YLE production

Raija Kerppo, pianist

Raija Kerppo began her piano studies at the Turku Conservatoire and continued as a pupil of Professor Erik T. Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy. She later furthered her studies under Martin Canin at the Juilliard School, New York. Her victories in many Finnish and international piano competitions include first prize in the national Maj Lind Piano Competition in 1986 and the Nordic Piano Competition in Denmark in 1989. In addition to appearing with many Finnish orchestras, Raija Kerppo has been the soloist with, among others, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm and the Salzburg Camerata Academica at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Vienna Musikverein. Outside Finland her solo recitals have taken her to such venues as the Tivoli in Copenhagen and she has frequently been a member of chamber ensembles at the Kuhmo, Tuusulanjärvi and other chamber music festivals. Her regular ensemble partners include violinist Pekka Kuusisto and together they have given numerous recitals in Finland and already made their debut in Bergen, London (the Wigmore Hall), Paris (the Châtelet), Ravinia, Bremen and elsewhere. Among the items in Raija Kerppo’s discography is the piano concerto no. 5 by Selim Palmgren with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra – a disc that won the YLE prize for the best Finnish release of 1990. Raija Kerppo has recorded chamber music with Kaija Saarikettu and others. Her first disc with Pekka Kuusisto, entitled “Strings Attached”, was released in 1997.

Web host Jere Nurminen and Elina Heiskanen, presenter
Jere Nurminen came to classical music through dance. He has been dancing professionally for over a decade at the Finnish National Ballet, the Lyon Opera Ballet and elsewhere, and is also an editor for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE).

Elina Heiskanen has edited radio and television broadcasts from a number of international music competitions, such as the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition, the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition and the Paulo Cello Competition. A graduate of the Sibelius Academy, she has been editing music programmes for the past ten years. The best thing about her dream job is, she says, the music itself, closely followed in second place by the excitement of a live broadcast. Elina Heiskanen will also be in charge of the radio coverage for the first round.

Teppo Koivisto, pianist

Teppo Koivisto, who studied in the USA and France in addition to Finland, is both an active concert pianist and a lecturer at the Sibelius Academy. His particular subject is the virtuoso culture of the 19th century with special reference to the challenges posed by the piano music of the French composer Charles Valentin Alkan. Koivisto is also much sought-after as a masterclass teacher and regularly serves as an expert on piano music for YLE radio and TV broadcasts. He was, among others, the radio expert for the first international Maj Lind Piano Competition in 2002.

Timo Asikainen, editor

Timo Asikainen has been working on music programmes for YLE Culture since autumn 2005, having previously spent four years as an announcer on YLE Radio 1. He holds a Master’s degree in performance from the Sibelius Academy, where he majored in the piano. His particular field in his present job is piano and organ music.

Laila Kangas, editor

Laila Kangas, who holds a Master’s degree from the Sibelius Academy, has been employed by YLE Radio since 1990, as a music editor, managing editor and producer. She has reported on the Sibelius Violin Competitions and the previous Maj Lind Competitions and has been a member of the team producing the new YLE multimedia coverage of music competitions.

Inari Nuutero, editor

Inari Nuutero has been doing YLE music programmes since 2004, covering the radio broadcasts from a number of music competitions. She qualified as a music teacher from the Sibelius Academy with the piano as her main instrument.

Jukka Nykänen, pianist and musician

Jukka Nykänen, a 30-year-old pianist and man of many musical talents, graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 2004. Conductor, arranger, orchestral musician and music editor, he has also been employed as a répétiteur and rehearsal pianist in ballet, opera and musicals. He has appeared at such venues as the International Piano Festival in Espoo, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and the Joroinen Music Festival.

Risto-Matti Marin, pianist

Risto-Matti Marin (b. 1976) holds a Master’s degree in performance from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where his teachers were Erik T. Tawaststjerna and Teppo Koivisto, and has been working for an Artistic Doctorate since 2005. The topic of his degree concerts and his written thesis is piano transcriptions. Before winning the third prize in the international Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar in 2003 he had won the first prize in the national Kuopio Piano Competition in 1996 and the Helmi Vesa Piano Competition in 1999. He has been the soloist with such orchestras as the Weimar Staatskapelle, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and the Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä and appeared at many festivals, among them the Mänttä Music Festival, Musica nova Helsinki, the Iisalmen Syyssoitto autumn festival and the Tampere Biennale. His next solo disc of piano transcriptions from the 18th century to the present day is scheduled for release on the Alba label in July. His first disc (2005) was of music by Sibelius, Liszt, Dohnányi and others and won extremely favourable reviews in both the Finnish and the foreign press. Risto-Matti Marin also appears regularly in a duo with saxophonist Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo.