Olli Mustonen

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

Finnish musician Olli Mustonen is a pianist, composer and conductor. For him, these are all one and the same: he is simply a musician. He therefore sees no point in separating these roles – and excels in all three disciplines, occupying an exceptional position in today’s musical landscape. With boundless energy and a creative, highly reflective approach to music-making, he is one of the few pianists whose distinctive musical voice is instantly recognisable. Known for the expressiveness and intensity of his playing and his crystalline touch, his interpretations are characterised by a constant interplay between explosive outbursts and sensitive restraint.

Throughout his illustrious career, Olli Mustonen has brought his exceptional musical insight to many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and all the major London orchestras. He maintains close relationships with orchestras throughout Finland, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, with whom he released an album of the Third Piano Concertos by Rautavaara and Martinů in 2023, conducted by Dalia Stasevska. He has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, the Diaghilev Festival in Perm, the Dresden Music Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival, New York’s Zankel Hall and the Sydney Opera House.

Olli Mustonen has enjoyed a collaboration of more than thirty years with Steven Isserlis. In the 2026/27 season, the two artists will appear together in several sonata recitals in Italy and with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. Mustonen began the season at the festivals in Edinburgh, Lockenhaus, Oremandsgaard and Kuhmo. At the Mainz Composer Portrait 2027 and in numerous concerts in his native Finland, he will be heard in all three of his roles as pianist, composer and conductor. Further engagements include appearances with the New Japan Philharmonic and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He will perform the complete Beethoven Piano Sonata cycle at the Konvergencie Festival in Bratislava. His chamber music engagements include classicAscona, Schloss Elmau, and performances in Oslo and Bergen with the Engegård Quartet.

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. He frequently brings his own works to the chamber music stage. He gave the world premiere of Taivaanvalot (Heavenly Lights) for tenor, cello and piano at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam together with Ian Bostridge and Steven Isserlis. His album Heavenly Lights, recently released on Alpha Classics, features this work alongside Kodály’s Sonatina and his Sonata for Cello and Piano op. 4, as well as Mustonen’s own 2006 Sonata for Cello and Piano. 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, while his Symphony No. 3 Taivaanvalot received its world premiere with the Turku Philharmonic and tenor Ian Bostridge. The latter was released by Ondine in 2023 alongside his Symphony No. 2. His Flute Concerto Sadunkertoja was premiered by flautist Janne Thomsen and the PKF Prague Philharmonia under Mustonen’s direction at the Concentus Moraviae Festival in the Czech Republic. On Finnish Independence Day, 6 December 2024, his Violin Concerto was premiered by Elina Vähälä and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Collon.

Born in Helsinki, Olli Mustonen began studying piano, harpsichord and composition at the age of five. He initially studied with Ralf Gothóni, later studying piano with Eero Heinonen and composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara.

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