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages, and is a leading figure in classical music’s shift toward conversations of inclusion and racial justice. The 2021–22 season alone has saw her ascent into the sphere of new music by taking on several world premieres, while continuing to explore the traditional roles. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the Grammy-winning production of Akhnaten by Phillip Glass.

  
  Learn more about J’Nai Bridges