SSO Principal Guest Conductor Okko Kamu was born into a musical family in Helsinki, where his father played double bass in the Helsinki Philharmonic. At the age of two, Kamu started studying the violin with Väinö Arjava, the leader of the orchestra. In 1952, he continued with Onni Suhonen at the Sibelius Academy, where he also began studies on the piano. He became the leader of the Suhonen Quartet in 1964.

In 1965, Kamu started his professional career in the Helsinki Philharmonic, and in 1966 was elected to become Concertmaster of the Finnish National Opera Orchestra. In 1967, the National Opera offered him the post of third conductor, with responsibilities including ballets, operettas and his own production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw. In 1969, he accepted the position of guest conductor of the Swedish Royal Opera in Stockholm and later that year won first prize in the first International Karajan Conductor Competition in Berlin, which led to an extensive international career.

Okko Kamu has been Music Director of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Stockholm Sinfonietta, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Copenhagen Philharmonic.

Having conducted many leading orchestras around the world, Okko Kamu was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1995, Chief Conductor of Finnish National Opera in 1996 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in 1997. He has also been a member of the Swedish Royal Music Academy since 1994.