Tuomas Rousi, conductor

Tuomas Rousi (b. 1967) graduated as a conductor from the Sibelius Academy’s illustrious conducting class of 1999. His teachers included professors Jorma Panula, Eri Klas and Leif Segerstam, as well as Atso Almila. Tuomas has also attended master classes with the legendary Russian pedagogue Ilja Musin and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Tuomas Rousi was a semi-finalist in the International Sibelius Conducting Competition in 2000 and was awarded with the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s special prize for the best interpretation of new music. Before the competition, Tuomas had already gained considerable conducting experience as the conductor and artistic director of the Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra (Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat) from 1996 until 2001.

Tuomas’ professional career has taken him onto the podium in front of numerous Finnish orchestras, such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki, Tampere and Turku philharmonic orchestras, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Pori Sinfonietta, the city orchestras of Joensuu, Lappeenranta and Mikkeli, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Avanti! and the Viruosi di Kuhmo chamber orchestra.

Of Tuomas Rousi’s appearances abroad, particular mention should be made of his conducting engagements with the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra and the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the engagements with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Canary Islands’ Music Festival 2002, and the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon to conduct the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra in spring 2005, as well as the performances of Kimmo Hakola’s opera Marsin mestarilaulut (Mastersingers of Mars) and Unsuk Chin’s Cantatrix Sopranica with the London Sinfonietta in St. Pölten, Austria, in autumn 2006.

Tuomas Rousi’s musical career began as a violinist and he has a violin diploma from both the Utrecht Conservatory under Professor Viktor Liberman (1991) and from the Sibelius Academy under Professor Igor Bezrodny (1995). As a violinist, Tuomas Rousi has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in several European countries and at numerous festivals.

FORTHCOMING APPEARANCES:

Tuesday 9 October 2007, Hämeenlinna (Fi), Verkatehdas, Mozart: Requiem

27 and 28 October 2007, Seinäjoki (FI), The Live music and Dance HELMI -festival, Cance Theatre Wimma, "Four Coloured Visions" by Olli Koskelin (wp).

PAST:

18 and 19 August 2007, Turku Music Festival, Sigyn Hall, Seppo Pohjola’s chamber operas: Kaappi (Cupboard) and Rakkaimpani (My most beloved) (Wednesday).

25 and 26 August 2007, Helsinki Festival, Seppo Pohjola’s chamber operas: Kaappi (Cupboard) and Rakkaimpani (My most beloved).