Olli Mustonen is a pianist, composer and conductor. For him, it’s all one thing: he is quite simply a musician. It therefore makes no sense for him to separate these functions – and so he excels in all three disciplines, playing an extraordinary role in today’s musical world. With boundless energy and a creative and highly reflective approach to music, he is one of the few pianists whose signature style is instantly recognisable. Known for the expressiveness and intensity of his playing and his crystal-clear, almost percussive touch, his interpretations are characterised by the interplay between explosive outbursts and sensitive restraint.
During an illustrious career, Olli Mustonen has brought his extraordinary musical insight to many of the world’s most significant orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and all the London orchestras. He has strong relationships with orchestras across Finland, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic and Sinfonia Lahti, with whom he released an album of Rautavaara and Martinu’s Third Piano Concertos conducted by Dalia Stasevska in 2023. At the beginning of 2023, he took over the position of Principal Guest Conductor with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. As a recitalist, Olli Mustonen has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center Chicago, Diaghilev Festival Perm, Dresden Festival, Lockenhaus Festival, New York Zankel Hall and Sydney Opera House. With Steven Isserlis, he has performed as a duo for more than thirty years. 2019 saw the release of their album of Russian works for cello and piano on the Hyperion label.