Nils Hansson
Eda Öncül
Heta Räisänen
Petja Ylärakkola
Joona Uusitalo
Fanny Hensel: Das Jahr
Before the recital by Bruce Liu in the Almi Hall foyer, audiences can get in the mood in the company of Fanny Hensel and her monumental cycle Das Jahr performed by students at the Sibelius Academy. Composed partly during Hensel’s long stay in Italy, it presents a breath-taking cross section of bourgeois life in the 1840s. Hensel underlines the special days in the annual round with quotations from chorales and virtuoso numbers.
Free admission
Nils Hansson Meng (born in 1998 in Stockholm) grew up in a musical family and began his piano studies at the age of seven under Kira Khalfine, later continuing with Victoria Power. His talent was recognized at a young age when he was awarded the "Mai von Rosen" scholarship, winning first prize in the Västerås Piano Duo Competition, and first prize in the Stockholm International Piano Competition.
Since 2017, he has been studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under the guidance of Tuija Hakkila and Ilmo Ranta. During 2021-22, Nils completed his exchange studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin, studying under Lucas Blondeel. In recent years, Nils has received grants for his playing, from such foundations as the JAA, Wegelius and AW foundations. He was also a laureate in the Helmi Vesa Piano Competition and received scholarships awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Nils has toured across Asia and the Baltic countries and has performed in prestigious Swedish venues such as the Stockholm Concert Hall, Berwald Hall, Royal Palace, and the Parliament. In the previous season, Nils performed as a soloist alongside Sakari Oramo and the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra at Helsinki's Music House, as well as with Erkki Lasonpalo and Lappeenranta City Orchestra. In addition to being a pianist, he is also an accomplished painter who often integrates his dual passions by combining visual art with music.
Eda Öncül (b. 2003) started her music education at the age of 6. She was enrolled in Bilkent University Music Preparation and Elementary School and Bilkent University music and Performing Arts High School, where she worked with Elif Onal, Basar Can Kıvrak, Yoonie Han and Barno Haknazarova. She is now continuing her studies in Sibelius Academy with Antti Siirala and Jussi Siirala.
Öncül has participated masterclasses with Stanislav Ioudenitch, Enrico Elissi, various AmiCaFest faculty members such as Tian Ying and Sofya Gulyak, Boaz Sharon, Stefan Bojstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Mikhail Voskresenskii, Olivier Gardon, Sookkyung Cho, Emre Elivar and Robert Levin. She has performed with Eskisehir Metropolitan Municipality Symphony Orchestra, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra “Le Metamorfosi” di Roma, and received the Adnan Saygun Achievement Award for her performance in 2018. She has succeeded in many competitions such as the 3rd prize award at Mozart Academy 2. International Piano Competition in 2016, Osimo Piano Hours Festival Competition in 2016 and International Adana Rhapsody Piano Competition in 2020, Honorary mentions at Bursa Nulifer International Piano Competition in 2016 and International Pera Piano Competition in 2017. At the Lunigiana International Music Festival Competition in 2019 she gave the winning performance and she received the Associazione Musicaviva Prize given by the Lunigiana International Music Festival in 2020. She got funding from the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts in 2023.
Heta Räisänen (b. 1999) is a pianist from Kuopio, Finland and she is studying towards master degree at Sibelius Academy, the University of the Arts Helsinki. She started playing the piano at the age of five with Kati Pasanen at a little music institute in Kuopio. In 2011 she continued with Ella Untamala in Kuopio Conservatory and in 2013 she was also accepted to the Youth Piano Academy Finland which is a coaching group for young top talented pianists. In 2017 she studied with Niklas Pokki and Teppo Koivisto at the Youth department of Sibelius Academy and in autumn 2018 she started as a degree student with Teppo Koivisto at Sibelius Academy.
She has gained a lot of performing experience in Finland, Austria, Germany and Norway by playing both solo recitals and participating in student concerts. She has also been successful in many national piano competitions in Finland such as Helmi Vesa Piano Competition, Madetoja Piano Competition and Kuopio Piano Competition. She has had masterclasses with Robert Levin, Boris Berman, Piotr Paleczny, Leif Ove Andsnes, Paavali Jumppanen, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetzke, to mention a few. Last year she was an Erasmus student at Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo studying with Sveinung Bjelland and in autumn 2023 she will start studying towards a second master degree at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany.
Petja Ylärakkola (b. 1998) studies piano performance in the Sibelius Academy with Tuija Hakkila and Antti Hotti. He has also graduated as a piano pedagogue with Risto Kyrö from Tampere University of Applied Sciences, where he transcribed Jean Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony for two pianos as his thesis. In Hämeenlinna’s Sibelius Music School Ylärakkola was taught by Kristiina Kask-Valve and Kimmo Tapanainen, among others. He has also studied composition with Pasi Lyytikäinen, Lauri Kilpiö and Sampsa Ertamo.
Petja Ylärakkola has been awarded prizes in 2023’s Helmi Vesa piano competition and 2018’s PianoAura competition. He has also taken part in Tallinn International Piano Competition and Helsinki Lied competition in 2021. In addition to solo repertoire, he enjoys lied music. He cooperates with many singers, and in the 23-24 season he will premiere Janne Salmenkangas’ new song cycle with baritone Wille Enckell, assisted by a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
Joona Uusitalo started playing the piano at the age of five at the Suzuki School in Järvenpää, Finland, as a pupil of Kaisa Saarikorvi. Later he has studied with Mikko Haapaniemi and others, and in autumn 2017 he began studying with Erik T. Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy's Youth department. He is currently studying in the Performing Arts programme at the Sibelius Academy with Tawaststjerna and Antti Siirala. He has participated in master classes by Jussi Siirala, Teppo Koivisto and Robert Levin and has also worked as a rehearsal accompanist for Olli Mustonen.
Uusitalo has performed Grieg's Piano Concerto, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 as an orchestral soloist. He has given concerts at the Mänttä Music Festival 2018 and the Korsholm Music Festival in summer 2021. He completed his military service in the Kaartin soittokunta in 2020 and during this time he has worked as a pianist in various chamber music ensembles.
In summer 2018, Uusitalo won third place in the "Young Artist" category of the Polish Krogulski Piano Competition, and in spring 2021 he was one of 190 pianists and 20 finalists in The Canada International Piano Competition. In the summer of the same year, he participated in the Nordic International Piano Competition, where he won third place and special prizes for "best Nordic participant" and "best performance of a piece by a Nordic composer". In spring 2023, he was awarded the first prize in the Sibelius Academy's internal Helmi Vesa Piano Competition.