TCM: Café Concert – Invitation to Dance

Laura Vikman, Principal Second Violin of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), pursues an active career alongside her orchestral work as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. She holds a Master of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki and has also studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and the Cologne University of Music. Prior to assuming her current position in the RSO second violin section in 2013, Vikman served for ten years as the orchestra’s Third Concertmaster.

Vikman has won second prizes at both the Kuopio Violin Competition and the Leipzig J. S. Bach Competition. In Florence, she and pianist Marianna Shirinyan were also awarded second prize at the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition.

Laura Vikman has been the first violinist of the Tempera Quartet since 2003. The quartet has performed in Japan and throughout Europe and has recorded, among other works, the complete string quartets of Jean Sibelius for the BIS label.

As a soloist, Vikman has appeared with the Helsinki, Kuopio, and Mikkeli City Orchestras, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Orchestra of Belgium. As a chamber musician, she has performed at numerous festivals in Finland and abroad.

Laura Vikman has served as Lecturer in Violin at Tampere University of Applied Sciences since 2015. Prior to that, she worked as a part-time teacher at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki from 2007 to 2015.

Oxford-born Ms Priya Mitchell, who received her first violin lessons at the Yehudi Menuhin School with David Takeno. With him she attended in the subsequent period, private studies and subsequently studied with Zakhar Bron at the Musikhochschule Lübeck. She was then chosen ‘Rising Stars’ of the European Concert Halls Organisation Series, giving recitals in Paris (Cité de la Musique), Vienna (Konzerthaus), Frankfurt (Alte Oper), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts), Birmingham (Symphony Hall),London (Wigmore Hall) and New York (Carnegie Hall). 

This success led to highly acclaimed tours and performances with, amongst others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, London, the Belgian Radio and Television Philharmonic, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Moscow Philharmonic and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Thereby she worked with conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Richard Hickox, Heinrich Schiff, Yuri Temirkanov or Yan Pascal Tortelier. 

A highly committed chamber musician and interpreter she continues to work with, among others, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Natalie Clein, Nicolas Altsteadt, Polina Leschenko, and Alexander Lonquich. Also Priya Mitchell performs regularly at the chamber music festivals in Kuhmo, Ravinia, Lugano, Lockenhaus, Stavanger, Risør and Trondheim, as well as at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at Cheltenham and Bath. Priya Mitchell is the artistic director of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival. 

Finnish born violinist Réka Szilvay, with Austrian-Hungarian roots, has performed as soloist and chamber musician all over Europe, Asia, South America, South Africa and the USA. She appeared as soloist with all major Finnish orchestras as well as with the London Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Mariinsky Orchestra St. Petersburg, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Tonkünstler Orchestra Austria and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg. 

She has toured with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Strings, Orkester Norden, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and has worked together with renowned conductors like Ádám Fischer, Mikko Franck, Rumon Gamba, Valeri Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Juha Kangas, Okko Kamu, Fabio Luisi, Sakari Oramo, Libor Pesek, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, Hubert Soudant, Osmo Vänskä and Mark Wigglesworth. She appeared often as soloist at Musikverein Wien and Großes Festspielhaus Salzburg, furthermore in most prestigious concert halls like Tokyo Suntory Hall, National Concert Hall Taipei, Symphony Hall Birmingham, London Barbican Concert Hall, Kölner Philharmonie, Casa da Música Porto und Teatro Colón Buenos Aires as well as at festivals like Kuhmo Chamber Music, Festival Grafenegg, Klangbogen Wien and Singapore Arts Festival. 

Giving concerts together with remarkable musicians like Elisabeth Leonskaja, Gerhard Schulz, Erich Höbarth, Matthew Barley and Robert Cohen at Salzburger Festspiele, Helsinki Festival, Allegro Vivo Festival and Tampere Chamber Music Festival has enriched her creativity and artistic interpretation. 

She is performing regularly with her Finnish pianist partner Heini Kärkkäinen with whom she performed all Beethoven sonatas as a cycle in various concert venues. With her Austrian pianist partner Christoph Berner, she gave recitals at Konzerthaus Wien, Carnegie Hall New York, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London, Cité de la Musique Paris and Musashino Concert Hall Tokyo. 

Réka Szilvay plays regularly also on gut strings and appears as soloist with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and in different chamber music formations together with cembalist Aapo Häkkinen and violinist Erich Höbarth among others. 

Radio stations, which have broadcast Réka Szilvays performances are the BBC, Radio France, Arte TV France, the Austrian ORF, the Finnish YLE and the Hungarian MRT. She has recorded for the labels Warner Records (Vivaldi, Bach), Alba Records (“Roaring Twenties”: Bartók, Janáček, Schulhoff, Ravel) and Naxos (Schumann). 

2006 Réka Szilvay was appointed Professor of Violin at the Sibelius Academy/University of the Arts Helsinki. She continues the pedagogical tradition of her professors Géza Szilvay, Tuomas Haapanen, Sándor Végh and Gerhard Schulz. Many of her students are winners and laureates at recognized competitions. Apart from giving concerts and master classes, she engages in the issue of ergonomy in violin playing and holds regularly workshops and presentations. 

Heini Kärkkäinen studied piano at the prestigious Sibelius Academy under Professor Liisa Pohjola from 1984 to 1991 (Master of Music) and furthered her studies with teachers including Ralf Gothóni and Jacques Rouvier (Paris). She won the Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Competition in 1984 and placed second in the Maj Lind Piano Competition in 1986.

Kärkkäinen has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Keski-Pohjanmaa Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. She also appears extensively in Europe and the United States as a chamber musician.

She collaborates closely with chamber musicians including Robert Cohen, Priya Mitchell, Réka Szilvay, and Yuval Gotlibovich.

Heini Kärkkäinen has participated in numerous international festivals, such as Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Oxford Music Festival, Holstebro International Music Festival, Pärnu Music Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Charleston Manor Festival, and Caceres Music Festival.

She has premiered a large number of contemporary Finnish works, including compositions by Jouni Kaipainen, Mikko Heiniö, Magnus Lindberg, Aulis Sallinen, Olli Koskelin, Marzi Nyman, and Outi Tarkiainen.

Kärkkäinen has recorded several award-winning albums. A duo recording with Jan-Erik Gustafsson (Ondine) received Yleisradio’s “Record of the Year” award in 1994. A recording of Camille Saint-Saëns’ music (BIS Classics) was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s Album of the Month in March 2007 and recommended by Gramophone magazine. Other recordings include a Sibelius album with Pekka Kuusisto (Ondine) and Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion (RSO/Jumppanen/Oramo/Warner Classics).

Alongside her solo career, Heini Kärkkäinen has taught piano at Tampere University of Applied Sciences since 2010, serving as a lecturer from 2024. Her teaching also includes chamber music and pedagogy.

In January 2017, Kärkkäinen founded an international chamber music festival in Tampere combining music and wellbeing. The Tampere Chamber Music Festival brings together leading international musicians and lecturers in an event that explores holistic human wellbeing and the health benefits of music. The festival has been warmly received in Tampere.

Robert Cohen made his concerto debut at the age of twelve at the Royal Festival Hall London and throughout the following forty-five years of his distinguished international career, has been hailed as one of the foremost cellists of our time. “It is easy to hear what the fuss is about, he plays like a God” (New York Stereo Review).  
  

Invited to perform concertos world-wide by conductors Claudio Abbado, Antal Dorati, Sir Mark Elder, Mariss Jansons, Sir Charles Mackerras, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Sir Roger Norrington, Tadaaki Otaka, Sir Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Osmo Vänskä, Robert Cohen has also collaborated in chamber music with many renowned soloists and ensembles such as Yehudi Menuhin, the Amadeus String Quartet (including their CD of Schubert Quintet on Deutsche Grammophon), Leonidas Kavakos, Krystian Zimerman and his long-term duo partner pianist Heini Kärkkäinen. 

Photo: Martina Simkovicova 

Robert Cohen made his recording debut at age 19 with the Elgar Cello Concerto and London Philharmonic (EMI), which earned a silver disc for sales of more than 1/4 million, and has recorded extensively for BIS, BeArTon, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Sony and under long term contract to Decca. 

  
Cohen is an inspirational teacher, giving masterclasses at Conservatoires throughout the world. He is William Pleeth Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, London and gives Performance and Preparation Lectures at the Royal Academy of Music, the University of Cambridge and music festivals in Canada, China, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and the USA. Cohen’s experience and fascination with helping musicians led him to form Cello Clinic – diagnosing and resolving physical and physiological performing issues. 

Kuva: Martina Simkovicova

Pianist Natacha Kudritskaya studied at the Kyiv National Tchaikovsky Music Academy under Irina Barinova and Igor Riabov, as well as at the Paris Conservatory. Important mentors in her musical development have included Alain Planès, Jacques Rouvier, Ferenc Rados, and Henri Barda. In 2009, Kudritskaya achieved success in competitions and was invited to perform at major festivals and prestigious concert halls, including the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Vienna Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Gstaad Festival, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.  

Kudritskaya also performs regularly in Ukraine. The events of 2014 gave her return to her homeland a new significance, and since then she has toured extensively across the country. The music of Rameau marked a turning point in Kudritskaya’s piano technique, and she has dedicated two albums to the composer. In 2015, she signed a contract with Universal Music. Her album Nocturnes was released under the Deutsche Grammophon label.