Kamu, Okko
Kamu, Okko
Kamu, Okko (Tapani), Finnish conductor; b. Helsinki, March 7, 1946. He studied violin at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Onni Suhonen (graduated, 1967). He played in the Helsinki Youth Orch., and then was a member of the Helsinki Phil. (1965–66) and concertmaster of the orch. of the Finnish National Opera (1966–68) before holding the position of its 3rd conductor (1968–69). After winning 1st prize in the Karajan Competition for conductors (1969), he appeared as a guest conductor with the Royal Opera in Stockholm (1969–70). He then was a conductor with the Finnish Radio Sym. Orch. (1970–71), and subsequently its chief conductor (1971–77). He was chief conductor of the Oslo Phil. (1975–79) and of the Helsinki Phil. (1981–88). In 1988 he became principal conductor of the Sjaelland Sym. Orch. in Copenhagen. He also was chief conductor of the Helsingborg Sym. Orch. from 1991. From 1998 to 2001 he was the principal guest conductor of the Lausanne Chamber Orch.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire