Dalia Stasevksa, principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, has just been announced as the new chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland. She will take up the post in September 2021, succeeding Dima Slobodeniouk, who is also a native Finn.

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Stasevska will also take on the role of artistic director of the orchestra’s international Sibelius Festival.

‘For me, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra has long held a very special position’, she says. ‘In Lahti there’s a tremendous amount of potential; the orchestra’s players are inspired, they are minded to do great things and open to a wide range of repertoire and ideas. It’s also a great pleasure to continue the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s important work with the music of Sibelius’.

When she took on the role at the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2019, Stasevska became the youngest person – and first woman – to hold a conducting position with the orchestra.

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra helped kickstart the career of conductor Osmo Vänskä in the 1980s, who held the roles of principal guest conductor and subsequently chief conductor.

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Freya ParrDigital Editor and Staff Writer, BBC Music Magazine

Freya Parr is BBC Music Magazine's Digital Editor and Staff Writer. She has also written for titles including the Guardian, Circus Journal, Frankie and Suitcase Magazine, and runs The Noiseletter, a fortnightly arts and culture publication. Freya's main areas of interest and research lie in 20th-century and contemporary music.