Ari Pelto belongs to a rare class of conductor, equally at home in the opera house, on the ballet stage, and in the symphony hall, and he brings to each the same pursuit: finding the clarity beneath a score's complexity and letting an audience hear it. Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, the Finnish-American conductor is in demand with orchestras, opera houses, and ballet companies throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The 2026–27 season is Pelto's first as Music Director and Chief Conductor in Sacramento, following three seasons as the organization's Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. He opens with Sibelius's Finlandia, Wagner, and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, a program that traces a line back to his own studies at the Sibelius Academy. The season continues with Verdi's Il trovatore in concert; an all-Beethoven evening pairing the "Emperor" Concerto and the Fifth Symphony with pianist Michelle Cann; a program joining Jessie Montgomery's Chemiluminescence, Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony, and Vivaldi's The Four Seasons; Orff's Carmina Burana; and a finale of Martinů, Bonis, and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with violinist Gil Shaham. He also returns to Atlanta Ballet for Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

From 2015 to 2026, Pelto served as the first Music Director of Opera Colorado, earning a reputation for performances that honor a score's architecture and its soul in equal measure, from Turandot, La traviata, Don Giovanni, Aida, and Carmen to Falstaff, Lucia di Lammermoor, and La fanciulla del West. Beyond the repertory staples, he led the company premieres of Paul Moravec's The Shining and Korngold's rarely performed Die tote Stadt, and conducted the world premieres of Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter, recorded for Naxos, and Gerald Cohen's Steal a Pencil for Me, also released on album.

A masterful collaborator with dancers, Pelto has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Atlanta Ballet as Principal Guest Conductor, leading Jean-Christophe Maillot's groundbreaking Romeo and Juliet and John McFall's Cinderella, as well as the world premieres of Twyla Tharp's first story ballet, The Princess and the Goblin, and Helen Pickett's Camino Real. His work with soloists spans a similar breadth, from violinists Augustin Hadelich and Gil Shaham to pianists Awadagin Pratt and Michelle Cann.

Earlier 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 led more than thirty concerts. He has appeared as a guest with the Kennedy Center Orchestra, the New National Theatre in Tokyo, London's Royal Opera, San Diego Opera, the Florida Orchestra, and the Seattle, St. Louis, and Utah symphonies, among many others.

Pelto holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music from Indiana University, where he studied with Imre Pallo, and pursued conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.