13th April, 19:30, BNR, Concert Studio - Solo Recital by Laura Mikkola (FI)



Solo Piano Recital By
Laura Mikkola (Finland)



Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928, Finland):
Cantus Arcticus – Concerto for Birds and Orchestra Op. 61 (1972),
transcription for piano and recording by Peter Lönnqvist (2012) *
(commissioned by Iitti Music Festival)
[dedicated to Einojuhani Rautavaara & Laura Mikkola]
I. The Marsh (Suo)
II. Melancholy (Melankolia)
III. Swans Migrating (Joutsenet muuttavat)


Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957, Finland):
Six Impromptus, Op. 5 (1893)
            I. g moll; II. g moll; III. a moll; IV. e moll; V. b moll; VI. E dur

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952, Finland/France):
Ballade (2005) *

Esa-Pekka Salonen (b. 1958, Finland):
Dichotomie (2000) *
I. Mécanisme
II. Organisme

Jouko Tötterström (b. 1956, Finland):
From Five Nocturnes for Piano (2012) *
[dedicated to Laura Mikkola]
I. A Distant Memory (Kaukainen muisto)
II. Stars above the Rock Island (Tähdet kalliosaaren yllä)
IV. Sergei’s Dream (Sergein uni)

Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957, Finland):
Three songs [arranged for solo piano by Selim Palmgren]
Reed, Reed, Rustle (Säf, säf susa, Op. 35, No. 4, 1900)
Black Roses (Svarta Rosor, Op. 35, No. 1, 1899)
The Girl Returned from Meeting Her Lover
(Flickan kom ifrån sin Älsklings Möte, Op. 37, No. 5, 1901)
Finlandia, Op. 26 (1899), author’s transcription for piano (1990)


__________
* Bulgarian premiere

* * *

Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola has studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. She studied with Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, Gary Graffman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Tapani Valsta and attended master classes of Ferenc Rados. She has been the recipient of many awards, among them Second Prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in Brussels (1995), the Finnish Young Artist Prize (1995), First Prize in the International Unisa Transnet Piano Competition in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa (1994), First Prize in the Maj Lind Competition in Helsinki (1992) and First Prize in the International Maurice Ravel Piano Competition in France (1988).
Laura Mikkola has been a soloist with Helsinki Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Essen Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic of Flandres, National Orchestra of Belgium, Czech Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra of St Petersburg (Kirov Orchestra) among others. She has been performing with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Osmo Vänskä, Philippe Entremont, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Sergiu Comissiona, Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Ashkenazy and others. She has given recitals all over Europe, in Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, Columbia, Chile and the USA. She also plays regularly in Egypt and Tunisia. She has been invited to perform in prestigious concert halls and at renowned international festivals.
Her repertoire includes 62 piano concertos, among them the Second by Béla Bartók, the Third by Sergei Rachmaninov, the Second by Sergei Prokofiev, the Piano Concerto by Erkki-Sven Tüür and all three concertos by Einojuhani Rautavaara. She has recorded many CDs for different labels, among them ECM and Naxos.
Since 2003 Laura Mikkola is the Artistic Director of Iitti Music Festival in Finland.