Olari Elts

Conducting standard orchestral and opera repertory, Olari Elts is particularly interested in the music of Estonian and other northern European composers. In 2020, he was named music director and chief conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. Elts has a substantial recording catalog, stretching back to the turn of the century. In 2025, he led the Estonian National Symphony on the album Erkki-Sven Tüür: Aeris. Elts was born on April 27, 1971, in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, then part of the Soviet Union. He attended the Estonian Academy of Music, studying with Kuno Arengu and graduating in 1993 with a choral conducting degree. He studied orchestral conducting on the side with Paul Mägi and Eri Klas. Elts went on for further orchestral conducting courses at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna with Uros Lajovic and took several master classes with the influential conductor and educator Jorma Panula. He made his recording debut in 2001 on the Antes label on an album of works by composer Raimo Kangro. From 2001 to 2006, Elts served as the principal conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. He departed for a pair of positions beginning in 2007 as the principal guest conductor of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the latter marking his first major post outside the Baltic region. Committed to contemporary music, Elts founded the NYYD Ensemble to emphasize programming in that field. In 2008, he recorded composer Helena Tulve's Lijnen for the ECM label, and since then, he has recorded mostly for the BIS, Ondine, and Oehms labels, often emphasizing contemporary music. He has recorded the music of Erkki-Sven Tüür several times, and for his work in promoting Estonian music, he received the Order of the White Star, Fourth Class, from Estonia's government. Elts built a reputation with a wide range of guest conducting appearances in the Baltics, in Western Europe, and beyond, including in the U.S. and Australia (he visits Australia and New Zealand regularly and has made many appearances with major ensembles in the region). He has appeared with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, among many others. He conducted productions at the Estonian National Opera of such repertory works as Britten's Albert Herring and Puccini's trilogy Il trittico. He became the chief conductor of the Estonian National Symphony in 2020, and in 2021 and 2023, he appeared on BIS on two albums of concertos by composer Kalevi Aho, conducting the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Kymi Sinfonietta. The year 2025 saw a pair of Elts releases with the Estonian National Symphony, Lepo Sumera: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6 on the Ondine label, and Erkki-Sven Tüür: Aeris on ECM. ~ James Manheim, Rovi