Leif Selim Segerstam (, 2 March 1944 – 9 October 2024) was a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist, and pianist, especially known for writing over 300 symphonies, along with other works. From 1963 onward Segerstam conducted a variety of orchestras in Europe, the Americas and Australia. He was conductor at the Finnish National Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, and was chief conductor of the ORF Symphony Orchestra, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the Danish National Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. He is widely known through his recordings, including the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers. He is remembered for his contributions to the Finnish music scene, and his vibrant personality. He taught as professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Life and career

Leif Segerstam was born on 2 March 1944 in Vaasa, to Selim Segerstam and Viola Maria Kronqvist, into a musical Swedish-speaking family. Selim made several song books as a living. The Segerstams then moved to Helsinki in 1947. During Leif's time at school, he played the violin and the viola with the Helsinki Youth Orchestra. Segerstam's debut concert as a violinist was in 1962, and his conducting debut was in 1963, with Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in Tampere. Following the premiere, Segerstam was hired to conduct the Finnish National Opera, and a year later he conducted the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He conducted contemporary works such as Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Shostakovich's First Symphony. Segerstam studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, piano with Jaakko Somero, violin with Leena Siukonen-Penttilä, composition with Einar Englund and Joonas Kokkonen, and conducting with Jussi Jalas. He received diplomas in violin and conducting in 1963. He studied further at the Juilliard School in New York City, violin with Louis Persinger, composition with Hall Overton and Vincent Persichetti, and conducting with Jean Morel, and received his postgraduate diploma in 1965. Segerstam took part, as second conductor, in a 1968 tour of the Helsinki Philharmonic to the United States. He was chief conductor and music director of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1970 to 1972, and music director of the Finnish National Opera in 1973 and 1974. He began working with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the early 1970s. He conducted as a guest at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in London, with a repertoire including Verdi's Aida and Don Carlo, R. Strauss' Salome and Elektra and Wagner's Tannhäuser and Der fliegende Holländer''. Segerstam served as chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1995 to 2007, and held the title of Chief Conductor Emeritus with the orchestra. At the same time, he was chief conductor of the Royal Swedish Opera again and of the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland until 2000. He held positions with numerous other orchestras, including the ORF Symphony Orchestra (1975 to 1982), the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (1982 to 1989), the Danish National Radio Symphony (1988 to 1995), and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra (2012 to 2019). He guest-conducted many orchestras in Europe, the Americas and in Australia, including the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Toronto Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State of São Paulo. From autumn 1997 to spring 2013, he was professor of orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His students include Rune Bergmann, Susanna Mälkki, Mikk Murdvee, Sasha Mäkilä and Markku Laakso. In 2004 he made a cameo appearance in the Finnish film Pelicanman. In 2024, he was hospitalized after a "brief bout of pneumonia", dying after complications related to the disease at the hospital on the 9th of October of 2024.

Compositions

As a composer, Segerstam is especially known for his many symphonies, which numbered 371 by March 2024. Most of his symphonies last for about 20 minutes, are formed of a single movement and can be performed without a conductor. His 37th symphony, for example, at its premiere featured Segerstam at the piano, leading the orchestra "in a relatively free form". This is partially inspired by Sibelius' Seventh symphony. More than a hundred of Segerstam's symphonies have been performed. Many of his compositions are influenced by nature, and he was often praised for his contributions to Nordic music. He developed a personal approach to aleatory composition through a style called "free pulsation" in which musical events interact flexibly in time, with his composition method persistent throughout his œuvre. His Fifth String Quartet, the "Lemming Quartet" (1970), ushered in his new chapter of post-expressionistic writing of the 1960s. This composition approach proved to be a quick way of writing large blocks of sound (the temporal order of events being left to the performer) and permitted an exceptionally prolific output. Instead of constituting individual works, his music is more like a musical stream of consciousness (under the headings of Thoughts, Episode and Orchestral Diary Sheet). It also means that there are numerous scorings of the same piece. This method was first used in the "Lemming Quartet". Among Segerstam's juvenilia (1960–1969) are four string quartets from 1962–1966, and the post-impressionist ballet Pandora from 1967. The quartets are usually labeled as from his "Post-Expressionist" period. He composed 30 string quartets and numerous concertos, for violin, viola, cello and piano. In 2015 Segerstam began work on an opera, Völvan, with a libretto by Elisabeth Wärnfeldt.

Personal life

Segerstam was married to the violinist Hannele Segerstam, concertmaster of the Finnish RSO; they had two children, Jan and Pia. Pia is a professional cellist; Jan is a businessman. After they divorced, he married the Helsinki Philharmonic harpist Minnaleena Jankko in 2002; they had three children: Violaelina (born 1997), Selimoskar (born 1998) and Iirisilona (born 1999). In 2009 it was announced that their marriage would end. In a 2024 interview, Segerstam mentioned being autistic. Segerstam died from pneumonia at a Helsinki hospital, on 9 October 2024, at the age of 80.

Awards

Honors

Recordings

Segerstam is widely known through his recordings, which include the complete symphonies of Blomdahl, Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers, such as the Americans John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish Allan Pettersson, and the Russian Alfred Schnittke. The following is a list of selected orchestral recordings conducted by Segerstam.