Since winning the European Conductors Competition in Oslo in 2013 and becoming a laureate of the Evgeny Svetlanov Conducting Competition in Paris in 2014, Finnish conductor Kalle Kuusava has established himself as a versatile conductor across opera, ballet and the symphonic repertoire.

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Recent highlights include conducting The Nutcracker with New York City Ballet, concerts with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Cracow Philharmonic and Hanoi Philharmonic, as well as Kurt Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Kuusava has also appeared with orchestras including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, National Philharmonic of Russia, Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre d’Auvergne, Welsh National Opera Orchestra and Ho Chi Minh City Opera Orchestra.

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His operatic engagements include Madama Butterfly and Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Billy Budd at the Finnish National Opera, The Maid of Pskov at the Mariinsky Theatre, La traviata at Theater an der Wien, Carmen at the Norwegian National Opera, and Tristan und Isolde, Tosca and Carmen at Rijeka Opera. In ballet, he has conducted numerous productions with the Finnish National Ballet as well as La Mégère apprivoisée with Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.

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Kuusava has developed an extensive operatic repertoire through a career closely connected with leading European opera houses. From 2008 to 2018 he worked at the Norwegian National Opera as a répétiteur and assistant conductor, following a season at the International Opera Studio of Zurich Opera in 2007/08. He has assisted conductors including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Hannu Lintu, Xian Zhang, Antonino Fogliani, Fabien Gabel and Tomáš Hanus.

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Born in Lahti, Finland, Kuusava studied piano and chamber music at the Sibelius Academy with Ilmo Ranta and conducting with Jorma Panula and Atso Almila. After an exchange year in Vienna, he completed his master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, studying with Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Ole Kristian Ruud.