The roots of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra stretch back to the year 1790 and the founding of The Musical Society in Turku. The oldest orchestra in Finland – and one of the oldest in the world – the Turku Philharmonic was taken over by its host City in 1927. At the time it had 29 players, as against 74 today. The orchestra’s Artistic Director is conductor John Storgårds, preceded by Leif Segerstam and Olli Mustonen. Christian Kluxen is Principal Guest Composer, Sebastian Fagerlund is Composer-in-Residence until spring 2025 and Mikko Heiniö is Honorary Composer.

The orchestra has toured Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Belgium, Russia, Germany, Hungary and China. The orchestra has been actively recording and many of its recordings have broken the platinum record sales barrier. The orchestra’s recordings have won awards such as the Emma Award and the ICMA Award.

In autumn 2026 a new period in the history of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra will begin when the orchestra moves to the new music house Fuuga in Turku. In addition to its weekly symphony concerts, the orchestra will regularly perform chamber music concerts at Turku’s historic concert venues. The orchestra also participates in opera productions, organises concerts and events for the whole family and does a lot of outreach work.