Leif Segerstam: Death of a Great Conductor
March 2, 1944 – October 9, 2024
The Finnish conductor and composer passed away on October 9, 2025 in Helsinki after a short illness He was 80. In my humble opinion, he was one of the best interpreters of Jean Sibelius. He also was a prolific composer with nearly 400 symphonies.
Leif Segerstam was trained as a violinist and pianist. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He taught conducting at the Sibelius Academy and tutored many of today’s remarkably talented young Finnish conductors.
When I produced the Sibelius Festival in 2006 at the Moores School of Music I telephoned him to see if he would be interested in guest conducting. He was but his fee precluded it. He was kind enough to send me some of the scores of his symphonies and I thought that was the end of our brief relationship.
In July of 2019 Lisa and I were planning a Scandinavian vacation to coincide with daughter Elizabeth’s studying in Copenhagen. I was determined to fly to Helsinki at the end of our trip to finally visit Jean Sibelius’s home in Jarvenpää just a few miles north of the capital. I was in Helsinki in 1991 but it was a one night layover returning from the Soviet Union. I telephoned Segerstam and mentioned my coming with the hopes that we might finally meet. He told me that regrettably he would be at his summer vacation home.
The day before I flew to Helsinki from Stockholm, Segerstam phoned me and said that his plans had changed due to doctor’s appointments for his ailing wife and that we could get together. I called him back when I arrived and told him that I was going to Jarvenpää that afternoon and then on a water tour of the Helsinki archipelago the next morning. He told me that he would meet me at the docks after my tour near the Swedish embassy. As he promised, there he was in his car and we finally met.
What a character! He was also a numerologist and commented on nearly every license plate that we saw and what the numbers indicated. Later he told me very solemnly that I should at all costs avoid the number “4.” I told him that my telephone number was 4441442 and he literally gasped and was, for a brief moment, at a loss for words. Then, while driving, he looked at me, put his right hand on my left forearm, grinned impishly, and happily proclaimed, “well, the number 4 also means” and for this article I will simply replace what he actually said with “great love making!”
He took me to his home. His wife was there following her appointments. He informed me that she was in late stage dementia. He introduced me but I only received a blank stare from her.
Then he proceeded to make the two of us a modest lunch of soup, bread and some cured meat. At lunch’s end, he put on a recording of his rehearsal with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra of the Mahler 9th Symphony, my Mahler favorite. It was quite an extraordinary reading by him of the score as his conducting was extremely slow, to the point where I felt the orchestra was in danger of breaking down. We listened for two hours to just the tragic 4th movement, itself being nearly a half hour, and when the final notes faded away I turned to him after several very long seconds and we both had tears streaming down our cheeks.
Then we talked about Sibelius, the 7th Symphony in particular. It is by far my favorite symphony in the world, not just Sibelius, but my favorite symphony period. It lasts a mere 21-22 minutes.
As I mentioned above he had sent me some scores of his own compositions. Each runs for the same amount of time as the Sibelius 7, and are “free-form” in that there is really not a discernible melody and are meant to be played without a conductor. Although somewhat obscure pieces, over 100 have already been performed and several recorded. The Sibelius 7th remains mysterious to me, being a single movement in the rare scoring key of C Major. I get emotionally lost in it and suddenly it ends. Once my family and I took a vacation in Maine. For the entire two weeks I played a cd of the 7th in our rental car. That was the only music that we heard for two weeks. I did not discuss it since I wanted to just hear it over and over. Remarkably, I received no family complaints.
We also discussed the Sibelius 4th Symphony, particularly the icy opening measures. I took out my cell phone and recorded a short video of that visit with him singing to me the opening of the 4th as well as the conclusion of the 7th. As it was with the license plates, he believed that there were hidden messages from Sibelius in each of his works and, “naturally,” he had decoded them. As he sang the concluding final notes of the 7th, he interpreted it as, “Are you ready? Look then!! My video is on YouTube. Just search – “Segerstam sings October 12” on YouTube. It is less than a minute long but it perfectly illustrates how interesting he was that afternoon. I would also recommend searching YouTube for “Segerstam 2024” for a short example of his music philosophy and exciting conducting.
He delighted in telling me that he had lost quite a bit of weight. The photos below will demonstrate far better than I can with words, his enormous presence.
I heard a recording of his in 2021 entitled, “Earthquake, the Loudest Classical Music of All Time.” One of the tracks really got to me and, thanks to the recording and Leif, I had discovered the Swedish composer, Ture Rangström. After hearing all four of Rangstrom’s symphonies and other works, I considered starting a “Ture Rangström Society” and I talked Leif into becoming the Honorary Chairman. The Society is still a brain-child of mine and I dearly regret that I did not start it while Leif was still with us. It is now a high priority.
In 2022 I was leading the effort to bring him to Houston to conduct during the annual Texas Music Festival in 2023 or 2024. He wanted to come and replied simply, “Yes, if la forza del destino allows…” Translated, “if the force of destiny allows,” taken from the name of the famous Verdi opera. Sadly, it seems destiny did indeed intervene.
Lately I had not heard from him in several months. On October 10 I sent him an email inquiring about how his wife was, as well as himself. That evening a friend of mine, Ben Ferguson, contacted me about his death the prior day.
Unfortunately, I never saw him conduct in person. I will always cherish our brief friendship, however.
Leif Segerstam, a great conductor, a great composer, a great teacher and mentor, and a great and gracious man. He will be missed.
