Born in 1958 in Tallinn, Estonia, Vello Pähn began his studies at the Tallinn Conservatory. He started to work as a conductor in 1981 at the Estonia Theater in Tallinn where he conducted operas of Mozart, Weber, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev, but also works of the symphonic repertoire. He then studied at the Leningrad/St. Petersburg Conservatory under Maris Janson to perfect his technique and returned to the Estonia Theater as a permanent conductor. He is also the Tallinn Ballet's conductor and conducts performances and concerts in Europe, Russia, USA and Japan.



Since 1988, he has been a regular guest at the Paris Opera, invited first by Rudolf Nureyev, then by Brigitte Lefèvre, to conduct Ballet performances and tours (Raymonda, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet – Prokofiev and Berlioz versions – Coppelia, Sylvia, Giselle, Ivan the Terrible, but also various ballet performances dedicated to Stravinsky, Béjart and to the Russian Ballets, as well as the Balanchine / Nureyev / Forsythe and Balanchine / Brown / Bausch programmes). He is in demand as an opera and ballet conductor in houses such as La Scala in Milan, Vienna Staatsoper, or in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Stuttgart and Leipzig.

Vello PähnConductor