Dima Slobodeniouk

He completed that training in Finland where he also became interested in conducting. He studied orchestral conducting at various Finnish music schools with Ilja Musin, Jorma Panula and Esa-Pekka Salonen, among others. From 2005 to 2008 he was chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Oulu. He is currently chief conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and the Symphony Orchestra of Lahti, Finland. He is also in great demand as guest conductor of renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He has also been a guest of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra on several occasions. Dima Slobodeniouk is artistic director of the Sibelius Festival. A special part of this is the Nursery Project in which young composers are given the opportunity to present symphonic compositions. CDs he has made with works by Sibelius and Wennäkoski, among others. Recently he released a recording of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Cello Concerto with Nicolas Altstaedt and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Slobodeniouk on his very rigorous violin lessons in Russia:

“'If you survive me you will become a violinist,' my teacher said. I survived him, but I never became a violinist.”