TCM: Jazz Ball with Jukka Perko and Jay Kortehisto

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.

Saxophonist Jukka Perko first gained recognition in jazz circles as a teenager with his performance at the Pori Jazz Festival in the summer of 1986. The following year, he was invited to join the orchestra of the legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie on his 70th anniversary tour. The boy from the countryside had purchased his first saxophone at the age of 14 with money earned from summer work on a poultry farm, and by the age of 24, he had already performed in over 30 countries.

Among Perko’s most notable recordings are Music of Olavi Virta by the Jukka Perko & Hurmio ensemble, released on the Blue Note label; Kaanaanmaa, recorded with the Virtuosi di Kuhmo Chamber Orchestra; and Dizzy, released on the We Jazz label to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dizzy Gillespie.

Perko is also widely recognized for his many successful ensembles and his extensive repertoire as a guest soloist with big bands and symphony orchestras.

In addition to performing, he serves as Artistic Director of the Viapori Jazz Festival and as a teacher at the Sibelius Academy. In autumn 2023, he began a three-year term as Artistic Partner of the Kymi Sinfonietta.

For Perko, music is a way of being. He learned to play much as he learned to speak—by listening and imitating. Approaching music with stillness, he describes his attitude toward playing and composing as a balance between the pursuit of perfection and the acceptance of incompleteness. Perhaps this is why his music resonates with what some call grace.

Combining outstanding technique with distinctly Finnish characteristics within the jazz tradition, Jukka Perko has grown into one of the most important saxophonists of his generation.