Erik T. Tawaststjerna

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Erik Thomas Tawaststjerna (born June 8, 1951 in Helsinki , Finland ) is a Finnish pianist and professor of piano at the Sibelius Academy .

Life

Education

Erik T. Tawaststjerna comes from an influential family of musicians. His father, the almost eponymous Erik Tawaststjerna (1916-1993), was a pianist and professor of musicology at the University of Helsinki , the least since the publication of his Sibelius - Biography as a major Sibelius researcher applies.

Erik T. Tawaststjerna studied piano in Helsinki with Tapani Valsta, in Moscow with Genrijetta Mirvis, at the Academy for Music and Performing Arts Vienna ( today: University ) with Dieter Weber, and in New York with Eugene List at New York University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School . He received his doctorate from New York University with a thesis on Finnish piano music since 1945. Erik T. Tawaststjerna also took part in Wilhelm Kempff's master classes .

Career as a pianist and chamber musician

In 1968 he won second prize at the Maj Lind piano competition. As a soloist he has appeared in Europe , the USA , Mexico , Chile , Taiwan and Japan , as a chamber musician he has played all of Ludwig van Beethoven's cello sonatas with Arto Noras and all of the violin sonatas with Seppo Tukiainen. He performed as a piano duo with his wife, the pianist Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna. His discography includes the complete recording of the piano works by Jean Sibelius , which he recorded as the first pianist, as well as other solo and chamber music recordings. It was also attended by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace, Tokyo invited there to play the piano.

Professor of piano

Erik T. Tawaststjerna taught piano and chamber music at the Sibelius Academy from 1982 until he was appointed professor for piano in 1986. Among his most famous students is the pianist Henri Sigfridsson . In 2006 he was named Professor of the Year by the Association of Professors of the Finnish Universities, making him the first professor in an artistic course to receive this award.

further activities

From 1990 to 2009 Erik T. Tawaststjerna was together with Marita Viitasalo artistic director of the International Piano Festival in Espoo . He is also a juror at national and international piano competitions such as the José Iturbi Competition , the International Franz Liszt Competition in Weimar , the London International Piano Competition , the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna and the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Sibelius biography offered in German translation in the culture magazine Perlentaucher
  2. ↑ Artist Info at Naxos
  3. ↑ http://www.finemb.org.uk/public/default.aspx?contentid=98856&contentlan=2&culture=en-GB
  4. ↑ http://yle.fi/uutiset/kulttuuri/2007/01/erik_t_tawaststjerna_valittu_vuoden_professoriksi_225672.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / yle.fi  
  5. ↑ Artist info at BIS Records
personal data
SURNAME Tawaststjerna, Erik T.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tawaststjerna, Erik Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish pianist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Helsinki