Okko Kamu

Okko Kamu (left) 1987

Okko Tapani Kamu (born March 7, 1946 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish conductor .

Kamu was born into a musical family, his father played the double bass in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra . Kamu learned the violin and was accepted at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In 1964 he founded his own string quartet, of which he was the first violinist . In 1966 he became the first solo violinist at the Finnish National Opera .

As a conductor, Kamu was self-taught ; However, at the age of 22 he won the first conducting competition of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in Berlin in 1969. Karajan was so convinced of Kamu's abilities that in the 1970s the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft completed Karajan's Sibelius cycle of symphonies 4–7 with recordings of symphonies 1–3 (which Karajan rarely conducted and the third never conducted) by Kamu. Even Karajan's orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic were used for the 2nd Symphony in 1970 ; Kamu was just 24 years old at the time.

Kamu 2011 with the Sinfonia Lahti

Kamu held senior positions with numerous orchestras during his career:

• Chief Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1970–77
• Music director of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra 1975–79 (predecessor of Mariss Jansons )
• Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra 1981–89
• Music director of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra 1990–99
• Music director of the Finnish National Opera 1996–2000
• Chief conductor of the Sinfonia Lahti 2011–2016

Kamu has also recorded over 100 records for various labels.

In 1994 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music .

literature

• Noël Goodwin:  Kamu, Okko (Tapani). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

Web links

Commons : Okko Kamu  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Works by and about Okko Kamu in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Okko Kamu