Deutsche Grammophon has announced that it has signed an exclusive contract with Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The 23-year-old will make his first recording for the label in February with an album of Mozart Symphonies Nos 35, 36 (Linz) and 40, and piano improvisations on the three symphonies by the conductor himself. This album, set for release in May 2024, will mark Peltokoski’s first collaboration with Gramophone’s 2023 Orchestra of the Year, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as their first-ever Principal Guest conductor.

The President of DG, Dr Clemens Trautmann, looks to reach a new wider audience with this new collaboration, ‘Tarmo’s innate enthusiasm and interest in communal music-making are especially palpable in his collaboration with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and we look forward to sharing their thrilling take on Mozart with the widest possible audience.’

Stage+, DG’s video streaming service, will release ‘Let’s Record’ on October 21, a film made during the preparation for the recording in front of an invited audience, capturing an intermediate stage in the interpretative process, and offering an interesting insight into Peltokoski’s relationship with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.

Watch: Mozart's Die Zauberflöte – Overture (hr-Sinfonieorchester/Tarmo Peltokoski)

Having received his first conducting lessons from Jorma Panula at the age of 14, Peltokoski went on to study conducting and piano at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy where he worked with Sakari Oramo. Peltokoski has since become Music Director Designate of the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. His signing to DG marks the second young Finnish conductor to be signed to a Universal label – Klaus Mäkelä signed to Decca last year.

Looking to the future Peltokoski already has plans for his second album with DG: an album in collaboration with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse that explores the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (including his Sea Symphony) and his connections with French music and composers – an apt connection as Vaughan Williams studied under Ravel for a short time in 1908.