Jorma Panula was chief conductor in Helsinki Philharmonic and Turku Philharmonic, and is also a composers of a wide range of pieces. He has served as Professor of Conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He has had great influence on the world of conducting through teaching.

He has been called "the maestro of the maestros" and "hidden hand" behind the extraordinary succession of fine conductors that came out of Finland. His students include Esa-Pekka Salonen ("There is no other teacher of conducting who is as remarkable as Panula"[1]), Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä. John Storgårds and Susanna Mälkki. Not only Finnish conductors, but a wide range of international personalities have worked under mr Panula's guidance both as a guest conductor and a professor of conducting classes including Paris, London, Amsterdam, Loscow, New York, Tanglewood, Aspen, Ottawa and Sidney. With Orkester Norden, Panula will conduct Larsson, Sibelius and Nielsen. 

Orkester Norden consists of 70-100 students from the music conservatoires in the Nordic and Baltic countries (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). The orchestra was founded in 1993 with Esa-Pekka Salonen as artistic director and was administrated by Concerts Sweden for the first 15 years. In 2008 Orkester Norden moved its base to Kristiansand in Norway with Rolf Gupta as the current artistic director. The orchestra arranges auditions each January and is active for 3 weeks in the summer. Applicants come from all over the region, many of them returning for several courses - but at 25 the age limit pushes them out - and fresh faces join. Orkester Norden has toured extensively in the Nordic countries as well as in Europe and China, and has been led by a number of the most prominent nordic conductors.In 2009 Orkester Norden visits Italy for the first time with the program «Nordic Masterpieces». The “credo” of Orkester Norden is to pass on artistic competence to future generations of orchestra musicians, and to nourish new development. The 2009 course underlines this vision, presenting a selection of Nordic masterpieces fronted by two fascinating personalities both of whom have made hugely significant contributions to musical development: Jorma Panula and Per Nørgård. Both of these artists have made a great impact on musical and cultural life and have inspired generations of young conductors and composers, many of whom have become leading figures on the international music scene.

Filippo Belloni
Nato a Roma, compie gli studi musicali contemporaneamente agli studi liceali classici e universitari. Diplomato in Pianoforte sin dal 1991, si è recentemente laureato col massimo dei voti e la lode al Biennio interpretativo di 2° livello in Pianoforte Solistico a Terni, e nel 2009 al Biennio Didattico Abilitante Strumentale di 2° livello presso il Conservatorio di Perugia.

Dal 1994 al 2000 ha frequentato come allievo effettivo sei corsi annuali di alto perfezionamento pianistico con pianisti di livello internazionale come Aldo Ciccolini, Nazzareno Carusi, Pavel Egorov, Mikhail Pethukov, Marcella Crudeli, vincendo nel contempo alcuni concorsi nazionali pianistici (Rieti, Pescara, Albenga, Brindisi). Ha frequentato Masterclasses tenute da Aquiles Delle Vigne, Dario De Rosa e Riccardo Risaliti. Pratica spesso attività come pianista accompagnatore e maestro collaboratore, sia con noti cantanti (Federica Proietti, Bruno Praticò, Giulio Boschetti, Fabio Andreotti, Simona Mango, Giuliano di Filippo, Daniela Settequattrini, Ena Yoon, Gianvito Ribba, Roberto Cresca, Laura Celletti) che in formazioni di musica da camera o orchestrali, in concerti, corsi di perfezionamento, agenzie liriche, teatri (Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto, Tusciaoperafestival, Teatro di Terni), e come preparatore di cantanti lirici. E' docente pianista collaboratore dei corsi strumentali presso la Scuola Musicale Civica di Viterbo e di pianoforte presso la Scuola Media Statale ad Indirizzo Musicale di Torri. Svolge regolarmente attività concertistica solistica e cameristica in Italia e all’estero (Francia, Ucraina, USA) con ottimi consensi di pubblico e di critica, per vari enti ed istituzioni concertistiche.