Ondine was founded in 1985 by Reijo Kiilunen, a record enthusiast who had graduated from the Sibelius Academy three years earlier. Kiilunen was asked to produce an album from the annual Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, about 600km north of Helsinki, with the initial aim of releasing one live album from the festival each year. The label’s fourth album, featuring Einojuhani Rautavaara’s opera Thomas, gained international recognition and paved the way for Ondine to secure overseas distribution.

That early Rautavaara recording instigated a long-running collaboration that saw Ondine record almost everything the Finnish composer wrote – a total of 40 albums released between 1989 and the composer’s death in 2016. Yet Ondine could never be accused of capitalising on a composer’s popularity; rather, the label played a crucial role in establishing Rautavaara’s international reputation. The 1996 album of the composer’s Symphony No 7 (Angel of Light) sold more than 40,000 copies. Vladimir Ashkenazy, with whom Ondine had a fruitful relationship from the mid-1990s, commissioned Rautavaara to compose a piano concerto, which he recorded in 1999.

As Finland’s investment in music education bore fruit, Ondine was able to draw on a wide pool of domestic talent and has played a central role in the development of Finland’s cultural visibility. The label has maintained a commitment to the promotion of Finnish contemporary music through extensive collaborations not only with Rautavaara but with the late Kaija Saariaho and living composers including Magnus Lindberg and Lotta Wennäkoski. In addition, Ondine’s roster of celebrated Finnish artists – from pianist Olli Mustonen and violinist Pekka Kuusisto to conductors Hannu Lintu, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leif Segerstam – has helped to establish the label as the embodiment of Finnish classical music talent on record.

As a parallel development to the increasing presence of Finnish artists on the international stage – a presence that goes well beyond Ondine – the label enhanced its profile by recording with leading international artists and ensembles, from Frank Peter Zimmermann to the Latvian Radio Choir (whose Cage album won a Gramophone Award in 2023).

Among the most successful of Ondine’s recordings are those by sopranos Karita Mattila, with spectacular sales in Finland, and Soile Isokoski, whose recording of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs won a Gramophone Award in 2002. Ondine’s relationship with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with nine albums between 2005 and 2010, broke the deadlock whereby none of America’s ‘big five’ orchestras was making commercial recordings. More recent partnerships with Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt exemplify Ondine’s high standards, and their piano trio with cellist Tanja Tetzlaff have made some of the label’s best-selling chamber albums.

In 2009 Ondine was bought by the Naxos Music Group, which provided financial security while allowing Kiilunen to deploy his instincts and expertise. In June 2024, after 39 years at the helm and remaining closely involved, Kiilunen took an initial step towards retirement, handing the reigns of label director to his long-time colleague Joel Valkila, who takes over a label that boasts a prestigious catalogue and a strong sense of identity.

This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of Gramophone. Never miss an issue of the world's leading classical music magazine – subscribe to Gramophone today