Mika Väyrynen (born 1967 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

artist.

Career

He started his performance career by giving his debut recital in 1985, when was just 17 years old. Since then, he has concertized all over the world, including most of the European countries, all

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Russia,

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He has performed as soloist of practically every major Finnish orchestra, as well as the Estonian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the

Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra The Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra (Danish: Sjællands Symfoniorkester), also known as the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, is a Danish symphony orchestra which both serves as Danish Regional Orchestra for the region of Zealand and, for the summer s ...

. Conductors with whom he has performed are renowned maestros including Okko Kamu, Sakari Oramo,

John Storgårds John Gunnar Rafael Storgårds (born 20 October 1963 in Helsinki) is a Finnish violinist and conductor. Biography Storgårds studied violin with Esther Raitio and Jouko Ignatius at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and continued his violin studies ...

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 ...

, Juha Nikkola,

Olari Elts Olari Elts (born April 27, 1971 in Tallinn) is an Estonian conductor. He was the principal conductor of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra from 2001 to 2006. He is the founder and director of the contemporary music ensemble NYYD Ensemble. ...

, Vello Pähn,

Atso Almila Atso Almila (born 13 June 1953, in Helsinki 1) is a Finnish orchestral conductor, music director, composer, trombonist and teacher. He has worked with most Finnish orchestras as a guest conductor or otherwise. Though he primarily operates in Finlan ...

, Andres Mustonen and many others. He started his career in 1990 and has gone on to record more than 20 CDs, with solo repertoire,

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

. He is collaborating with contemporary composers such as Aulis Sallinen, Anatoli Kuskajov and Bogdan Precz. In 2005 he opened the chamber concerto “Metamorphoses” by Paavo Korpijaakko in Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, and in 2006 he opened the Concerto for Accordion and Symphony Orchestra By Pehr Henrik Nordgren. He is also a respected teacher and lecturer. He has taught at the Sibelius Academy since 1999, and was appointed Professor of Accordion in Kärtner Landeskonservatorium in Klagenfurt, Austria from 1993 until 1996. His students have won several prizes in competitions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vayrynen, Mika 1967 births Living people Musicians from Helsinki Finnish accordionists Finnish classical musicians 21st-century accordionists