Contact
Maike Charlotte Fuchsmf@karstenwitt.com+49 30 214 594 -220
Maï Handalmh@karstenwitt.com t +49 30 214 594 -229
General Management
Olli Mustonen talks about an early musical key experience, composers who have influenced him and the interplay between analytical thinking and intuition.
Olli Mustonen's recording of the two 3rd piano concertos by Rautavaara and Martinů with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska was honoured with the German Record Critics' Award.
Edvard Grieg, Streichquartett g-Moll op. 27
Edvard Grieg, 19 Norwegian Folk Tunes op. 66
Olli Mustonen, 'Minä elän', four songs on poems by Aleksis Kivi
Olli Mustonen, Taivaanvalot
Olli Mustonen, piano
Olli Mustonen, Sonata for violin and piano
Olli Mustonen, Tähtitarha
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Seranades of the Unicorn
Benjamin Britten, Songs from the Chinese, Op. 58
Benjamin Britten, The Second Lute-Song of the Earl of Essex’ from Gloriana, Op. 53
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata for Violin and Piano No.10 in G Major, Op. 96
Ludwig van Beethoven, An die ferne Geliebte, op. 98
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano trio in E flat major Op. 70 no.2
Ludwig van Beethoven, Volkslieder
Carl Nielsen, Humoreske-bagateller, Op. 11
Olli Mustonen, Anderseniana – Five Pieces on Five Short Tales by Hans Christian Andersen for Solo Flute
Luis de Narváez, Los seys libros de Delphin de música de cifras para tañer vihuela, Libro I
Alonso Mudarra, Tres Libros de Música en Cifra para Vihuela, Libro I
Niccoló Paganini, Terzetto concertante D-Dur
Gioachino Rossini, Wilhelm Tell-Overtüre
Darius Milhaud, La Creation du Monde
Olli Mustonen, Piano Quintet
Bohuslav Martinů, Sonata for Flute and Piano, H. 306
Olli Mustonen, Septuor Champetre englannintorvelle, kitaralle ja jousikvintetille
Helvi Leiviskä, Suite for Orchestra No. 2 Op. 11
Einojuhani Rautavaara, Piano Concerto No.3
Witold Lutosławski, Symphony Nr. 4
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Marcelle de Manziarly, Piano Trio 1921
Olli Mustonen, Sonate für Violoncello
Camille Saint-Saëns, Piano Quartet H major, op. 41
Olli Mustonen, Triptyykki (Triptych) for string orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 E-flat major, Op. 73
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Symphony No 3 Op. 56 a-minor
Olli Mustonen, conductor
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Insomnia
Peter Tschaikowsky, Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13 «Winter Dreams»
Münchner Philharmoniker
Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Olli Mustonen is not only one of the most interesting musicians in Finland, he is also someone who creates surprises, intensities and amazements which are anything but commonplace in the music business. Süddeutsche Zeitung
Olli Mustonen is a pianist, composer and conductor. For him, it's all one thing: he is quite simply a musician. It therefore makes no sense for him to separate these functions - and so he excels in all three disciplines, playing an extraordinary role in today's musical world. With boundless energy and a creative and highly reflective approach to music, he is one of the few pianists whose signature style is instantly recognisable. Known for the expressiveness and intensity of his playing and his crystal-clear, almost percussive touch, his interpretations are characterised by the interplay between explosive outbursts and sensitive restraint.
During an illustrious career, Olli Mustonen has brought his extraordinary musical insight to many of the world's most significant orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and all the London orchestras. He has strong relationships with orchestras across Finland, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic and Sinfonia Lahti, with whom he released an album of Rautavaara and Martinu's Third Piano Concertos conducted by Dalia Stasevska in 2023. At the beginning of 2023, he took over the position of Principal Guest Conductor with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. As a recitalist, Olli Mustonen has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Diaghilev Festival Perm, Dresden Festival, Lockenhaus Festival, New York Zankel Hall and Sydney Opera House. With Steven Isserlis, he has performed as a duo for more than thirty years. 2019 saw the release of their album of Russian works for cello and piano on the Hyperion label.
In the 2024/25 season, Olli Mustonen will perform with the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Kremerata Baltica and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others. He will perform chamber music in Hong Kong and at the UKARIA Cultural Centre in Australia, at the Konserthus Stockholm, in Kronberg and Lockenhaus and with musicians from the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
Recipient of the 2019 Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau, Olli Mustonen’s life as a composer is at the heart of his piano playing and conducting. Frequently bringing his own works to the chamber music stage, the world premiere of his work Taivaanvalot (Heavenly Lights) for Tenor, Cello and Piano was performed at Het Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam by Olli Mustonen himself, alongside Ian Bostridge and Steven Isserlis. Additional performances took place at London’s Wigmore Hall and in Hong Kong. His string sextet, commissioned by the Beethovenfest Bonn, was premiered there in 2020. In 2022, Apotheosis, in memoriam Pablo Casals was premiered at the opening gala of the Casals Forum in Kronberg and the Sinfonia No. 3 Taivaanvalot with the Turku Philharmonic and tenor soloist Ian Bostridge, the latter was published in 2023 by Ondine together with his 2nd Symphony. The flute concerto Sadunkertoja (Storyteller) was premiered by Janne Thomsen and the PKF Prague Philharmonia under Olli Mustonen at the Concentus Moraviae Festival in the Czech Republic; the Finnish premiere will take place with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia in spring 2025. His violin concerto will also be premiered in Finland by Elina Vähälä and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Collon on 6 December 2024, Finland's Independence Day.
Born in Helsinki, Olli Mustonen began his studies in piano, harpsichord, and composition at the age of five. Initially learning with Ralf Gothoni, he subsequently studied piano with Eero Heinonen and composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara.
This biography is to be reproduced without any changes, omissions or additions, unless expressly authorised by the artist management.
Triple
Exemplary Programmes with Olli Mustonen as a soloist, conductor and composerJ. S. Bach: Concerto for Keyboard in D major BWV1054P. Hindemith: The Four Temperaments for piano and stringsO. Mustonen: Sonata for Cello and OrchestraD. Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 (arr. string orchestra)B. Smetana: The Bartered Bride OvertureA. Dvořák: Cello ConcertoO. Mustonen: Symphony No. 2 Johannes AngelosO. Mustonen: The Old Church at PetäjävesiW. A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 26S. Prokofjev: Symphony No. 6
Recitals
SoloP. Tchaikovsky: Album for the Youth, Op. 39D. Shostakovitch: Sonata No. 2, Op. 61R. Shchedrin: Notebook for Young PeopleO. Mustonen: Sonata Jehkin IivanaS. Prokofjev: Sonate No. 7
All ProkofjevAll piano sonatas in two recitals in a row
Duo with Steven IsserlisD. Shostakovich: Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40O. Mustonen: Cello SonataS. Prokofiev: Ballade in C minor for cello and piano, Op. 15 OR Sibelius, Jean: MalincoliaD. Kabalevsky: Cello Sonata, Op. 71
“Furious crossrhythms and accented repeated notes relent to hymnal lyricism in Olli Mustonen’s First String Quartet...Mustonen is the composer-pianist in the 2014 Piano Quintet, which opens with a Rite of Spring-ish Drammatico e passionato movement...Sensitive interplay between piano and strings lifts the quieter moments, which are well balanced in this recording."
BBC Music Magazine, January 2023
“Mustonen’s individuality and intellectual enquiry were immediately apparent… His was a performance which ranks amongst the finest for the instrument that I have experienced in some time. There was a sense of eavesdropping on a master pianist playing for his own pleasure…”
Limelight, Brett Allen-Bayes, 04/10/2022
“[Mustonen’s quintet], in a concert filled with musical gems, [was] the crowning glory.(…) Mustonen and the Australian Chamber Orchestra have succeeded in combining unparalleled virtuosity with unashamed entertainment value.”
Limelight, Jansson J. Antmann, 23/09/2022
“The Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer Olli Mustonen shows enormous courage in presenting the first part of his programme at the Ruhr Piano Festival in the Stadthalle Mülheim on Saturday evening with varied and contrasting piano gems by Sibelius, Mustonen, and Scriabin. The result is simply magnificent and is heard all too rarely heard on stage.”
MAZ Mülheim, July 2022
“Isserlis and Mustonen make a strong case for [the Kabalevsky Sonata] in a performance of grand gestures that proves a real roller coaster ride. Isserlis’s intensity and Mustonen’s pianistic weight suit the piece wonderfully well, and the tolling opening chords sound at once solemn and threatening [...]. Isserlis and Mustonen play [the Rondo in memory of Prokofiev] with the combination of lyricism and drama that characterises the rest of the disc. Very fine.”
Gramophone, February 2019
“Mustonen provides the turbulent counterpoint [...] playing with great gentleness and delicacy one moment, before an eruption of glittering notes propelled with a febrile intensity that reminds me of Shostakovich himself at the piano. It’s a fascinating partnership and, I think, a hugely rewarding performance [...] such a tremendous account [...] an intimately truthful recording as well [...] it’s my Recording of the Week.”
BBC Record Review, February 2019
“Olli Mustonen plays with bags of energy and vigour, match by the Orchestra and Conductor.”
BBC Music Magazine, Nov '16 – on the Prokofiev CD
“In Mustonen’s reading there is a real sense of journey as he traverses the 25 studies and there is greater tonal variation, expressive range and playfulness in his playing, which I find helps the listener to feel more involved in this music. [...] Mustonen is extremely persuasive in the way he sheds new light on this music, making it more accessible – ideal, I would say, for winning new admirers to the work.”
GRAMOPHONE, on Prokofjew’s Vision fugitives, CD recording Decca 444803
Olli Mustonen plays Hindemiths Vier Temperamente with Finnish Radio under Hannu Lintu
Olli Mustonen plays Hindemiths Vier Temperamente
Finnish Radio Symphony OrchestraHannu Lintu, Dirigent
In Focus: Olli Mustonen
Live in the Studio: Olli Mustonen
Olli Mustonen speaks about Jehkin Iivana
Olli Mustonen at SWR 2 Porträt "Zur Person"
Olli Mustonen, Engegård Quartet
Lawo Classics, 2022, LWC 1243
Olli Mustonen (piano), Steven Isserlis (cello)
Hyperion, 2019, CDA68239
Olli Mustonen (piano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu (conductor)
ONDINE, 2017, ODE 1288-2
ONDINE, 2016, ODE 1244-2
Olli Mustonen (piano) und Steven Isserlis (cello)
BIS, 2014, BIS - 2042
Olli Mustonen (piano)
ONDINE, 2012, ODE 1184-2
Olli Mustonen (conductor), Helsinki Festival Orchestra
ONDINE, 2012, FUGA9335
Olli Mustonen (piano), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo (conductor)
ONDINE, 2010, ODE 1165-2