Music Director of Opera Colorado and 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.

In the 2025-2026 season, Pelto conducts Opera Colorado's La traviata and Madama Butterfly, continuing his work as Music Director of the company since 2015. In Sacramento, he opens the season with pianist Jeremy Denk performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, alongside Verdi's Nabucco overture and Brahms' Symphony No. 1. Additional SP&O highlights include Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, a concert featuring cellist Zlatomir Fung in Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and Schumann's Symphony No. 3, and the season closes with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Beyond these two artistic homes, Pelto conducts Atlanta Ballet's productions of The Nutcracker (marking 25 years since he first conducted the work with the company) and Giselle, and Massenet's Cendrillon at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, collaborating with emerging artists in this lyric fairy tale.

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, 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.

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.

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.