Born in Helsinki, Esa-Pekka Salonen studied at the Sibelius Academy, making his debut as Conductor with the Finnish Radio Orchestra in 1979. In 1985 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Swedish Radio Orchestra, where he remained for ten years, was Conductor of the Helsinki Festival in 1995 and 1996, and Conductor music of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra from 1992 to 2009.