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.
