Recently appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera (SP&O), Finnish-American conductor Ari Pelto is in demand with orchestras, opera houses, and ballet companies throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Pelto takes to the podium in his new capacity throughout SP&O's 2023–24 season, conducting three of the ensemble's five philharmonic programs at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center in downtown Sacramento. Highlights include Brahms's Fourth Symphony, Ravel's kaleidoscopic orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with celebrated soloist Michelle Cann. Additional symphonic highlights include a debut in March 2022 with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducting works of Ravel and Prokofiev, and an upcoming debut with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic in September 2023.

Since joining Opera Colorado as its first Music Director in 2015, Pelto has conducted acclaimed performances of Turandot, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Aida, La Bohème, Falstaff, La Fanciulla del West, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci, and Carmen. Outside of the repertory staples, Pelto has conducted Opera Colorado's premiere productions of Paul Moravec's The Shining, and Korngold’s rarely performed masterwork Die tote Stadt, and led the world premieres of Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter (also recorded and released on the Naxos label), and Gerald Cohen's Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true love story set in a concentration camp during World War II.

The 2023–24 season sees Pelto conduct three Opera Colorado productions at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at Denver Performing Arts Complex: Mozart's Don Giovanni, Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, and Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila.

Also a masterful collaborator with dancers, Maestro Pelto has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the Atlanta Ballet as Principal Guest Conductor. He conducted Jean-Christophe Maillot's groundbreaking production of Romeo and Juliet and John McFall's production of Prokofiev's Cinderella, as well as leading the company in the world premieres of Twyla Tharp's first story ballet, The Princess and the Goblin, and Helen Pickett's Camino Real. Pelto returns to the company in December 2023 to conduct Yuri Possokhov’s innovative production of The Nutcracker.

Previous conducting appointments include Assistant Conductor of the Spoleto Festival, five seasons as Guest Conductor of New York City Opera, Principal Guest Conductor of Opera Memphis, and Assistant Conductor of the Florida West Coast Symphony, where he conducted more than 30 concerts. Pelto has also enjoyed guest appearances with the Kennedy Center Orchestra, The New National Theatre in Tokyo, London's Royal Opera, San Diego Opera, the Florida Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

Maestro Pelto's musical training includes a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master of Music from Indiana University — where he studied with Imre Pallo — as well as conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.