New Artist of the Month: Conductor Tarmo Peltokoski

HONG KONG—To correct any misnomers, when the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra hired 24-year-old conductor Tarmo Peltokoski in July to succeed Music Director Jaap van Zweden, it did not anoint the youngest-ever music director in the history of the symphonic world. That honor goes to the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, which hired Peltokoski in 2022.

Hong Kong was even edged out by the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, which also hired Peltokoski later that year (his music directorship officially begins in 2025). In the meantime, he still serves as principal guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with which he released his debut recording of Mozart symphonies in May for Deutsche Grammophon (making him, in 2023, the youngest conductor ever signed to an recording exclusive contract).

Although his first name means “energy” in Finnish, the jet-lag glaze in the young conductor’s eyes backstage after a recent rehearsal at the Hong Kong Cultural Center conveys a well-worn weariness. “Standing in front of 80 new faces every week is extremely exhausting,” says Peltokoski, whose whirlwind schedule of guest-conducting debuts began in 2022. “Fortunately, all this flying around has sorted the places I want to commit to.”

Despite his youth—a trait he plays down whenever possible—Peltokoski came to music relatively late by prodigy standards. The son of a Finnish engineer and a Filipina nurse was drawn to piano lessons at age 8 by his paternal grandmother, a singing teacher in his hometown of Vaasa on Finland’s west coast. “I think that made the difference,” he says. “It was my wish, not my parents’. And because I didn’t grow up in a family of musicians, I had to discover things on my own.”

One of those discoveries was the music of Richard Wagner on the radio. “I became completely obsessed,” he says. “I tried playing Wagner’s scores on the piano, but they never sounded good. Up till then, I was playing mainly by ear, and always improvising. But these huge operatic scores forced me to learn to read music very quickly and fluently, which is of course a conductor’s most important skill.”

At age 14, Peltokoski joined a master class with the legendary conductor and pedagogue Jorma Panula, “It’s nerve-wracking to stand in front of an orchestra, and I was a shy kid,” he recalls. “But I knew this was what I wanted to do.” From there, he met “all the hotshot Finnish conductors,” he says. “The number of master classes at some point became exponential. I had to force myself to go, but every new invitation from Jorma felt like a win.”

Peltokoski moved to Helsinki at age 16, still playing piano seriously for two more years. “Looking back, my conducting never had a breakthrough moment,” he says. “From my perspective, it seemed to take forever. Anyone should be able to wave their hands, but it took three years before I thought, ‘Maybe I know something,’ and four years before it felt good.”

Podium debut at home

His first professional appearance on the podium was with his hometown ensemble, the Vaasa City Orchestra. “It’s a truly Finnish phenomenon for a town of 65,000 to have a professional orchestra, and they’re always willing to give opportunities to young conductors and soloists,” he says. Likewise, his first engagement abroad—with the Manila Symphony Orchestra in 2019—was also close to his roots, though Peltokoski downplays that side of his lineage. “I’ve only been to the Philippines four times, so I’m not as exposed to the culture as one might imagine,” he says. “Culturally, I’m completely Finnish.”

His Asian heritage and Wagnerian inclinations drew much attention at his local debut in June 2023 in Hong Kong, where the Philharmonic was in a highly public search for a new music director. Peltokoski, too, noticed a spark in the relationship. “Right from the first rehearsal, the starting level was quite high,” he says. “It was like a luxury car—not that I drive actual cars, but I knew I wanted to drive this one.”

Peltokoski returns to open the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s 2024–25 season on September 5 with the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony (in honor of the composer’s 200^th birthday). In 2025–26, he will hold the title of music director designate; the following year, Peltokoski will divide his time between Hong Kong and Toulouse—a confluence he has already begun to contemplate.

“My repertoire can’t be completely the same,” he says, “but French repertoire is very important in Toulouse, and in Hong Kong it should be played a little more. And of course, I feel obliged to perform Finnish contemporary music.” Despite having already conducted a complete Ring cycle in Finland, Peltokoski probably won’t be repeating that feat anytime soon in Hong Kong, where Van Zweden’s Ring cycle led Gramophone magazine to dub the Philharmonic “Orchestra of the Year” in 2019. Other Wagner operas are still on the table, though, as is Mozart. “That was my main focus with the Kammerphilharmonie,” he says. “But it’s always a different experience to play Mozart with a symphony orchestra.”

While admitting that the orchestras in Hong Kong and Toulouse are both extremely disciplined (“contrary to the stereotype,” he adds with a smile), Peltokoski acknowledges they have a completely different mentality. Different too are the non-musical demands of the position, both cultural and political—particularly in Hong Kong, where recent politics have dramatically affected the artistic sector. “I haven’t been briefed about this yet in Hong Kong,” he admits, “but I’m sure I’ll find my way.

“Certainly, this isn’t something one learns in school,” he adds. “But I have many Finnish conductors around the world I can talk to.”