Pianists 2024

Attila is an active concert performer and has appeared with numerous leading Finnish and foreign singers. He has performed in several European countries, Japan, Egypt, the USA and Canada, as well as extensively in Finland. 

Attila has been the official pianist at numerous singing competitions and has also been a personal pianist for Tommi Hakala, the winner of the 2003 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. He has taught at numerous masterclasses. 

Attila has recorded Toivo Kuula’s solo songs on Ondine with Tommi Hakala, the album Norden (Alba) of Sibelius’ songs, and numerous recordings for Yle radio. He has also conducted chamber operas from the piano (including Ilkka Kuusisto’s Prisoner of Freedom and A Woman like Frozen Champagne). 

Attila has composed songs, as well as piano and chamber music. He was a member of the working group that edited Yrjö Kilpinen’s previously unpublished songs with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. He has also designed and performed several works combining different artistic disciplines, in collaboration with soprano Pia Freund, actress Seela Sella and writer Sirpa Kähkönen. 

Photo: Matti Heinonen

He has also won the Pentti Koskimies song contest with his singing partner. 

Ehrström has been a repetiteur at the Finnish National Opera from 2000 to 2023 and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival since 2003. From 1998 to 2000, Ehrström worked as a repetiteur at the Zurich International Opera Studio. He has also worked as assistant conductor at the Finnish National Opera. Ehrström studied at the Sibelius Academy and the Lyon Conservatory, and he graduated with distinction as a soloist in 1998. 

Ehrström has made recordings with various ensembles for radio and television in Finland, Hungary and Croatia. He has also recorded lieder by Kuula, Schubert, Mussorgsky and Sibelius, among others.

Hällström has given concerts in Finland at most important music festivals. Other countries where she has performed include Sweden, Italy, Estonia, Poland, England, Hungary, the USA, Russia and Japan. Beyond being a pianist, she has also acted in performances of Katselin tähtien merta (I Watched the Sea of the Stars) and Kuin tähtiyössä (As in a Starry Night) written and directed by Juhani Koivisto, as well as in miniature operas composed by Jaakko Kuusisto and directed by Pertti Sveholm: Makuukamariooppera (Bed Chamber Opera) and Leirintäalueooppera (Camping Site Opera). 

Hällström has released several lied albums. Her debut in Finnish music was in 2017, with tuulia, published with soprano Tuulia Takala as part of the independence centenary celebrations of Finland. 2019 saw Songs of Late Summer with bass Sami Luttinen, featuring songs by Yrjö Kilpinen and Mikko Heiniö. A record of music by Ilkka Kuusisto, together with Mari Palo and Waltteri Torikka, was also published in 2019, as well as Joulutarina (Christmas Story) with Eija Ahvo and Juho Punkeri. 

Hällström organises the Miksi laulan? (Why do I sing?) festival for young singers: the first event took place at Musiikkitalo in 2022.

Since 2005, she has worked as an art teacher in the vocal music department of the Sibelius Academy. 

tuulahallstrom.com

His recordings include the complete piano music of Yuri Shaporin (Toccata Classics), songs by Richard Wagner with the soprano Jenni Lättilä and the baritone Tommi Hakala (Siba Records), and a solo-piano album, Shostakovich in Context, combining preludes and fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich with music by Ilari Kaila, Matei Gheorghiu and Mikko Nisula (Pilfink Records). 

Kozlovski has performed on stages such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden and the Birmingham Symphony Hall. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Belarusian State Philharmonic, as well as numerous Finnish orchestras. 

Kozlovski frequently performs lied music in Finland and abroad. He has premiered new works by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Timo Alakotila, Jimmy Lopez, Vladimir Agopov, Outi Tarkiainen and Inkeri Jaakkola, among others. 

kirillkozlovski.org

Photo: Markus Kaarto

She has made concert and teaching visits to Norway, Italy, Hungary and Japan. Nissi is a favoured collaborator in both lied and chamber music ensembles, and performs regularly with various ensembles, including the Oulu Symphony, and at various music festivals, such as Oulu Music Festival, Lieksa Brass Week, and Uuden musiikin lokakuu festival of contemporary music. 

She has been an active member of the organising committee and jury of the national Leevi Madetoja piano competition since 2006. 

He has performed extensively, especially with singers, at festivals in Finland and abroad, including in Australia and the USA, and he is currently an accompanist for singers at the University of the Arts. With regard to contemporary music, he has broadcast and premiered ensemble repertoire and played with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Avanti and Tapiola Sinfonietta, among others. Papinoja is also the repetiteur of the Musiikkitalo choir and regularly collaborates with other choirs in the Helsinki region. 

Photo: Gustav Larsson