HK Phil Season Finale: Tarmo Peltokoski Conducts Williams and Salonen

Description

In his final concert before taking over at the top, Tarmo Peltokoski presents a typically eclectic bill to close out the 2025/26 season at the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil). The 26-year-old Finnish wunderkind officially takes over as the orchestra’s musical director from August, but audiences are already well familiar with his personal brand of lightness and levity following a series of guest conducting gigs. Lightness in his irreverent and self-deprecating stage shtick; levity in the dramatic works he favours to programme. This closing concert is typically on brand. 

A year ago, at the announcement of his appointment, the Finn boldly declared Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony the “best first symphony written by anyone.” While we’ve subsequently learned such hyperbole isn’t uncommon from Peltokoski, it certainly must rank among the most ambitious symphonic debuts. Setting Walt Whitman’s vivid verse to music, the piece requires a huge cast of vocalists, with soprano Chen Reiss, bass-baritone André Schuen, the HK Phil Chorus and the State Choir Latvija all required to bring this 70-odd-minute work to life.

The evening opens with the comparatively sight Pollux by Peltokoski’s mentor and compatriot, the celebrity conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. The short, introspective piece forms a companion piece to Castor, conducted by Peltokoski in December 2025.

Tickets for the 2026/27 season go on general sale from 6 August. Check Zolima ahead of the date for a full season preview in the words of Peltokoski himself.

The 3 July performance commences at 19:30; the 4 July at 17:00.