Esa-Pekka Salonen, a frequent guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has been named as composer-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic for the next three seasons, through 2018.

The music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1992 to 2009, Salonen left that post to concentrate on composition. His New York residency will begin this fall with music director Alan Gilbert conducting the New York premiere of Salonen’s LA Variations (1996). In 2016, Gilbert will conduct the N.Y. premiere of Salonen’s Karawane, for orchestra and chorus, which was commissioned by the NY Phil, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and had its world premiere in 2014 in Zurich. In addition, with Gilbert, Salonen will co-curate the next NY Phil Biennial, a festival of new music by contemporary composers, scheduled for 2016, and will serve as adviser for the NY Phil’s annual new music series, CONTACT!

Salonen returns to Symphony Center in May to lead the CSO in the three-week, French-themed Reveries and Passions Festival, featuring concert versions of the operas Pelleas et Melisande and L’enfant et les sortilèges.