Jukka-Pekka Saraste (born April 22, 1956) is a Finnish conductor. He traine… Read Full Bio ↴Jukka-Pekka Saraste (born April 22, 1956) is a Finnish conductor. He trained as a violinist, and later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä.

With the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (YLE), Saraste was co-principal second violinist and later an associate to Leif Segerstam. He was chief conductor of the YLE from 1987-2001, and is currently its Conductor Laureate. Regarded as a champion of Finnish music, he recorded the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius with the YLE.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a founding member of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and founded the Tammisaari Festival. He was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Music in 2000. He has received a Doctor honoris causa from the University of York, and he is a Sibelius Medalist.

Outside of Finland, Saraste was the Music Director of the Toronto Symphony from 1994-2001. The later years of his tenure were marked by strife over the orchestra's financial difficulties, several musicians' strikes, and his unsuccessful efforts to improve the acoustics at Roy Thomson Hall. He chose not to renew his contract when it expired, though he returned there for several guest appearances.

He served as principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2005. In August 2006 he succeeded André Previn as music director of the Oslo Philharmonic.

In December 2006, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra announced that Saraste would become the artistic advisor to the orchestra from 2008 through 2011, and artistic director of the Lahti Sibelius Festival in 2008.