THE SWEDISH PIANIST ROLAND PÖNTINEN made his debut in 1981 with the Royal S… Read Full Bio ↴THE SWEDISH PIANIST ROLAND PÖNTINEN made his debut in 1981 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since then performed with major orchestras in Europe,USA,Korea,South-America, Australia and New Zealand.He has co-operated with Myung-Whun Chung,Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos,Neeme Järvi,Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen,Jukka-Pekka Saraste,Leif Segerstam,Evgeny Svetlanov,Franz Welser-Möst and David Zinman to name a few.

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE PERFORMANCES WITH the Philharmonia Orchestra in Paris and London,Los Angeles Philharmonics in Hollywood Bowl,with Scottish Chamber Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as appearances in London Proms where he has played both the Grieg Piano Concerto and the Ligeti Piano Concerto.

THANKS TO AN INSATIABLE MUSICAL APPETITE and a stupendous technique he has acquired a vast repertoire, ranging from Bach to Ligeti. The emphasis is on the ”golden era” in piano-literature from the 19:th century–in particular Beethoven,Chopin and Liszt– through the first half of the 20:th century with composers such as Debussy,Busoni,Szymanowski and Rachmaninov.

ROLAND PÖNTINEN IS A PASSIONATE CHAMBERMUSICIAN and has taken part in innumerable constellations but plays regularly only with a few musicians such as the violinist Ulf Wallin,with whom he is currently recording all the Reger Violinsonatas,the soprano Barbara Hendricks and with his piano duo colleague Love Derwinger. He has participated in a great number of festivals such as Berliner Festwochen,Schleswig-Holstein Festival,Maggio Musicale Fiorentino,Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival,La Roque d’Anthéron Piano Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.

ROLAND PÖNTINEN HAS MADE MORE THAN 90 RECORDINGS on the labels BIS,Philips, c p o, Arte Nova and EMI. He is also an active composer and in 1998 his Blue Winter had its World Premiere in Philadelphia and in Carnegie Hall,New York with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Wolfgang Sawallisch.

PÖNTINEN IS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF MUSIC and in 2001 he received the Litteris et Artibus – a royal medal for recognition of eminent skills in the artistic field.