News – Lahti Symphony Orchestra appoint Nil Venditti as Chief Conductor

Nil Venditti has been appointed as Chief Conductor of Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Her first season of concerts in her new role will start in Autumn 2027. The Italian-Turkish conductor is contracted for a three year period.

Amongst that which is straightforwardly available about her UK gigs, a handful of reliable reporters provide useful indicators of Venditti’s craft to date.

Of her BBC Proms concert appearance this year with the BBC Symphony, I’d agree with Colin Clarke‘s assessment of Respighi’s Church Windows (a work worthy of plenty more concert programme billings, artistic programmers take note) that the BBC Symphony Orchestra did indeed sound at their very best, markedly different from some other concerts they’ve been commanded to play in this year’s season. Rossini’s Stabat Mater had some theatrical poise to it too, evident in the catch-up material available for another 20 days on BBC Sounds. Arcana.FM noted “Venditti kept things moving … with an evident love for the piece, from the solemn choral intoning of the Stabat mater dolorosa itself, through the sequence of arias which found the soloists taking a little while to adjust to the acoustics of the hall.”

Bar one or two slips, this year’s Proms programme served Venditti better in comparison to bookings for 2024 and 2025. Karl Jenkins’ concerto for saxophonist Jess Gillam in 2024 was entertaining but uneventful. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales ‘Great British Classics’ gig the year after — essentially a live playlist for radio — saw Robert Hugill comment that, aside from ‘a very fine account of Enigma Variations’, he would defer judgment on the conductor until he hears a symphony.

The lack of commentary from mainstream UK press, despite Venditti’s Principal Guest contract with the Royal Northern Sinfonia points as much to the paucity of insightful UK classical music coverage outside of London as it does to Lahti’s risk-taking. Venditti’s persuasive advocates which suggests we’re in for a treat.