Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen has been appointed new conductor of The Melbourne Ring Cycle 2013. He replaces Richard Mills who withdrew from the production last month and will join the second phase of rehearsals in September.

“I am thrilled to be joining this excellent artistic team and working with director Neil Armfield and a wonderful cast of singers,” Inkinen said.

Beginning violin and conducting studies from an early age, Inkinen was a student of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. His former conducting positions have included Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. At only 33, he has quickly established himself as a formidable talent.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini has praised Inkinen for his “terrific stick technique, [and] innate understanding of, and affinity, with Wagner’s music.”

Inkinen’s past experience conducting Wagner’s operas include productions of Die Walküre and Das Rheingold staged at Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy earlier this year. Opera stars to have sung under his baton include New Zealand tenor Simon O’Neill and German-born Australian John Wegner.

The complete Ring Cycle will be performed in Melbourne November 18 – December 13