Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen is one of the leading conductors of his generation. Highly acclaimed for his “thinking on a grand scale” and exceptional technique, he has gained international recognition and has conducted major orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Sydney Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and many others. In April 2025, he made a highly successful debut at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, conductingDie Walkürein a new production by Davide Livermore.
The music of Richard Wagner holds a central place in Pietari Inkinen’s artistic work. In 2023, he led the new production ofDer Ring des Nibelungenat the Bayreuth Festival (directed by Valentin Schwarz). In the summer of 2021, he conducted Hermann Nitsch’s production ofDie Walküreat the Green Hill. His acclaimed performances of theRingcycle at Opera Australia in 2013 and 2016 earned him the 2014 Helpmann Award for Best Musical Direction and the 2016 Green Room Award for Best Opera Conductor. In 2014, he also won the Franco Abbiati Prize from the Italian Association of Music Critics forDas Rheingoldat Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
Inkinen’s operatic engagements have also taken him to the Finnish National Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Bavarian State Opera, and the Semperoper Dresden, where he conducted a highly successful new production ofEugene Onegin.
Pietari Inkinen served as Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern until the end of the 2024/25 season. Previously, he held chief positions with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, and the Ludwigsburg Festival Orchestra. During his tenure as Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, he recorded the complete Sibelius symphonies for Naxos. Another Sibelius cycle, recorded live at Suntory Hall, was produced with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Inkinen recently completed a recording project featuring selected symphonies by Dvořák and Prokofiev (SWRmusic/Naxos).
Inkinen’s artistic journey was also the subject of a 2023 documentary directed by Sven Rech,Ein Taktstock und ein Reisepass – Pietari Inkinen, Dirigent.
In addition to his conducting career, Pietari Inkinen is also an accomplished violinist. He studied with Zakhar Bron at the Cologne University of Music before continuing his conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
