all-conductors...
Ossi Runne, born in Viipuri (Vyborg) in 1927, was a trumpet player, conductor, and producer from Finland. In the 1950s, he had several chart successes as a solo trumpeter, becoming a successful producer at record company Fazer subsequently. In 1966, he joined Finland’s broadcasting service YLE as a conductor for television programmes. As such, he was the musical director of Finland’s Eurovision pre-selection shows for many years. Between 1966 and 1989, he conducted twenty-two (!) Finnish entries to the Eurovision Song Contest - just missing out in 1970, when Finland joined the other Scandinavian countries in a boycott of the event; and in 1981, when Runne ceded his place to Henrik Otto Donner and took his place in the commentary box instead.
In Eurovision history, only Noel Kelehan (Ireland, 29 entries in 25 participations) and Franck Pourcel (France, 23 entries in 15 participations) conducted on more occasions than Runne. Ossi Runne, who retired from YLE in the early 1990s, passed away on November 5th, 2020, at the age of 93.
The website ‘And The Conductor Is’ did an interview with Ossi Runne in August 2015, which can be found following this link:
all-conductors...
6 окт 2024
