Conductor Leif Segerstam has died

Conductor and composer Leif Segerstam has died at the age of 80, says Yle.

The conductor died after a short illness, his son Jan Segerstam tells Yle.

Segerstam was an internationally known conductor and an exceptionally prolific composer.

He served as chief conductor in, for example, Stockholm and Vienna and led almost all of London’s top orchestras. He held key positions in Finnish orchestral life for several decades.

Segerstam was the general director of the Finnish National Opera in 1973–1974. Segerstam was a professor at the Sibelius Academy from 1997 to 2013.

Victory tribe was born in Vaasa in 1944. He grew up in a musical family. He made his first compositions at the age of 6.

Segerstam studied violin and piano and orchestra conducting at the Sibelius Academy. Later, he also studied at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music conducting class in New York.

Segerstam composed 371 symphonies and numerous other works during his lifetime. He could play several instruments from brass instruments to violin and piano.