Kimito Island Music Festival Artists 2024

Sonja Korkeala

Sonja Korkeala was born in Finland. She is a violinist, professor for violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, Primaria of the Rodin-Quartett. Since 2007 Sonja Korkeala is artistic director of the Kimito Island Music Festival, in cooperation with her twin sister Katinka Korkeala, who founded the festival in 1999.

She studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Ari Angervo and Prof. Tuomas Haapanen and at the Liszt Academy in Budapest with Maria Vermes. Sonja Korkeala continued her studies with professor Ana Chumachenco at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where she finished her studies with the masterclass degree. She won several prizes, among others at Concertino Praga 1984, 1985 in Kuopio (Finland), 1988 in Gorizia (Italy) and 1991 at the "Konzertgesellschaft" in Munich.

Since 1993 Sonja Korkeala is first violinist of the Rodin string quartet, which has its own concert series in the Max-Joseph-Saal at the Munich Residenz since 1997. The Rodin-Quartett recorded many CDs with the Amati Records.

Sonja Korkeala has performed at numerous festivals, e.g. Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Amiata Piano Festival and she has collaborated with musicians among others András Adorján, Adrian Brendel, Eduard Brunner, Ana Chumachenco, Christoph Hartmann, Helena Juntunen, Sharon Kam, Radu Lupu, Siegfried Palm, Alfredo Perl, Christoph Richter, Hariolf Schlichtig, Ingolf Turban, Jörg Widmann, Marko Ylönen and Wen Xiao Zheng.

In 1994 she became assistant teacher of Prof. Ana Chumchenco at the "University of Music and Performing Arts Munich", then since 2000 she has taught her own class at the same institute. Since 2011 she is professor at the "University of Music and Performing Arts Munich". She made a name for herself as teacher of highly giftet young violinists. Her pupils included Julia Fischer, Arabella Steinbacher, Lena Neudauer, Mariella Haubs, Daniel Röhn, Veronika Eberle and many others.

Sonja Korkeala's websites »»

Katinka Korkeala

Katinka Korkeala studied violin at the Sibelius Academy under Ari Angervo, Tuomas Haapanen and Igor Bezrodny. She has attended master classes of Yehudi Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Ana Chumachenko. In 1999 she was awarded Master of Music degree at Sibelius Academy, and she gave a well-received recital in Helsinki. Korkeala has given numerous concerts, both as a chamber musician, and as a soloist; with orchestras like Tapiola Sinfonietta, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vox Artis Chamber Orchestra, and City Orchestras in Oulu, Jyväskylä, Pori, Mikkeli and Hämeenlinna. She has performed in Austria, Germany, France, Iceland, Italy, Russia and Switzerland.

Katinka Korkeala won the 1st prize for duos, together with her twin sister Sonja, in Concertino Praga Competition in 1984. She played 1st violin in Tapiola Sinfonietta from 1992 to 1994 and as the leader in Kouvola City orchestra in 1995. From 1999 to 2003 she taught violin at Tampere Conservatory, and after that taught at Stadia. Nowadays Korkeala acts as a freelance musician.

Katinka Korkeala founded the Kimito Island Music Festival in 1999 together with her husband, pianist Martti Rautio. They acted together as the artistic directors for 9 years. She has continued in this position with her twin sister Sonja Korkeala from 2007 to 2019 and during 2023.

Rafael Adobas Bayog

Spanish-Filipino flutist Rafael Adobas Bayog began studying the flute at the age of eight at the Ibiza Conservatory under the guidance of Joana Moragues. He continued his studies with Anikó Pusztai and Vicens Prats in Barcelona, and later at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under Andrea Lieberknecht and Natalie Schwaabe (piccolo), as well as Marion Treupel-Franck (traverso and classical flute).

In 2022, Adobas Bayog won the first prize at the Kobe International Flute Competition in Japan. At the Carl Nielsen Competition in 2021, he was awarded third place as well as the special prize for the best performance of the commissioned work. In 2023, he was honored with the "Ani ng Dangal" Prize by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines (NCCA).

Rafael has performed as a soloist with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, and Odense Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Korea, festivals in Spain, concerts in Kobe and Tokyo, and at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Rafael Adobas Bayog's website »»

Markus Bellheim

In 2000, pianist Markus Bellheim won the International Olivier Messiaen Competition in Paris. This marked the beginning of an extensive concert career which has taken him throughout Europe, as well as to Asia and America. Born in Hamburg in 1973, Markus Bellheim has performed at many important festivals and in concert series (Beethovenfest Bonn, Kasseler Musiktage, La Roque d’Anthéron, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte, etc.).

Markus Bellheim has performed the complete works for piano solo by Olivier Messiaen several times to high public acclaim. He performs Messiaen’s most important work for solo piano and orchestra, the Turangalîla Symphony, throughout the world.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is a further focus of Bellheim’s career. His concert repertoire includes the complete keyboard works of Bach.

Leading orchestras such as the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, the Bamberg Symphony, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestre philharmonique de Nice and Malmö Symphony Orchestra regularly invite Bellheim to perform works from the classical repertoire with them. He also performs with established contemporary music ensembles such as Ensemble Modern and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Markus Bellheim works with conductors including Sylvain Cambreling and Jonathan No and composers Steve Reich, György Kurtág and Wolfgang Rihm.

Following CD recordings of the complete solo works by Wolfgang Rihm and Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen on the NEOS label, NEOS has recently released the Piano Concerto by Bruno Maderna with Markus Bellheim and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. This recording has received many prizes, including the German Record Critics’ Award. Bellheim’s recording of Messiaen’s Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine with the Kremerata Baltica, released on the ECM label to mark the 30th anniversary of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, has been particularly well- received.

Markus Bellheim gives regular master classes in Germany and abroad. He has taught at the music conservatoires in Würzburg and Mannheim and was appointed Professor of Piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich in the winter semester 2011. He is a freelance editor and author for the Munich publisher G. Henle Verlag.

Markus Bellheim's website »»

Luka Coetzee

Acclaimed by the Fanfare Magazine as “tonally, technically, and musically superb”, Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee (b. 2004) has always enjoyed the musical life combining the richness of art, travel, and performing.

In October 2023, she received the first prize at the esteemed 7th International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, Finland. She is also the first prize winner of the 2022 Pablo Casals International Award and the 9th Johansen International Strings Competition. She is a top prize winner at the 8th Dotzauer International Competition for Young Cellists, the 6th UNISA International Strings Competition, the 2019 Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal Competition and the 2021 Shean Strings & Piano Competition. 

In September 2022 she received the Frans Helmerson Promotional Award at the Kronberg Academy and performed as soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the Casals Forum at the Kronberg Academy. Luka has also appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestre de Cannes under highly-regarded conductors such as Rumon Gamba, Giuseppe Mengoli and Ustina Dubitsky.

Most recently as part of the Pablo Casals Foundation, Luka performed at the Pablo Casals Museum in El Vendrell to commemorate the legacy of Pablo Casals and the 50th anniversary of his passing. Her upcoming performance engagements include the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and the Kimito Island Festival.

As a member of the Echo Klassik-nominated LGT Young Soloists, Luka has performed in numerous concert halls around the world including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin Philharmonie, the Tonhalle in Zürich, Victoria Hall in Singapore, the Rheingau Musik Festival, and at the Woordfees Festival in Stellenbosch, South Africa. In January 2020, Luka recorded and premiered a new arrangement of the Beethoven A Major Cello Sonata for cello and strings on NAXOS at the Teldex Studio in Berlin, Germany. The CD was released in November 2020 and Luka is acclaimed by the Fanfare Magazine as “sublime, with an interpretative grasp… playing of rare quality.”

Luka has also worked with distinguished artists and string quartets including Johannes Moser, Frans Helmerson, David Geringas, Nicolas Altstaedt, Jens Peter Maintz, Laurence Lesser, Hans Jorgen Jensen, the Calidore String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, and the Schumann Quartet. In November 2021, Luka attended the Rutesheim Cello Akademie where she worked with Danjulo Ishizaka and Claudio Bohorquez, and more recently she attended the Prussia Cove Masterclasses under the guidance of Steven Isserlis. An avid chamber musician, Luka participated in the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival Young Performer’s Program in 2018 and 2019. In 2023 Luka founded the Duo Osensus with Belgian pianist Nicolas Absalom.

Throughout her life, Luka has always enjoyed performing at schools, hospitals, senior homes, and community events. From 2019 until 2022 she was the Calgary Regional Director of the Back to Bach Project, “a global initiative to inspire music and arts education to young children, and to teach them the value of hard work and passion.” At the age of one, Luka had her first cello lesson with Christine Bootland. Other previous mentors include John Kadz, Johanne Perron and Horacio Contreras. Luka also started playing piano at the age of three and finished the Royal Conservatory of Music ARCT piano exam with First Class Honours under the instruction of Derek Chiu.

Luka is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

Luka Coetzee's website »»

Roland Glassl

Hailed by The Strad magazine as the "new century's new talent, (one of) the stars of the next decade,” German violist Roland Glassl was launched into an international career as prizewinner of many prestigious national and international competitions.

Glassl was the first German to win the first prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in England, where he was also awarded the Peter Schidlof Prize for the finalist with the most beautiful tone. Other awards include first prize at the II. Viola Competition of the German Viola Society, top prize at the 1st International Viola Competition Vienna, second prize at the Primrose Viola Competition, and first prize at the Washington International Competition for strings.

Concert tours have taken him through Europe, North- and South America, and China. Glassl has appeared at Wigmore Hall in London, at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Peking, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago/ USA, Chamber Music International (CMI) in Dallas/ USA, the Caramoor Festival in New York, Musica Riva in Riva del Garda/ Italy, and Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove/England.

As a soloist, Glassl has performed with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Howard Griffiths, Sebastian Tewinkel, Hans Richter, Markus Poschnern and Alfred Eschwé and orchestras such as the Staatsorchester Mainz, the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, the China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra, the Georgian Chamber Orchestra, the German Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate, the Pécs Symphony Orchestra, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, Glassl has collaborated with leading artists, including Julia Fischer, Michael Sanderling, Lisa Batiashvili, Miriam Fried, Pekka Kuusisto, Sharon Kam, Atar Arad, Leon Fleischer, Michael Tree, and Hariolf Schlichtig.

From 1999 to 2015 Roland Glassl was the violist of the Mandelring Quartet, recognised as one of the foremost quartets in the world with frequent engagements in virtually every major chamber music hall. The quartet’s numerous recordings, which span much of their wide-ranging repertoire, have garnered the German Music Critics’ Prize as well as multiple nominations for the International Classical Music Award.

Teaching has always been an important addition to his concert life for Roland Glassl. From 2004 to 2018, he succeeded Tabea Zimmermann as Professor for Viola at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. In 2018 he took over the position of Prof. Hariolf Schlichtig at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, returning to his roots.

Roland Glassl was born in Germany, into a luthier's family with a tradition of many generations of violin making. He currently performs on a viola made by his father, who was also his first violin teacher. Later, he continued his studies at the “Musikhochschule München” with Ana Chumachenco. After receiving his artist diploma with distinction, he came to the United States to study violin with Paul Biss and viola with Atar Arad at Indiana University. Fascinated by the deep, warm sound of the viola, he decided to devote himself to the instrument and its music.

Roland Glassl´s website »»

Anna-Maaria Oramo

Anna-Maaria Oramo is an internationally performing harpsichordist and singer. As a harpsichordist, Oramo has been performing worldwide since 2003 as a soloist and as a member of the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Orfeo 55, and Ensemble Matheus. She has participated in numerous internationally acclaimed recordings, including solo parts (e.g., Diapason d’Or 2020). Oramo is also a regular musician with the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, where she has served as the music director on several occasions. Additionally, Oramo has collaborated with dozens of different orchestras and chamber ensembles both domestically and abroad, and has performed as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has also made several radio and television recordings for YLE and ARTE and recorded harpsichord sonatas by Antonio Soler.

As a vocal soloist, Oramo has performed with Fibo, participated in tours across Europe with the medieval ensemble Amor Céu, and recorded with the crossover jazz-medieval ensemble Aition. She is also heard in other ensembles as an interpreter of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music.

Oramo is also a dedicated pedagogue and has received several long-term artist grants. She holds a Doctor of Music degree.

Riitta Pesola

Riitta Pesola began playing the cello at the Kotka Music Institute and continued her studies at the Sibelius Academy and the Juilliard School in New York. After winning the national cello competition in Turku in 1986, Pesola has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras and in solo concerts in her home country, several European countries, as well as in the United States and Japan. Riitta Pesola is a member of Trio Finlandia and the principal cellist of the Tapiola Sinfonietta. Her instrument is an Italian Giovanni Grancino cello from 1698.

Jukka Rautasalo

Jukka Rautasalo began his career as a cellist but has since become known for his expertise with the viola da gamba. Already when he started his studies at the Sibelius Academy in 1985, he joined the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, where he has served as an artistic planner for two Summer Music festivals in Porvoo. Since 1996, he has been the third solo cellist in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In the realm of Baroque music, Rautasalo has performed both as an instrumentalist and a musical director with several Finnish city orchestras. During a four-year period (2001–04), he was the artistic director and conductor of the Sixth Floor Orchestra (now the Finnish Baroque Orchestra), during which he recorded the album "The Classical Age in Finland," containing all known Finnish orchestral music from the 18th century.

Aku Sorensen

Aku Sorensen (b. 1997) is a Finnish-American conductor, born in California but based in Finland for the last ten years. A sought-after guest conductor, his burgeoning career has seen him as a regular guest of orchestras throughout Finland, including the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Pori Sinfonietta, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, and others. In 2022, Sorensen was named the 20th principal conductor of the famed Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat and has served in that post ever since.

Sorensen has a keen interest in programming and curation, with a specific focus on integrating lesser played and contemporary repertoire into concept programs. He has conducted numerous Finnish, European, and World premieres of repertoire both of our time and found forgotten in the archives.

Nowhere is Aku’s interest in programming so obvious than at the festival “The Sounds of Luosto”, which he has served as artistic director of since 2019. Tied together with a tight theme and strong concept concerts, a weekend of music set on a fell in Finnish Lapland sets contemporary music with well-known classics, forgotten names with household ones. The programming has proven popular, with an increasingly international audience, and Finnish composer Kalevi Aho has said the festival “has an attraction much in the way of the Savonlinna Opera Festival or the Salzburg Festival.”

A strong believer in audience and youth music education, Sorensen has conducted a number of youth ensembles, including the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra in California and the Western-Helsinki Music Institute Chamber Orchestra. He has also participated in a number of experimental outreach programs, including serving as the conductor of the “Kuule Minä Sävellän” scheme in 2020, which provides young people the opportunity to compose and have their pieces premiered by professional ensembles.

Sorensen completed his master’s degree in conducting at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts, Helsinki under the tutelage of professor Sakari Oramo. He has also received tuition from conductors such as Jorma Panula, Paavo Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Johannes Schlaefli, Sir Roger Norrington, Peter Eötvös, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. 

A former professional violinist, Aku is accomplished orchestral player and chamber player, having led and played in such ensembles as the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Vaasa City Orchestra, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, and Sibelius Academy Chamber Orchestra. Sorensen is also a founding member of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, and served as the ensembles original concertmaster.

Carla Usberti

Carla Usberti, born in 2001 in Landshut, is a German-French violist. She began playing the piano at the age of 3 and the violin at the age of 5. In 2015, she switched to the viola.

She has received numerous first prizes at the national level in the Jugend musiziert competition for both viola and piano, as well as several special prizes, including a solo viola performance with the Darmstadt Chamber Orchestra. After completing her pre-college studies in 2018-2019 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, she began her bachelor's studies there under Professor Roland Glassl. She has received scholarships from the Hildegard-Schmalzl Foundation in Regensburg, the Münchener Musikverein, and has been a Villa Musica scholarship recipient since 2023. She has attended masterclasses with Tabea Zimmermann, Hariolf Schlichtig, Lars Anders Tomter, Atar Arad, and the Quatuor Ébène.

Carla has won awards in both national and international competitions for piano and viola, including third prize at the 2021 International Hindemith Viola Competition in Munich.

Carla has gained orchestral experience in youth orchestras, with the Munich Philharmonic, and with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, where she was an academy member from 2021 to 2023.

St. Michel Strings

Orchestral activities in St. Michel Strings have their roots in the year 1903. At that time, the St. Michel Music Friends Association founded an orchestra in the city, which had barely a few thousand inhabitants. The orchestra - Finland's oldest amateur orchestra, and Finland's third oldest orchestra - was eventually reorganized into an association-based professional orchestra. In 1990, the St. Michel city orchestra was municipalized and became a string orchestra with 12 musicians.

The chief conductor from autumn 2012 to spring 2016 was Sasha Mäkilä. During the 2017–2019 seasons, conductors Erkki Lasonpalo and Daniel Raiskin served as the orchestra's artistic partners. Since spring 2020, Erkki Lasonpalo has been the chief conductor of the orchestra. The ensemble has focused on performing music primarily for strings. It has become known for its collaboration with numerous Finnish and international composers. An important part of its activities consists of joint concerts with other orchestras, especially with the Lappeenranta city orchestra.

These two orchestras perform together under the name Saimaa Sinfonietta. The St. Michel city orchestra is a small string ensemble that can easily move from one place to another and perform without a conductor.

In 2013, the orchestra performed at the legendary Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea. That same year, the album Adagio, made in collaboration with conductor José Serebrier, was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. In 2014, the orchestra, in collaboration with the E-concerthouse web portal and the St. Michel University of Applied Sciences, began giving live concerts on the Internet. In connection with the Sibelius anniversary year 2015, the orchestra toured in March of that year in South Korea and China.