Artistic Director
Jan Söderblom was born into a family of musicians in Helsinki in 1970. Now a conductor and violinist, he began giving concerts at an early stage in his violin studies.
Aside from solo appearances at a young age, successful touring with New Helsinki Quartet and his growing interest towards orchestral musicianship built the foundation for Söderblom’s versatile and innovative career. Conductor studies at Sibelius Academy (1997-2001) led to intensive projects with Finnish as well as other top orchestras. Söderblom has since conducted orchestras such as Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Filharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Avanti!, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Orquesta RTVE, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, MDR Sinfonieorkester (Leipzig), Danish National Chamber Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra KORK, Norrköping and Helsingborg Symphony Orchestras and Orchestra National Bordeaux Aquitane. During 2001-2008 Söderblom served as Artistic Director of Lappeenranta City Orchestra. From 2012 to 2016 Söderblom was the conductor of Pori Sinfonietta.
In the Swedish Royal Opera Söderblom has conducted The Makropoulos Affair by Leoš Janáček as well as two first performances, Sport och fritid (2005) by Thomas Jennefelt and, in cooperation with Norrlandsoperan, Svall (2006) by Daniel Börtz. He also conducted the much talked about first performance of Veli-Matti Puumala’s opera Anna Liisa at Helsinki Festival in 2008. Söderblom has conducted several ballet productions at Finnish National Opera, as well as Fredrik Pacius’ opera Kung Karls jakt.
Before his career as conductor took off, Söderblom performed as a violinist, mainly with New Helsinki Quartet (1982-2001). After the quartet won competitions of Viitasaari, Concertino Praga and second prize in the London String Quartet Competition, they toured widely and performed in e.g. Wigmore Hall, Tonhalle Zürich, Herkules Saal in Munich, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Konzerthaus in Berlin. As a soloist he has shared the stage with several Finnish orchestras as well as e.g. Swedish Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.
Söderblom has been the Artistic Director of several Finnish music festivals; these days he is in charge of the artistic planning of the Festivo Rauma and Kauniainen Music Festival.
Söderblom has played as guest concertmaster for several orchestras and joined e.g. Camerata Salzburg and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra on stage as guest member.Since 2015 Söderblom is the first concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
Jan Söderblom enjoys silence and nature and currently resides with his family in the artisan and artist community of Fiskars in Southern Finland.