Lawrence Power, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra & Olli Mustonen
Biographie Lawrence Power, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra & Olli Mustonen
Lawrence Power
Internationally-acclaimed viola player Lawrence Power is widely praised for his richness of sound, technical mastery and his passionate advocacy for new music. Heralded by the New York Times as ‘a musician on a mission to make us pay attention to the viola’, Lawrence has advanced the cause of the viola both through the excellence of his performances, whether in recitals, chamber music or concertos and the creation of the Viola Commissioning Circle (VCC), which has led to a substantial body of fresh repertoire for the instrument by today’s finest composers. Over the past decade, Lawrence has become a regular guest performer with orchestras of the highest calibre, from Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Stockholm, Bergen and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Symphony, Philharmonia, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestras, with conductors such as such as Osmo Vänskä, Lahav Shani, Parvo Järvi, Vladimir Jurowski, Andrew Manze, Edward Gardner, Nicholas Collon, Ilan Volkov and Esa-Pekka Salonen. As a chamber musician he is in much demand and regularly performs at Verbier, Salzburg, Aspen, Oslo and other festivals with artists such as Steven Isserlis, Nicholas Alstaedt, Simon Crawford-Phillips, Vilde Frang, Maxim Vengerov and Joshua Bell.
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra
The Turku Musical Society, which later formed the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, was founded in 1790. As the oldest orchestra in Finland – and one of the oldest in the world – the ensemble continues to develop and flourish at the baton of renowned conductors. During its history it has premiered pieces by Jean Sibelius under the leadership of the composer himself and worked with legendary conductors such as Paavo Berglund and chief conductors such as Tauno Hannikainen, Jorma Panula, Jacques Mercier, Hannu Lintu and Leif Segerstam. During 2021–2023 the orchestra’s 74 musicians enjoyed the artistic leadership of Olli Mustonen.
Olli Mustonen
has a unique place on today’s music scene. Following the tradition of great masters such as Rachmaninov, Busoni and Enescu, Mustonen combines the roles of his musicianship as composer, pianist and conductor in an equal balance that is quite exceptional, often bringing them together in one fascinating triple role performance. Mustonen took up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra at the beginning of 2023 where he continued his tenure until the end of 2025 combining orchestral concerts with chamber music and recitals. During an illustrious career, Mustonen has brought his extraordinary musical insight to many of world’s most significant orchestras, including the Berlin, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle Orhester Zürich, and all the London orchestras. Recipient of the 2019 Hindemith Prize of the City of Hanau, Mustonen’s life as a composer is at the heart of his piano playing and conducting. In 2021, Mustonen officially commenced his directorship as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra where he held his tenure until 2023 and was fortunate to be able to conduct regularly forming a strong connection with the musicians and explore a range of repertoire from Beethoven to Bartók to Rautavaara. Spending a substantial amount of time in Finland, he also joined the Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic and Jyväskylä Symphony Orchestras amongst others.
