Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen (former Ollila) started his musical education as a violinist and made his violin diploma at the Sibelius Academy in 1988. In 1985 he started his conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy at the famous class of prof. Jorma Panula and took his diploma in 1991. He completed his studies under professor I.A. Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire 1990-1992 and in the summer 1993 at the Tanglewood Music Centre where he studied with Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle and Roger Norrington among others. In April 1996 he took part in master-classes in contemporary music in Paris of Pierre Boulez with the Cleveland Orchestra and with the Ensemble InterContemporain.
Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen has conducted practically all Scandinavian orchestras including the Finnish Radio Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Copenhagen Philharmonic etc., and has made guest appearances in most European countries, e.g. with The Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. In 1997 Ollila-Hannikainen successfully made his Australian debut with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth, following regular re-invitations to Perth as well as to Melbourne, Sydney and other cities in the following years. Ollila-Hannikainen made his Great Britain debut in 2000 with the BBC Wales Symphony Orchestra and since then also conducted e.g. the Ulster Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In Netherlands Ollila-Hannikainen has conducted e.g. Radio Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and in Germany e.g. Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannover Symphony Orchestra. In 2003 he made his debut with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra followed with immediate re-invitation. Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen’s debut with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in 2005 also led to re-invitation.
In years 1994-1998 Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen held the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. 1999/2001 he shared with Jean-Jacques Kantorow the position of Permanent Conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In 2001-2003 Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen was the Principal Guest Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. In 2004 Ollila-Hannikainen had his debut e.g. in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and a long tour in New Zealand in February with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. From Beginning of 2005 Ollila-Hannikainen has been Artistic Director of the Sixth Floor Orchestra in Helsinki. The orchestra consists of musicians well versed in the performing conventions of early music and the instruments for which each type of music was written
Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen has made numerous recordings of Finnish music. His recording of Sibelius Complete Karelia Music with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra (Ondine label) was awarded by Cannes Classical Award, a Finnish IFPI’s Janne Award in 1999 and chosen as UK Sibelius Society Record of the Year in 1998.
4/2007
Photo: Ari Wahlström
