BIOGRAPHY

Uki Ovaskainen was born in Espoo, Finland 1975. He plays the piano since he was five, and first time performed with an orchestra at the age of eleven. From 1989 to 1996 he studied with Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and from 1996 to 1999 with Professor Jose Ribera at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he graduated with the highest degrees. He has participated in master classes with Pnina Salzman, Charles Rosen, Andras Schiff, Yahli Wagman, Emanuel Krasowsky and Matti Raekallio. From 2003 to 2005 he was on postgraduate studies with prof. Ribera in the soloist class in Copenhagen, which he finished with a recital in October 2005.

From October 2006 he was on postgraduate studies with prof. Matti Raekallio in the soloist class of Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover

 

Uki Ovaskainen is active as a soloist and chamber musician with concerts in all Scandinavia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Israel, Spain, Russia, Serbia and Croatia. He has played recitals at festivals such as Espoo International Piano Festival, Golden Days of Copenhagen, Memorial Josip Slavenski and Mantta Music Festival, and performed at various chamber music festivals such as Mattsee Diabellisommer, Burgos International Music Festival, Festivo-Chiemgau and Weilburger Schlosskonzerte.

 

Uki Ovaskainen got the 1.prize, as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of contemporary work and the prize of the audience in the “Premio Jaen” competition, april 2007. The competition has 3 solo rounds and a final with orchestra.
In March 2004 he got the 2. prize and Chamber music special award in the international piano competition Isidor Bajic in Novi Sad, Serbia, and from 7. to 17. September same year he played eight different solo programs at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, which is the biggest individual project in the history of the Academy.

 

Uki Ovaskainen is the artistic organizer of “Uki Ovaskainen Chamber Tour” in Denmark that was first time organized in February 2007. In 2009 he was the only pianist in “Hagen Open” festival in Feistritz. In 2010 and 2011 he played in Konzerthaus in Vienna, in chamber music series of Vienna Chamber Orchestra. 2010 he was correpetitor of “Opera Faber” in Portugal (artistic director Ivan Ludlow). In 2013 he has a.o. worked at “Cello Gathering” in Dorset, and performed at “Pancevo Music Festival” and “Burgos International Music Festival” in Spain.
From 1987 to 1996 he was a member and pianist of the Tapiola choir, playing hundreds of concerts in four continents.
From 2001 he works as an accompanist for strings at the Belgrade Faculty of Music.

Uki Ovaskainen has received Yamaha scholarship in 1999 and a Sonning prize in 2005.

Uki Ovaskainen est né à Espou en Finlande. Il joue au piano depuis l'âge de cinq ans, et il se produit pour la première fois en public à onze ans. Il étudie à l'Académie Sibelius à Helsinki dans la classe du professeur Hui-Ying Tawaststjerna puis à l'Académie Royal de Musique du Danemark, dans la classe du professeur José Ribera, où il a obtenu son diplôme d'études supérieures en musique avec la mention très bien. A partir de 2006, il suit une formation pour solistes au Conservatoire de Musique et de Théâtre d'Hanovre, dans la classe du professeur Matti Raekallio. Il participe à des classes de maître de Pnina Salzman, Charles Rosen, András Schiff, Yahli Wagman et Emanuel Krasovsky. Il se produit à la fois en tant que soliste et chambriste dans les pays scandinaves, en Finlande, en Allemagne, en Autriche, en Israël, en Russie, en Serbie, en Croatie, et en Espagne. Il a donné plusieurs récitals et a participé à différentes manifestations telles que le Festival international du piano Espo, le Festival Golden Days de Copenhague, la Commémoration musicale "Josip Slavenski" qui se tient au mois de mai, le Chelo fest et le Flauta fest à Belgrade, le Festivo-Chiemgau, les manifestations musicales Weilburger Schlosskonzerte et Mattsee Diabellisommer.

De 1987 à 1996, avec le chœur Tapiola, il participe à de nombreuses tournées et donne plus de 200 concerts sur quatre continents.En 1999, Yamaha lui accorde une bourse. En mars 2004, il obtient le 2ème Prix et le Prix spécial du meilleur quintette pour piano au concours "Isidor Bajic" de Novi Sad, et en septembre 2004 il réalise une série de concerts composée de huit récitals à l'Académie de Musique de Copenhague, ce qui représente le projet personnel le plus important jamais réalisé dans cette académie. En 2005, il obtient le Prix "Sonning" au Danemark. En avril 2007, il est Lauréat du concours international en quatre étapes de Jaen en Espagne, où il a également reçu le Grand Prix du public, ainsi que le Prix spécial "Contemporánea" pour la meilleure interprétation d'une composition obligatoire.

Par ailleurs, il est l'organisateur, au Danemark, de la tournée de musique de chambre "Uki Ovaskainen Chamber Tour", organisée pour la première fois en février 2007. En juillet 2009, il est le seul pianiste à participer au Festival de musique de chambre "Hagen Open" à Feistritz en Autriche. En 2010, il se produit au Konzerthaus à Vienne, dans une série de musique de chambre de l'orchestre de chambre de Vienne, et travaille comme collaborateur chargé de la répétition à l'Opéra Faber (directeur artistique: Ivan Ludlow) au Portugal. Il travaille comme associé artistique au Département des Instruments à corde à la Faculté de Musique de Belgrade.

The solo repertoire of Uki Ovaskainen is large and covers all styles,
with main emphasize on Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, as well as the Goldberg Variations and the the 24 Fugues from DWK I by J.S.Bach

Uki Ovaskainens repertoire with strings covers most of the works in the standard repertoire, including:

Violin:

all Sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Brahms. Sonatas by Franck, R.Strauss, Schumann, Schubert 3 Sonatinas and Grand Duo, Szymanowski, Bartok 1. and from 1903, both Prokofieff, Debussy, Ravel, Janaček, Enescu 2 and 3. Several Sonatas by J.S. Bach, Telemann, Corelli and Tartini. All standard virtuoso works by Wieniawski, Sarasate, Saint-Saens, Waxman etc. Concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tschaikowsky, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Dvorak, Lalo, Saint-Saens, Paganini, all Concertos by Mozart, J.S.Bach, Barber, Hatschaturian

Viola:

both Sonatas by Brahms, Schubert Arpeggione, Glinka, Shostakovich, Rebecca Clarke, Hindemith, Mendelssohn c minor, Schumann Märchenbilder. Concertos by Bartok, Walton, Hindemith, Schnittke, Milhaud, Martinu, Stamitz, Hoffmeister, Berlioz-Harold in Italy

Cello:

all Sonatas by Beethoven, both by Brahms, Shostakovich, Prokofieff, Debussy, R.Strauss, Schnittke, Valentini, Boccherini, Martinu Slovakian- and Rossini-variations Both Concertos by Haydn, Boccherini, Elgar, Dvorak, Rokoko-variations, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky, Lalo, Saint-Saens, Schumann Double Bass: Concertos by Bottesini, Dittesdorf, Nino Rota Baroque Sonatas, Bottesini Alla Mendelssohn and Elegia

"Amazing talent"

"Each variation (J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations) was throughout sensitively modulated inside its clearly defined basic colour, and a distinct singing conscious of all voices

gave life to polyphony, while the differentiated articulation was carried out without any hesitation. One was spellbound"

"The Diabelli variations by Beethoven were played with constant focus on the musical contents… delicacy, richness of nuances and a strong tempo consequence were combined with humour, consciousness of structure and strong characterization for a fascinating experience of a unified whole" - Jan Jacoby

„Uki Ovaskainen is a talent with an unusual wing span...

... a man that can basically do whatever he wants to.

He has got something that only very few have been given, the grace of authority that makes his interpretations unusually convincing.

…he received well deserved standing ovations in the end" - Knud Ketting

"Uki is a sensitive and wonderfully communicating partner as a chamber musician" – Erkki Pohjola

That is how young Mozart must have played" - Michio Mamiya, 1987

"A perfect communication between the pianist and the orchestra was transmitted during the whole performance. The Finn offered moments of tremendous emotions that surprised everybody gathered in the audience" - Antonio Ordonez

"Ovaskainen can do everything. And what is the most important, he makes the audience listen.

The theater was filled with people, but even in the 11 little pauses between etudes by Chopin

which you could use for coughing, one couldn't hear a single sound." - John Christiansen

"The audience had hardly ever heard Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major with so much

passion and thrilling enthusiasm, but also with such tenderness"

"Ovaskainen and violinist Muriel Cantoreggi played Leos Janacek's Sonata for

Violin and Piano brilliantly. Both musicians were seemingly moved by Janacek's

impressionistic harmonies and naive-folkloristic themes"

"Schumann's Piano Quintet op. 44 was played with ease and perfection" - Georg Füchtner

"Uki Ovaskainen was absolutely dazzling, (as a soloist for the Rhapsody on a theme by

Paganini, by Rachmaninoff, with Zealand Symphony Orchestra in the big hall of Tivoli,

Copenhagen) virtuosic throughout, with a beautiful sound and a strong feeling for form"

- Ursula Andkjaer Olsen

"Uki Ovaskainen played Beethoven's fifth piano concerto with an authority, an

unshakable assurance, a soloist caliber and sense of tone that you would never expect

from an academy student, but only from an out-and-out and experienced pianist… It was

so convincing that you began to believe in reincarnation. No twenty four year-old can

learn to play that well" –Jens Brincker, 1999

Uki Ovaskainen

Email us at ukitanja@beogrid.net