There is a grave responsibility that the conductor, the facilitator, carries in every movement s/he makes: a responsibility toward history, culture, society, the musicians and the audience. This serious business alternates with the innocence and playfulness of music in a constant battle.
—Elisa Talvitie, conductor
ABOUT ME
ELISA TALVITIE is a New York-based American conductor of Finnish heritage, who has a musical background in classical piano performance. She has performed as a guest conductor with various orchestras and ensembles in the United States and in Europe. She conducted the premiere recording of a fellow New Yorker Brian Morales’s composition Threshold – a Sinfonietta for Small Orchestra (2020–2021) with Symphony Tacoma Chamber Orchestra. Her previous appearances include Chamber Orchestra of New York; String Orchestra of Brooklyn, NY; Astoria Symphony Orchestra, Queens, NY; Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey Island, WA; Gwinnett Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta, GA; Seinäjoki Orchestra, Finland; and Music in the Alps Festival Orchestra, Bad Gastein, Austria. Elisa is the former music director and conductor of Helsinki Opera Ensemble, and former assistant conductor of University of Helsinki Chamber Choir SOL.
She holds a master’s in music from University of Helsinki, Finland, and an undergraduate degree from Manhattan School of Music, New York. Previously a conducting student of Sarah Ioannides (Music Director, Symphony Tacoma), Kenneth Kiesler (University of Michigan) and Donald Schleicher (Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University), she frequently participates in conducting masterclasses and workshops around the world.
A dedicated advocate for the arts and humanities, she has held the positions of Senior Advisor for Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of Finland in New York and Executive Director of The Conservatoire Association of Finland, as well as being a published writer. Alongside music, Elisa has studied educational philosophy, has a keen interest in the Western and Eastern contemplative and mystical traditions, and is currently pursuing further graduate study in theology. She spends daily an hour in silent meditation.
