In the past two decades, under the direction of its chief conductor, Osmo Vänskä, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra has emerged as one of the most highly regarded orchestras in the world and the most rewarded Scandinavian orchestra (Grand Prix du Disque 1993, Gramophone Awards 1991 and 1996, the Cannes Classical Award 1997 and 2001, and the Midem Classical Award 2006). The first major tour of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra bestowed the ensemble with the critics’ recognition and the title of the best foreign orchestra to perform in Japan in 1999. In the same year the Lahtis made a successful début in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall. Following these successes, the Orchestra was invited to return to Japan in 2003 and to the United States in January 2005, where they performed at Ann Arbor and Avery Fisher Hall in New York. Japanese critics voted the Lahtis’ Tokyo performance of Kullervo by Sibelius the best classical performance of 2003 in the country. Moreover, the same Japanese critics ranked the Lahti Symphony Orchestra No. 16 in the world, and the only Scandinavian ensemble to make its way to the top 20. The orchestra made its first appearance at the BBC Proms in London and in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 2003, and at the Vienna Musikverein in the autumn of 2005. The orchestra has also performed in several other European countries to great acclaim of the critics. Other successful projects included the successful tour of China in 2005 and appearance at the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg.
Encouraged by the success of their recording of original version of Sibelius’s Violin concerto, which won the Award of “Gramophone” monthly in 1991, the orchestra continued to perform Sibelius in a highly innovative and imaginative manner that in the following decade became their hallmark. Their engagement in close and fruitful cooperation with the composer Kalevi Aho brought about five symphonies and several other works written for the orchestra. Furthermore, Lahti Symphony Orchestra recorded nearly all Aho’s extensive orchestral oeuvre. With hardly any exception the Orchestra’s recordings – nearly 60 released on BIS Records label and others – have earned praise from the international press.
A tangible result of business partnerships is Lahti’s Sibelius Hall: the new concert hall was completed in 2000. The acoustics of the main hall designed by Artec Consultants of New York has drawn admirers from all over the world. The opening of the Sibelius Hall gave the orchestra and its chief conductor Osmo Vänskä the opportunity to launch the world’s first annual Sibelius Festival.