Susanna Mälkki is sought-after with symphony orchestras and in opera houses worldwide. In her final season as Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, she concludes a seven-year tenure with a distinctive dynamism and imaginative flair to her programming. In addition to a full season in Finland, she leads the Helsinki Philharmonic on tour to the prestigious Lucerne and Edinburgh festivals, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Washington’s Kennedy Center this season. She appears regularly with top orchestras throughout Europe and North America, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where she was Principal Guest Conductor from 2017 until 2022, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, London Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and the Berlin Philharmonic. Equally in demand with major opera houses, past notable appearances include the Opéra national de Paris, La Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan in New York. This season she has conducted Saariaho’s Innocence, which she had premiered in 2021 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London. Recognised for her significant contribution to music, in 2011 Susanna Mälkki was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland, one of Finland’s highest honors. She was also named Officier (2014) and Commandeur (2022) de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur (2016) in France. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London and a member of the Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien in Stockholm. In 2016 she was named Musical America’s 2017 Conductor of the Year and in 2017 she was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize. This is her first appearance with the Israel Philharmonic.