Eva Ollikainen

Who is Eva Ollikainen?

Eva Ollikainen is a Finnish conductor. She began piano studies at age 3, and also learned the violin and French horn. She started conducting studies by age 12. She attended the Sibelius Academy from 1994 to 2002 and graduated in 2002 with a Master of Music Degree in piano. She studied conducting with Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam.

In 2003, Ollikainen won the second Jorma Panula Conductors' Competition, and has since then conducted most Finnish and Swedish orchestras, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as at the Finnish National Opera. In the summer of 2006, she was a Tanglewood Music Center conducting fellow, the only fellow that year who already had agency representation.

Ollikainen is a member of the Finnish contemporary ensemble Uusinta, and has premiered a few works of especially Finnish composers.