The Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Orchestra has appointed Susanna Mälkki as its new principal guest conductor for three years, beginning in July 2013. She joins new principal conductor and artistic advisor Paul McCreesh, who takes over from Lawrence Foster in July 2013 on a four-year contract.

Mälkki’s appointment comes as she concludes her seven-year tenure as music director of Ensemble intercontemporain at the end of the current season, having previously been artistic director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. The Finnish conductor’s recent engagements have included concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
 
Next season she returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and Opéra national de Paris. Looking further ahead, she will make debuts at Staatsoper Hamburg and at The Metropolitan Opera, New York.