To the uninitiated, the conductor can seem superfluous – simply waving their arms in the air while the orchestra does the hard work. But the art of conducting is fundamental to a great orchestra’s sound and identity. Jeremy Pound speaks to BBC Symphony Orchestra principal conductor Sakari Oramo about this mysterious vocation.
BBC Music Magazine named Sakari Oramo in its round-up of the best Finnish conductors.
Listen to the episode
All the Right Notes: Season 1
- What’s the point of a conductor? (with conductor Sakari Oramo) 01/02/24
- Where do you start with opera? (with soprano Danielle de Niese) 08/02/24
- How do musicians cope with pressure? (with cellist Laura Van der Heijden) 15/02/24
- Why do we love The Lark Ascending? (with broadcaster Andrew Green) 22/02/24
- How do you look after your voice? (with vocal coach Olivia Sparkhall) 29/02/24
- How do you write a film soundtrack? (with film composer Anne Dudley) 07/03/24
- How do you play the French horn? (with Royal Opera House's principal horn, David Pyatt) 14/03/24
- What do musical terms really mean? (with author and critic Jessica Duchen) 21/03/24
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