On the occasion of of Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Pharos Arts Foundation, with the support of the Embassy of Finland in Cyprus, presents a recital with the multi-awarded Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola, acknowledged nowadays as one of the finest and most expressive pianists in the world. For her recital in Nicosia, on Thursday 7 November 2019 at The Shoe Factory / 8:30pm, Mikkola will perform works by Sibelius, Beethoven, Chaillou, Ravel and Chopin, as well as the Cyprus premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus – a mesmerizing concerto “for birds and orchestra”, transcribed for solo piano by Peter Lönnqvist.
LAURA MIKKOLA piano
The multi-awarded Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola is considered nowadays one of the finest and most expressive pianists in the world. She is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the University of Indiana, Bloomington. Her awards include, among others, the Second Prize as well as the Prize of the Public in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition of Brussels, the First Prize in the International Unisa Transnet Piano Competition in Pretoria, the First Prize of Maj Lind Piano Competition in Helsinki, and the First Prize at the Maurice Ravel Piano Competition in St. Jean-de-Luz in France.
Laura Mikkola appears frequently in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, such as Herkulessaal in Munich, Tonhalle in Zürich, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York. With over 60 piano concertos in her repertoire, Mikkola has appeared as a soloist with important orchestras, including, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Symphony, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic of Flanders, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique, Czech Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Staatsoper Orchester, Essen Philharmonic, Cairo Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Leif Segerstam, Eri Klas, Philippe Entremont, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Hannu Lintu, Mikko Franck, Ahmed El-Saedi, amongst others.
Recently, Laura Mikkola gave the Finnish premiere of Thomas Adès piano concerto In Seven Days in Helsinki with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas Collon, to much acclaim. She has been the Artistic Director of Iitti Music Festival in Finland since 2013. Her rich discography includes sixteen albums for labels such as BIS, NAXOS, Toccataclassics, ECM, Cascavelle, AEON.
