Photo: Nina Sivén

Paavali Jumppanen

In the span of recent seasons, the imaginative Finnish virtuoso Paavali Jumppanen has established himself as a dynamic musician of seemingly unlimited capability as an orchestral and recital soloist, recording artist, artistic director, and frequent performer of contemporary and avant-garde music. He has performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia and collaborated with great such conductors as David Robertson, Susanna Mälkki, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Jaap van Zweden. He has commissioned numerous works and collaborated with the composers Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, and Krzysztof Penderecki as well as Finnish composers of his generation, Perttu Haapanen and Lauri Kilpiö. Jumppanen’s expanding discography includes recordings of the complete piano sonatas by Beethoven and Boulez, Preludes by Debussy, and the violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, and Prokofiev. A passionate curator, he currently serves as the Artistic Director to the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne and as the head of curation at the Väyläfestival, a versatile arts festival taking place in the Norther Polar Cap. Having spent his childhood summers at the Kuhmo Music Courses, Jumppanen has been an artist at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival since 1996.