Biography

"Classical music is a stairway to a growing individual and social understanding of life and human desires"

Ralf Gothóni (born in Finland, living in Spain) has a many-sided career as solo pianist, chamber musician and conductor all over the world. He became well-known for his unconventional way of music-making, not only as a pianist, but as a musician with unusual thinking about music and the wholeness of musicianship.

His performances as a pianist include appearances at prestigious music festivals - Salzburg, Berlin, Prague, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, La Roque de Antheron, Ravinia, Tanglewood and more - and performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, the Japan Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago, Detroit and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, among others. He appears annually in numerous concerts both as soloist and conductor, conducting from the keyboard. He has played world premieres of more than a dozen piano concertos; in the fall of 2004 he premiered conducting from the keyboard John Taverner’s piano concerto "Pratirupa" in London and in 2005-06 he premiered new concertos by Aulis Sallinen and Curtis Curtis-Smith. Mr Gothóni is also very active as a chamber musician; he is regular guest artist at major chamber music festivals.

Mr. Gothóni has recorded almost 100 albums for several international labels (e.g. Ondine, Bis, DGG, Decca, CPO, Da Camera, EMI, Finlandia, Finnlevy). Among them are the critically acclaimed recordings on the Ondine label of piano concertos by Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara and the one-hour piano concerto (Choros XI) by Villa-Lobos. In the past few years he has recorded several CDs with music by Alfred Schnittke and Aulis Sallinen, both as soloist and conductor.

Ralf Gothóni was named the principal conductor of the legendary English Chamber Orchestra in September 2000, in 2001 - 2006 he had the position as the Music Director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Seattle and since 2004 he is the guest conductor of Deutsche Kammerakademie. He has held many other artistic posts: chief conductor of the Finlandia Sinfonietta (1989-94), principal guest conductor of the Turku Philharmonic (1995-2000), artistic director of the famous Savonlinna Opera Festival (1984-1987) and in 1996 and 1998 he was the initiator and the artistic director of the “Forbidden City Music Festival” in Beijing. In 2007 he initiated a musical bridge between Finland and Egypt by organizing a festival where his northern colleagues performed with Egyptian musicians.

Very close to his heart is also the contact with young musicians. He is the artistic supervisor of the “Savonlinna Music Academy,” which is a summer institute for chamber music, lied and opera. He has held the position of professorship at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki 1992-2007, at the “Hochschule für Musik” in Hamburg (1986-96), at the “Hanns Eisler Hochschule” in Berlin (1996-2000) and as a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London (2000-) and in Escuela Superior de la Musica in Madrid (2006-). Besides giving master classes around the world, he has also spent many summers as a faculty member at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia, Chicago. In the last years he has also been invited as juror at major international piano competitions.

The list of his compositions includes three chamber operas, the chamber cantata “The Ox and its Shepherd” and a Concerto Grosso version of it for violin, piano and strings. In 2003 his chamber orchestra arrangement of Hugo Wolf´s Italian Songbook got its premier in Stuttgart and in 2004 a new song cycle "Peregrina" was premiered also in Stuttgart.

Mr. Gothóni has been honored with several awards, including the Gilmore Artist Award in 1994, which is one of classical music’s biggest awards, the Schubert Medal of the Austrian Ministry of Culture, the Order of Pro Finlandia and the Prize of Honour of the Cultural Foundation of Finland.

April 2007
Please disregard any previously printed materials.
Mariedi Anders Artists Management in association with California Artists Management

Critical acclaim for Ralf Gothóni:

Soloist/conductor, Northwest Chamber Ensemble:

“The ‘Quasi una Sonata’ is actually an important piece in Schnittke's output… Gothóni played it cleanly and fiercely, perfectly attuned to its ins and outs. Gothóni, one of that legion of talented Finnish musicians who do everything from compose music to write books, played with piano lid fully open, but was never overbearing. He was the articulate, sometimes playful, always driving engine.

“Mozart's G-minor Piano Quartet emerged lean and forward, in a performance alive to its contours and never lacking in intensity. Merely pretty was not going to do it for these players. Schumann's E-flat Piano Quartet, in their hands, became remarkable for its cogency and concision, and exuberant in its command of counterpoint. The slow movement proved a highlight, a love song that the musicians refused to gild and that nevertheless flowered delicately at its end. The finale, too, was just plain exciting, its rugged themes and rhythms energized like the cavalry to the rescue. In sum, a good night for chamber music.”

Orange County Register
May 6, 2004

Soloist/conductor, Northwest Chamber Orchestra

Headline: “Best New Classical-Music Arrival”
“Ralf Gothóni, now starting his second season as music director, has wasted no time in expanding the orchestra's scope. His January 2001 debut concert - tantamount to a public audition-tossed down a gauntlet with the bleak and ferocious Piano Concerto by Alfred Schnittke, with Gothóni himself as piano soloist. Since then he's presented a novel dose of music by his Finnish countrymen and Eastern Europeans, and a commission from Philip Glass: a sharp and witty Harpsichord Concerto, to open the group's 2002-2003 season. Another Glass concerto is coming up next April. Gothóni's solo recital last month of Janácek and Mussorgsky revealed an expansive, bighearted way with the music and a technique so sure in the conquering of difficulties that it never called attention to itself: You came away thinking, ‘Mussorgsky - what a great composer,’ rather than, ‘Gothóni – what fast fingers.’ On the podium, his interpretations are as clear and bracing as spring water, yet dramatically gripping in every detail. He's truly a world-class musician, and Seattle's lucky to have him.”

Seattle Weekly
October 15-21, 2003

Soloist, Tapiola Sinfonietta, John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.:

“Schnittke's Concerto is a mesmerizing work. Ralf Gothóni played the fiendishly difficult keyboard part and conducted Finland's Tapiola Sinfonietta in a scorching, endlessly entertaining performance of the concerto at the Kennedy Center. Gothóni's touch was massive and mercurial (although he stopped to smell the moldered roses in the score's more introspective pages).”

The Washington Post
January 25, 2001

Soloist/Conductor, Les Jeunes Musiciens de Kuhmo, La Roque-D'Anthéron:

“Gothóni leads a stunning ensemble, with superb dynamics from the first pianissimo to a tremendous forte. In Symphony No. 29, Ralf Gothóni’s approach is a lesson to the most famous Mozartiens. In the amusing Concert by Schnittke and Haydn’s D Major Concerto, Gothóni impresses the audience with a performance of enormous vivacity and virtuoso bravura.”

Le Monde
August 5, 2000