Jouni Somero
Biography Jouni Somero
Jouni Somero
(born in 1963) is one of the most active performers among present Finnish musicians. So far he has given over 3,200 concerts all over the world, including Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Spain, Suisse, France, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Finland.
He began studying organ when he was eight years old but switched to the piano at the age of twelve. He studied piano in Switzerland and at the Music Academy in Cologne under Professor Herbert Drechsel and under the legendary Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra, he deepened his knowledge of the interpretation of Liszt's music. Michael Ponti, the American virtuoso, has also acted as Somero's musical advisor. During 1981-89 Somero lived in Germany, working, among other things, as an assistant at the Music Academy of Düsseldorf. From 1990 Somero has pursued his career solely as a concert pianist. He was awarded a diploma at the International Music competition in Rio de Janeiro.
Jouni Somero's recording career began in 1989 (with Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes), after which he has made over 100 recordings for different labels (Naxos,BMG,MILS,Jubal,FC-Records,Grand Piano etc) These include Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier 1 & 2 and Die Kunst der Fuge, Liszt's Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses, Liszt's arrangements of Beethoven's symphonies No. 1 and 5, the Bach arrangements, by Busoni, Brahms and Kempff, Henselt's Concert Etudes op.2, Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasy, and the world premier recording of several piano works by Felix Blumenfeld, Benjamin Godard, Hans Seeling and Hugo Reinhold. He recorded also Complete Piano Works by Sergei Bortkiewicz,Pjotr Tchaikowsky and Erkki Salmenhaara. His wide repertoire includes all the solo piano works of Rachmaninov, Tsaikowsky and Bortkiewicz as well as seldom heard music by, among others, Alkan, Godowsky, Henselt, Rubinstein, Reinhold, Godard, Seeling, Cui, Blumenfeld and Gottschalk. He has also made many piano arrangements of orchestral, operetic and pop music.
