With her elegant, expressive body language, natural stage presence and infectious musicality, Eva Ollikainen is one of the leading conductors of our time. She has held previous positions as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Chief Conductor of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra.
The 2026/2027 season sees Ollikainen debut with the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Bamberger Symphoniker, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra, among others. She also returns Los Angeles Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Wiener Symphoniker, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Warsaw Philharmonic, alongside further international engagements.
Highlights from recent seasons include debuts and appearances with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Münchner Philharmoniker, WDR Sinfonieorchester, SWR Symphonieorchester, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. She also returned to the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and led the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on their European tour. In the opera house, Ollikainen has conducted at the Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Royal Danish Opera, Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Finnish National Opera, and Gothenburg Opera.
Curious about contemporary music, Eva Ollikainen has performed a wide range of repertoire with the Iceland Symphony during her tenure as Chief Conductor. In April 2026, Ollikainen and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra released Arvo Pärt: Complete Symphonies on Chandos to critical acclaim. In 2023, Ollikainen and the orchestra also released Anna Thorvaldsdottir's ARCHORA / AIŌN on Sono Luminus; the album was selected as part of The New York Times’ ‘Best Classical Music Albums of 2023’ and The Boston Globe's ‘10 best classical albums of the year’.
A former student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy, Ollikainen won the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition at the age of 21. Today, the support of young musicians is close to her heart. She teaches regularly at the Sibelius Academy and leads masterclasses at the Fiskars Summer Festival, NordiskCommentHighlight Dirigentforum, and institutions such as the Peabody Institute, Royal Danish Academy of Music, and Universität der Künste Berlin. She founded the Iceland Symphony‘s Conducting Academy in 2021.