Elina Vähälä (born 15 October 1975,

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

classical violinist.

Biography

Born in the United States in Iowa City, Iowa, Vähälä began violin studies at the age of three, following her family's return to Finland, at the Lahti conservatory. Her teachers at Lahti included Seppo Reinikainen and Pertti Sutinen. She also studied at the Kuhmo Violin School with Zinaida Gilels,

Ilya Grubert Ilya, Iliya, Ilia, Ilja, or Ilija (russian: Илья́, Il'ja, , or russian: Илия́, Ilija, ; uk, Ілля́, Illia, ; be, Ілья́, Iĺja ) is the East Slavic form of the male Hebrew name Eliyahu (Eliahu), meaning "My God is Yahu/ Jah ...

and

Pavel Vernikov Pavel Vernikov ( ukr, Павло Верніков) is a Ukrainian violinist, a member of Vienna University and a winner of Munich International Competition. Biography Vernikov was born in Odesa where he graduated from the Stolyarsky Music School w ...

. At the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

Vähälä's teacher was Tuomas Haapanen. Vähälä made her concerto debut at age 12 with the

Lahti Symphony Orchestra The Lahti Symphony Orchestra (''Sinfonia Lahti'') is a Finnish orchestra, based in the city of Lahti. The orchestra is resident at the Sibelius Hall. The orchestra was founded in 1910, and placed under the control of the Lahti municipality in 194 ...

(Sinfonia Lahti), conducted by

Osmo Vänskä Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer. Biography Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal cla ...

. Vähälä subsequently served as "Young Master Soloist" for the 1993-1994 season with Sinfonia Lahti. Since then, she has regularly collaborated with Sinfonia Lahti on a regular basis, performing as featured soloist on tours in Sweden, UK, South America and Central Europe. Vähälä was one of the winners of the 1999

Young Concert Artists Young Concert Artists is a New York City-based non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting the careers of talented young classical musicians from all over the world. The competition, founded in 1961, allows artists from all over ...

competition in New York. She gave her New York debut at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

in 1999. In 2008, she was chosen to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony which was televised to a worldwide audience. Vähälä has given world premieres of

Aulis Sallinen Aulis Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen ...

's ''Chamber Concerto'' and Curtis Curtis-Smith's ''Double Concerto'', both written for her and her former husband

Ralf Gothóni Ralf Georg Nils Gothóni (born 2 May 1946, Rauma) is a Finnish-German pianist and conductor. He is also active as a chamber musician, professor, composer, and author. Born in Rauma, Finland he made his orchestra debut at age 15. Besides his worl ...

. In addition, Vähälä gave the Nordic first performance of

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, an ...

’s Violin Concerto ''The Red Violin'' and commissioned a new violin concerto from composer

Jaakko Kuusisto Jaakko Ilkka Kuusisto (17 January 1974 – 23 February 2022) was a Finnish violinist, composer, and conductor. Education After initial studies under Géza Szilvay and , Kuusisto went on to win the 1989 , place 4th in the International Jean S ...

. Both the Corgiliano and Kuusisto concertos were recorded for BIS in 2012 and released in 2013. In September 2015, Vähälä performed the original 1904 version of the

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

, the third documented live performance of the original version, with the

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Finnish: ''Radion sinfoniaorkesteri'', Swedish: ''Radions symfoniorkester'') is a Finnish broadcast orchestra based in Helsinki, and the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The orchestra prima ...

conducted by

Hannu Lintu Hannu Petteri Lintu (born 13 October 1967) is a Finnish conductor. Biography Lintu was born in Rauma. He studied piano and cello at the Turku Conservatory and at the Sibelius Academy. He also studied conducting with Atso Almila, and later with ...

. In January 2022, Vähälä gave the North American premiere of the original 1904 version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto in two performances with Osmo Vänskä and the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

. Vähälä is a founding member of the Violin Academy (''Viuluakatemia Ry''). Funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the academy is a master class based educational project for selected, highly talented young Finnish violinists. Vähälä has been as a professor of violin at the

Hochschule für Musik Detmold The Hochschule für Musik Detmold is a university-level music school situated in Detmold, Germany. Academics The Hochschule offers performance degrees in composition, all orchestral instruments, piano, voice, opera, art-song, conducting, as we ...

(2009-2012) and at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe (2012-2019). Since the autumn of 2019, she is a professor of violin at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

. Vähäla performs on a

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (often shortened to G. B. Guadagnini; 23 June 1711 – 18 September 1786) was an Italian luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history. Reprint with new introduction by Stewart Pol ...

violin from 1780.

References

External links

Official homepage of Elina Vähälä
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vahala, Elina Finnish violinists 1975 births Living people 21st-century violinists