Osmo Vänskä will become the new Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra next year. He will step down from his position as Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra when his contract expires in 2022, but will maintain positions with the Lahti and Iceland Symphony Orchestras.

The previous Music Director, Myung-Whun Chung, departed in 2015, and the orchestra appointed both Markus Stenz as Conductor-in-Residence and Thierry Fischer as Principal Guest Conductor in 2017. 

Vänskä has won Gramophone Awards with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for recordings of Sibelius's music, including the Violin Concerto (with Leonidas Kavakos, 1991), the Fifth Symphony and En Saga (1996), and a programme of orchestral works called 'Rondo of the Waves' (2003). His recording of Sibelius's Symphonies Nos 3, 6 and 7 with the Minnesota Orchestra was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2017. And with the Minnesota Orchestra Vänskä has produced a highly regarded Beethoven symphony cycle for BIS.

Of his new appointment, Vanska said: 'It is a great pleasure to partner with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in this new leadership role. I look forward to working with the musicians and orchestra administration to create interesting programs and inspiring concerts for the enthusiastic audiences of Seoul.'

The orchestra announced the news via its YouTube channel: