Kimito Island Music Festival Artists 2022

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 »»

Alfredo Perl

Alfredo Perl has established himself as one of today’s leading pianists. Chilean by birth, he studied with Carlos Botto in Santiago, Günter Ludwig in Cologne and Maria Curcio in London. Since his first public performance at the age of nine, he has given numerous concerts throughout the world and has been a prize-winner at major competitions.

Perl performed a complete Beethoven Sonatas cycle at London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Santiago and Moscow, to huge public critical acclaim. The completion of the Wigmore Hall series coincided with the release of his Beethoven Sonata cycle with the Diabelli Variations. Perl has been said to play Beethoven "with sparkling freshness, extraordinary tenderness and unaffected brilliance. He demonstrates that, even in these prosaic times, the great tradition of Beethoven playing lives on." (Joachim Kaiser, Süddeutsche Zeitung). He has also recorded works for solo piano and for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt, Schubert sonatas and the complete works of Ravel. The BBC label Opus Arte issued a DVD of his recording of Chopin Preludes op. 28.

Alfredo Perl made his debut in the International Piano Series at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1992 (a series to which he returned to several times), which was closely followed by his first recital at the Wigmore Hall. Perl has performed worldwide at major venues such as the Vienna Musikverein and Konzerthaus, London’s Barbican Centre, Rudolfinum Prague, Munich’s Herkulessaal, the Cologne Philharmonie, Izumi Hall Osaka, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Sydney Town Hall and Opera House and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. He has also visited the Schwetzingen, Schleswig Holstein Musik, Rheingau, Bad Kissingen, and Bonn Beethovenfest festivals; the Bath International Music Festival; Harrogate Festival; Beirut Al Bustan Festival and the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt.

A remarkably versatile performer, Perl has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the Hallé, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Symphony. He has also appeared with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Wiener Symphoniker, Netherlands Philharmonic and Tokyo Symphony orchestras.
Alfredo Perl has recently taken up the baton and will be conducting several concerts with the Detmolder Kammerorchester, with whom he holds the position of Music Director.

Alfredo Perl is Professor at Detmold Music University. He has acted as jury member of the Bonn Beethoven Competition, the Scottish International Piano Competition and Busoni International Piano competition.

Anna-Liisa Bezrodny

Roland Glassl

Guido Schiefen

After a promising debut as a violin player Guido Schiefen very soon fell in love with the cello. As a result of good progress he became first prize winner of several youth competitions (1st prize Bundeswettbewerb “Jugend musiziert“ 1980) and at the age of twelve he joined the Musikhochschule Köln as a “young student“ of his teacher Prof. Alwin Bauer. Besides that he was inspired by additional lessons with Maurice Gendron and Siegfried Palm.

Already at young age he was performing on stage as a soloist and chamber musician. After finishing school (Abitur 1987) he continued his fulltime studies in Cologne. During that time he was engaged for the first time to several radio and television productions as well as CD recordings.

As winner of the Köln Hochschulwettbewerb he received a scholarship by the German “Studienstiftung“. In 1990 (at the age of 22) he became a prizewinner in Moscow at the 9th Int. Tschaikowsky competition. Soon after that he was awarded the young artists promotion prize of the country Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine Westphalia). He was invited to perform in International music festivals like Bachwoche Ansbach, Davos, Rheingau Musikfestival, Echternach / Luxemburg ,Saga / Japan etc.

Ever since he has been performing worldwide in renowned concert halls with orchestras like WDR Köln, Bamberger Symphoniker, Festival Strings Lucerne, Berliner Symphoniker, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London among others. In Duo Recitals and other chamber music formations he performed with pianists like Günter Ludwig, Pavel Gilov, Olaf Dressler and Alfredo Perl Additionally he was a member of the “Ensemble Incanto“ playing in concerts worldwide.

Guido Schiefen's repertoire obtains the essential standard masterpieces of the cello repertoire as well as more unknown works of less famous composers from different epoques. Some of these pieces have been published for Tonger (Köln), Schott (Mainz), Peters (Leipzig) among others. Quite a big part of it has been recorded on more than 30 CDs during the last three decades for companies like Arte Nova, Oehms Classics, cpo, Darbringhaus & Grimm. Most of these recordings have been reviewed enthusiastically and thus have established Guido Schiefen's reputation as one of his generation's leading cellists.

Recently Guido Schiefen appeared on the CD market with two new recordings: the complete works for cello and piano by Max Reger (with pianist Jacob Leuschner, for Oehms Classics) and “Schumannia“ (the standard pieces for cello and piano plus song transcriptions) with pianist Markus Kreul (for Dabringhaus & Grimm). As a result of “Schumannia“ Markus Kreul and Guido Schiefen were rewarded as “Schumann ambassadors“ and became members of the board of artists of the Schumann Forum Bonn in 2017.

Guido Schiefen is a very passionate cello teacher as well. Since many years he has been teaching masterclasses in Germany, the United States, Hungary and other countries on a regular basis. In September 2008 he was appointed as cello teacher at the Hochschule Luzern - Musik. In 2009 he was awarded the title “Professor“ . Since 2000 Guido Schiefen is artistic director of the “Klassik-Bühne Rhein-Sieg“.

Jan-Erik Gustafsson

Norbert Kaiser

Norbert Kaiser, born 1961 in Frankfurt, had clarinet, violin and piano lessons. In 1979, he was a prize winner in the national young musician competition. From 1980 to 1985 he studied clarinet in the Musikhochschule Detmold with Jost Michaels and Hans Klaus and piano with Werner Genuit and worked as an assistant from 1985 to 1986. After his final exam in 1984, he played as clarinettist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (1984-1989) in many CD productions.

Norbert Kaiser made concert tours in Japan and South-America and, under the conductor Eliahu Inbal received the German Recording prize. Radio recordings as a soloist with the Hessische Rundfunk and Suedwestfunk (Baden-Baden), as well as appearances with the Frankfurt Soloists and the Quartet of the Hessischer Rundfunk were following. From 1989 to 2000, Norbert Kaiser was principal clarinet of the Stuttgart Opera Orchestra.
He worked internationally with renowned conductors like Sir Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Eliahu Inbal, Herbert Blomstedt, Fabio Luisi and Fruebeck de Burgos. In 1989 he founded the “ Stuttgart Octett”.

He played solo concerts with the Stuttgart Opera Orchestra, the Ludwigsburg festival Orchestra and the Heilbronn Chamber Orchestra. As a teacher he gave master classes in the royal conservatory in Madrid, in the Oberstdorf music summer, “jeunesse musicale” in Weickersheim and in the Musikhochschule in Trossingen, Mannheim,Munich, Shenyang, Shanghai and Seoul (South-Korea) 2004 he was appointed guest professor for clarinet at the conservatory in Shenyang (China). He was renowned master classes for chamber music in Frenzwegen and at the International Bach Academy. In 1999 he was appointed professor for clarinet at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart.

After studying conducting in Weimar, he worked together with different professional and youth orchestras and from 1999 to 2001 he was principal conductor of the Thueringen youth orchestra. In 1996 he won a price at the international competition for conducting in Budapest. He also worked as a guest-conductor with Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Jenaer Philharmoniker, Orchestra of Gotha, Staatskapelle Weimar, Pecs Symphony Orchestra (Hungary) and Vratsa Symphonie Orchestra (Bulgaria). 1997/98 he was assistant conductor in the opera Stuttgart and opera Ulm (production “ Figaro “ W.A. Mozart).

Hedvig Paulig

Finnish soprano, Hedvig Paulig, graduated with a Dip.RAM from the Royal Academy of Music in London and a M. Mus. from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She is the recipient of many scholarships and awards, which include First Prize in the International Sibelius Singing Competition in Finland in 2011.

Hedvig has performed at the regional opera houses in Finland starring as Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow) and Violetta (La Traviata), many Mozart parts; Pamina, Fiordiligi, The Countess, First Lady, Donna Elvira. She has sung at many festivals in Scandinavia, Switzerland, England, Israel, Australia and Singapore. Her extensive repertoire has led to engagements with many prominent Finnish Orchestras, including the Helsinki Philharmonic, Lapland Chamber Orchestra and Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. She made her debut at the Finnish National Opera in 2013 as Frasquita (Carmen) and Clorinda (La Cenerentola).

Hedvig has a wide repertoire of Nordic, English, French, German and American songs as well as oratorios by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn. She has recorded Finnish Art songs by Sibelius, Melartin, Kilpinen, Pylkkänen and Wegelius for the labels Fuga, Toccata Classics and the Sibelius One Society.

Folke Gräsbeck

The Finnish pianist Folke Gräsbeck was awarded I Prize in the nationwide Maj Lind Competition in Finland, as 17-year-old. He first studied at the Conservatory of Turku (home city), then proceeded to study with Maria Curcio-Diamand in London.

At the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), he worked as a permanent Chamber Pianist during 1985–2017, achieved Master’s exam in 1997 and he held his Doctoral disputation in 2008. Folke Gräsbeck has performed more than 400 of Sibelius’s c. 600 compositions, and he plays more than 24 CDs included in the international CD series SIBELIUS EDITION, released by BIS Records. He has performed more than thirty different piano concertos as a soloist with orchestra. He has given performances as a recitalist, chamber player and Lied accompanist in many European countries, Mexico, USA, UAE, Japan, Egypt, Lebanon, China, Botswana and Zimbabwe, etc.. Folke Gräsbeck received the Cross of Merit of the Lion’s Order, awarded by the Finnish President Tarja Halonen in 2009, The Sibelius Medal 2014.

Hedvig Paulig and Folke Gräsbeck have given many concerts together, in UK, Norway and Israel (the Tel Aviv Sibelius Concert was included in the Felicja Blumenthal festival, and the concert at the Big Hall of the Jerusalem Theatre was directly broadcast). Their Sibelius CD ‘Nordic Love’ was released by the British SibeliusOne Society in 2017. Festival appearances in Finland at the Aino Ackté Festival, the Sibelius in Korpo Festival, Grankulla Musikfest, Lahti International Sibelius Weeks, etc. As the 150th Anniversary of the composer Armas Järnefelt was celebrated in 2019, Hedvig Paulig, violinist Jaso Sasaki and Folke Gräsbeck were responsible for the main festive event of the year, a Järnefelt concert in Helsinki at the House of Nobility.

Alma Pöysti

St. Michel Strings

St. Michel Strings, based in the city of Mikkeli in eastern Finland, is a professional string ensemble of 12 full time musicians. St. Michel Strings dates back to 1903, when a small town of only a few thousand residents had a local music association that founded an orchestra. The ensemble had far higher aspirations than its amateur status. It eventually became a full time professional ensemble, and in 1990 became one of the cultural organizations publicly funded by the city of Mikkeli. From autumn 2012 to summer 2016, the orchestra's Music Director was Sasha Mäkilä. Conductors Erkki Lasonpalo and Daniel Raiskin acted as the orchestra's artistic partners during 2017–2019. Erkki Lasonpalo has been appointed chief conductor of the orchestra since 2020.

St. Michel Strings has won acclaim for its innovative programming of works for strings and is also known for its eagerness to collaborate with young composers from Finland and abroad. In order to diversify its concert offerings St. Michel Strings engages in numerous partnerships regularly performing joint concerts with other ensembles. The chamber configuration of the ensemble enables easy mobility. St. Michel Strings is capable of providing a full and authentic concert experience even without a conductor.

Among its recent accomplishments, St. Michel Strings participated in the prestigious Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea in summer 2013, and its recording Adagio, conducted by Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer José Serebrier, got Latin Grammy Award nomination. Recently St. Michel Strings has collaborated with soloists such as violinist Zia Hyunsu Shin, cellist Jian Wang and pianist Olli Mustonen. Celebration of the 150th anniversary of Jean Sibelius included St. Michel String’s tour in South Korea and China in March 2015 with Sibelius’ music.

www.mikkelinkaupunginorkesteri.fi

Ensemble Nylandia

ENSEMBLE NYLANDIA

www.ensemblenylandia.info