JOUNI SOMERO

Born in 1963, Jouni Somero is one of the most active performers among present Finnish musicians. So far he has given over two thousand concerts all over the world, including Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Finland. He began studying the organ when he was eight years old but switched to the piano at the age of twelve. He studied piano in Switzerland and at the Music Academy in Cologne under Herbert Drechsel, and under the legendary Hungarian pianist György Cziffra, he deepened his knowledge of the interpretation of Liszt’s music. Michael Ponti, the American virtuoso, has also acted as Somero’s musical advisor. During 1981-89 Somero lived in Germany, working, among other things, as an assistant at the Music Academy of Düsseldorf. From 1990 Somero has pursued his career solely as a concert pianist. He was awarded a diploma at the International Music competition in Rio de Janeiro. His recording career began in 1989 with Liszt’s Twelve Transcendental Etudes, after which he has made some forty recordings for different labels. These include Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier and Die Kunst der Fuge, Liszt’s Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, Liszt’s arrangements of Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5, the Bach arrangements by Busoni, Brahms and Kempff, Henselt’s Concert Etude, Op. 2, Schubert’s Wanderer-Fantasy, and the world première recording of several piano works by Felix Blumenfeld. His wide repertoire includes almost all the solo piano works of Rachmaninov and Bortkiewicz as well as seldom heard music by, among others, Alkan, Godowsky, Henselt, Blumenfeld and Gottschalk. He has also made many piano arrangements of orchestral, operatic and pop music.

For more information, please visit www.nettilinja.fi/~someroj/index.htm

Albums featuring this artist are available for download from ClassicsOnline.com

Role: Classical Artist
Album Title	Catalogue No	Work Category