Susanna Mälkki has very quickly become a much sought after artist on the international conducting circuit. Her versatility and broad repertoire have taken her to symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, contemporary music ensembles and opera. She is currently Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and was Artistic Director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra until the end of 2005.

A student at the Sibelius Academy, Susanna Mälkki studied with Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam. Prior to her conducting studies, she had a successful career as a cellist and from 1995 until 1998 she was one of the principals of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden – an orchestra she now guest conducts regularly.

In recent seasons Susanna Mälkki has conducted many prestigious orchestras. In Germany these have included the Munich Philharmonic, WDR Cologne and SWR Stuttgart, while in the UK she has worked with the City of Birmingham Symphony, The Hallé and the BBC Symphony orchestras. Elsewhere, Susanna Mälkki has worked with the Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Belgique, Finnish Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the St Louis Symphony.

Highlights in the 2007/08 season include her débuts with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Concertgebouw Orchestra, and engagements with NDR Hamburg, Wiener Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Swedish Radio and Cincinnati Symphony.

In 1999 Susanna Mälkki conducted the Nordic première of Thomas Ades's Powder Her Face at the Musica Nova festival in Helsinki, and was subsequently invited by the composer to conduct further performances during a series at the Almeida Festival in London. Other opera commitments have included Neither by Morton Feldman/Samuel Beckett in Copenhagen, Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin at Finnish National Opera and Der Rosenkavalier at Finnish National Opera. In the 2006/07 she conducted the world première of Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone with Klangforum Wien.

August 2004 saw Susanna Mälkki conduct the Ensemble Intercontemporain for the first time in an all-Birtwistle programme at the Luzern Festival. The concert was the catalyst for her appointment as Music Director in 2006, and in March 2007 she conducted the Ensemble’s 30th anniversary concert with Pierre Boulez and Peter Eötvös. She has worked regularly with other contemporary music ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, ASKO Ensemble and Avanti!