Erlk T. TAWASTSTJERNA
Erik T. Tawaststjerna began his musical education in Helsinki, took private lessons in Moscow from Genrietta Mirvis, and received degrees from the Vienna Music Academy, where he studied with Dieter Weber, as well as New York’s Juilliard School, where his teacher was Sascha Gorodnitzki. He also holds a doctorate from New York University where he studied under the guidance of Eugene List. He participated in a master class given by Wilhelm Kempff in Positano. He won the second prize at the Helsinki Maj Lind piano competition in 1968 and has since given concerts around the world. He played the first Finnish performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” in 1981. In 1990 he was invited to give a performance for Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Mr. Tawaststjerna has made numerous recordings, among them a series of 8 recordings of the complete piano music by Jean Sibelius on the BIS label. He has been teaching since 1982 at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was appointed full professor of piano in 1986. Many of his students have received top prizes in international piano competitions. His expertise has been called upon in the juries of several such events, such as the New York International Piano Competition, José Iturbi Competition in Valencia, the Ciurlionis Competition in Vilnius, the Axa Piano Competition in Dublin, the Weimar Liszt Competition, the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, the London International Piano Competition, and the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna. He has given master classes, among other places, at the Guildhall School of Music in London, University of the Arts in Berlin, Tokyo College of Music, and at the Vienna University for Music. He was named Professor of the Year 2006 by the Finnish Professors’ League.
