Erik Thomas Tawaststjerna (born 8 June 1951 in Helsinki, Finland) is a pianist and pedagogue who teaches at the Sibelius Academy.

Biography

His father was

Erik W. Tawaststjerna Erik Werner Tawaststjerna (10 October 1916 – 22 January 1993) was a Finnish musicologist who also worked as a pianist, pedagogue, and critic. He is remembered as a significant biographer of Jean Sibelius. Biography Erik Werner Tawaststjerna ...

. After taking private piano lessons in his youth with Genrietta Mirvis in Moscow, Tawaststjerna enrolled 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 ...

and

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, where he studied with

Dieter Weber Dieter or dieter may refer to: * A person committed to dieting People Dieter is a German given name (), a short form of Dietrich, from ''theod+ric'' "people ruler", see Theodoric. Given name *Dieter Althaus (born 1958), German politician ...

and

Sascha Gorodnitzki Sascha Gorodnitzki (24 May 19044 April 1986) was an American concert pianist, recording artist and pedagogue at the Juilliard School of Music. Biography Early life and education Born in Kyiv, Russian Empire Gorodnitzki emigrated as an infant ...

respectively. Subsequently, Tawaststjerna studied with Eugene List at New York University, where he obtained his doctorate. Later he took part in masterclasses with

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...

and Dmitri Bashkirov. Tawaststjerna returned to Finland to teach at the Sibelius Academy, where he has served on its faculty since 1982. In 2006, Tawaststjerna was named "Professor of the Year" by Professoriliitto, the Finnish Union of University Professors. His students (including

Janne Mertanen Janne Juhani Mertanen (born 28 August 1967 in Joensuu, Finland) is a Finnish classical pianist. Life and career Janne Mertanen has studied at the Joensuu Conservatory as a student of Matti Haapasalo and at the Sibelius Academy where his teachers ...

Henri Sigfridsson Henri Sigfridsson (born 1974) is a Finnish classical pianist. Studies Born in Turku, Sigfridsson began his musical studies in his native hometown conservatory. He then attended Erik T. Tawaststjerna's class at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. ...

, Victor Chestopal, Julia Mustonen, Risto-Matti Marin and Terhi Dostal) have been successful in numerous Finnish and international competitions.

Performing career

Tawaststjerna performed as soloist in the Finnish premiere of

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's Symphony No. 2 "The Age of Anxiety" in 1981. In 1990, he was invited to Tokyo to perform for the Emperor and

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

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 ...

. He has recorded the complete original piano music of Sibelius.

References

1951 births Living people Finnish pianists {{finland-musician-stub