Henri Sigfridsson

Henri Sigfridsson, born in Turku (1974), winner of the Second Prize of the Zurich Geza Anda Piano competition 2000, not only impressed the Jury under the chairmanship of Vladimir Ashkenazy, he won the hearts of many members of the public who attended the final concert in the Zurich Tonhalle, and he walked off with the Geza Anda Audience Prize. In 2005 he won the First Prize at the Beethoven International Piano Competition in Bonn, where he got the Audience Prize and Chamber Music Prize as well.

Besides of the Geza Anda Competition Henri Sigfridsson was awarded the renowned ABOA Culture Prize in Finland, first prizes at the 1994 International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Weimar and at the 1995 “Nordic Soloist Competition”.

As a soloist Sigfridsson has played with the leading Finnish orchestras and numerous orchestras in Europe, including the MDR Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Weimar, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonics, Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the "Junge Deutsche Philharmonie", the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg under the baton of prestigious conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Dorian Wilson, Georg Alexander Albrecht, Vladimir Askenazy, Alexander Lazarev, Beat Furrer, Andreas Delfs, Dennis Russel Davies, Lawrence Foster, Howard Shelley, Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach, Jun-Ichi Hirokami, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Okko Kamu, Hannu Lintu and Leif Segerstam.

He has made notable debuts in the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Concert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne and Munich Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Stockholm Concert Hall, Zurich Tonhalle, St. Petersburg Philharmonie, major halls in Japan, Italy and Austria, Wigmore Hall London, New York, Chigaco etc. Since 2000 Henri Sigfridsson is regularly invited to Asia and has performed in major halls in Japan, China and Korea. Sigfridsson performs at very prestigious festivals like the Augsburg Mozart Week, the St. Petersburg Musical Olympus Festival, Ruhr Piano Festival, the Warsaw Beethoven Festival, the Heidelberg Festival, the Kissinger Sommer Festival, the Interlaken Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Davos and Interlaken Festivals, the Styriarte Festival, the Lockenhaus Festival, and the Salzburg Festival.

Henri Sigfridsson feels a very deep commitment to chamber music. He appeared with Leonidas Kavakos, Gidon Kremer, Ivry Gitlis, Guy Braunstein, Isabelle van Keulen, Gordan Nikolic, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Mischa Maisky, Sol Gabetta, Johannes Moser, Michel Lethiec, Milan Turkovich, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Boris Berezovsky and Melvyn Tan to name a few.

Sigfridsson has a number of recordings including the Piano Concertos of F.X.Mozart. And for the memorable year of Sibelius, released Sibelius Piano Transcriptions. In addition the Piano Concertos no. 2 and no. 3 of Rachmaninov have been released. Sigfridsson has a contract with the Finnish CD label Ondine. Until now the 55-minute brilliant piano concerto by the Finnish composer Kimmo Hakola has been released. A CD with the piano transcriptions of Jean Sibelius` symphonies 2 and 5 has been released 2011. Several more CDs with the music of Selim Palmgren (including complete piano concertos) are to be released soon.

Sigfridsson began studying with Sävy Nordgren at the Turku Conservatory and later at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki ( Prof. Erik T. Tawaststjerna). He completed his studies at the Cologne Music University with the highest distinction (Prof. Pavel Gililov). 1995-97 he studied at the Franz Liszt Music University in Weimar (Prof. Lazar Berman) as well.

2008-2009 Sigfridsson had a guest professorship at the Graz University or Music and Dramatic Arts in Austria. 2010-2012 he was a guest professor at the Music University Hanns Eisler in Berlin and from 2011 professor in Essen at the Folkwang University as a holder of one of the highest chairs for piano in Germany.