Artistic Director

Born in Germany, Nils Schweckendiek grew up in England and read Music as a Foundation Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge, winning several university and college prizes.  He then studied conducting with Peter Gülke and Hans-Michael Beuerle at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany; with Leif Segerstam, Jorma Panula, Matti Hyökki and Atso Almila at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; and in masterclasses with Pierre Boulez,  Neeme Järvi,  Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Sir Charles Mackerras and Diego Masson.

Nils Schweckendiek made his debut at the Finnish National Opera with Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier in 2006 and subsequently conducted numerous performances of operas by Mozart and Donizetti as well as Sylvie Guillem’s choreography of Giselle at the same house.  He has also conducted performances at the opera houses in Leipzig, Berne, Bielefeld and Ulm, as well as new productions for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Vaasa Opera and the  Sibelius Academy.

Nils Schweckendiek has conducted concerts with most of Finland’s leading orchestras, and has worked with orchestras in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, England, China and Estonia.  He has been Artistic Advisor to the Helsinki Chamber Choir since 2007 and conductor at the Ulm Opera since 2009.

Nils Schweckendiek actively promotes new music, regularly commissioning new works and appearing at festivals of new music.  In 2006 he acted as joint Artistic Director (with composer Matthew Whittall) of the Sibelius Academy’s highly successful festival of minimalist music, clapping music, at which he led the Finnish premieres of Steve Reich’s seminal works Music for 18 musicians and Tehillim.

Nils Schweckendiek’s performances have been broadcast on radio and television both in Finland and by the European Broadcasting Union.