Photo: Julia Wesely

Joonas Ahonen

Pianist Joonas Ahonen’s musical interests take him from late 18th-century fortepiano repertoire to giving world premieres of the music of our time. Especially during his years as a member of Klangforum Wien Ahonen has gained important experience as an interpreter of contemporary music.

Recent concert highlights include Unsuk Chin’s Piano Concerto with the Basel Sinfonietta, his debut with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, Philipp Maintz’s Piano Concerto with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, the world premiere of Bernhard Gander’s Piano Concerto with the SWR Symphony Orchestra; and recitals at the Diaghilev Festival in Perm, Casa della Musica in Parma and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Ahonen regularly collaborates with the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. This year the duo has appeared in London and Frankfurt and on tour in Japan. Their album ”Le monde selon George Antheil” was released on Alpha Classics last year.

Ahonen’s discography also includes critically acclaimed recordings of Ligeti’s Piano Concerto with BIT20 under Baldur Brönnimann, two discs of Charles Ives’s piano sonatas, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and piano trios by the Mendelssohn siblings on period instruments. The newest release is Symmetria Pario Creation with the violinist Pekka Kuusisto.

Ahonen studied at the Sibelius Academy under Tuija Hakkila and Liisa Pohjola. In Autumn 2023 he followed Pierre-Laurent Aimard as a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Cologne.