Rusk Through the Years – A Conversation About Memories and Music
Rusk Through the Years – A Conversation About Memories and Music
18.11.2026
12:00
Schauman Hall
Free entry
Join us for a conversation about Rusk Festival’s journey since its beginnings in 2013. Artistic Director and conductor Anna-Maria Helsing and former Executive Director Anna Madsen share personal memories, highlights and behind-the-scenes stories from the years gone by.
Anna-Maria Helsing has gained an outstanding reputation with leading Scandinavian orchestras and opera houses. In 2023 she was appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra in London, where she had been appointed Principal Guest Conductor since 2020. She also took on the role of Chief Conductor of the Vaasa City Orchestra in January 2025. From 2010 to 2013 Helsing was the Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra – the first-ever female conductor at the head of a Finnish symphony orchestra.
Within a short time, Helsing has conducted all the major orchestras in Finland, Sweden, the rest of the Nordic countries, and across Europe. Internationally, she has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and Budapest Festival Orchestra. She also conducted productions at the Finnish National Opera, Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Royal Swedish and Danish Operas, the Icelandic Opera, the Gothenburg Opera and Folkoperan in Stockholm.
Upcoming highlights include the ballet Hamlet at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet, as well as debut performances with the National Orchestra of Ireland, the Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain. She will also return to, among others, the Brno Philharmonic, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Helsinki, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.
Just after finishing her conducting studies in the class of Leif Segerstam at the Sibelius Academy, Helsing was chosen to take part in the International Conductors’ Academy of the Allianz Cultural Foundation under the guidance of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. In 1999 she won the First Prize in the International Competition for 20th Century Music for Young Artists in Warsaw.
