Lauri Sallinen has won himself a reputation as a clarinettist with a voice of his own and as a charismatic performer in both classical and contemporary repertoire. He is one of the Finnish clarinettists most in demand for chamber music and can regularly be heard at festivals both in Finland and abroad. These include the Ultima Festival (Oslo), the MATA Festival (New York), Classic con brio (Osnabrück), and in Finland the Helsinki Festival, Time of Music, Our Festival, the Silence Festival and the Crusell Music Festival. Sallinen has been a regular guest at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival since 2010.

Sallinen is an active interpreter of new music, and close collaboration with many contemporary composers is a vital element of his musician persona. As a soloist, he has appeared with many orchestras, among them the Dala Sinfonietta, Jönköpins Sifonietta, Avanti!, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the Saimaa Sinfonietta, Joensuu City Orchestra and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. In addition to performing works in the classical clarinet repertoire he has premiered concertos by Sebastian Hilli, Lotta Wennäkoski, Eero Hämeenniemi, Ilkka von Boehm, Mikko Nisula and Markku Klami and given the first performances in Finland of solo concertos by Helen Grime, Enno Poppe and Benjamin Britten.

As an artist, Sallinen is especially interested in projects organically embracing different genres of the arts and in the creative combination of music and movement. The most advanced example of this to date has been Solitude, premiered at the Helsinki Festival in 2017 – a production combining a solo recital with the player’s movement to create a contemporary dance performance using choreography, video and sound design. His debut CD, Songs of Solitude (Alba), released on that occasion was nominated for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) Record of the Year award in 2017.

Sallinen has been Artistic Director of the multi-arts Silence Festival as of 2022, and the Artistic Director of the Hetta Music Days as of 2025.

Lauri Sallinen began his clarinet studies in his native Kuhmo in eastern Finland and in his early years was inspired and taught above all by Arrigo Christian Blom. He continued his solo studies at the Sibelius Academy and the Manhattan School of Music with Kari Kriikku, François Benda and Charles Neidich, obtaining a Master’s degree in 2009. He has also studied composition with Lauri Kilpiö at the Sibelius Academy. He has received working grants from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Arts Council of Lapland, the Kone Foundation and the Finnish Music Foundation and was awarded the Kainuu Culture Prize in 2012. Lauri Sallinen plays Henri Selmer Paris Récital clarinets.