Elina Vähälä
Violin
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Born in the US and raised in Finland, Elina Vähälä made her orchestral debut with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra at the age of twelve and was later chosen by Osmo Vänskä as the orchestra’s “Young Master Soloist.” Since then, her versatility and charismatic performances have won praise from audiences and musicians alike: “a fluent, stylish, and gifted musician whose brilliant technique is matched by an abundant spirit, sensitivity and imagination” (Chicago Tribune).
She appears regularly with all of the key Finnish orchestras as well being a guest of countless high-profile orchestras across the globe such as Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Dortmund Philharmoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, RTVE Spanish Radio Orchestra. She has toured extensively throughout the UK, Finland, Germany, China, Korea and South America.She enjoys fruitful working partnerships with many leading conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Carlos Kalmar, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Okko Kamu, Jakub Hrůša, Daniela Musca, Thierry Fischer, Sakari Oramo, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Leif Segerstam, Josep Caballé- Domenech, Alexander Liebreich, and Michał Nesterowicz.
In 2023, Elina assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Naantali Music Festival, having previously been the Artistic Co-Director of the Oulu Music Festival. Highlights of last season include debuts with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Janacek Philharmonic, Belgrade Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic and the Adelaide Festival, and returns to Houston Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Oulu Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, Kymi Sinfonietta, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Wroclaw Philharmonic, Her chamber festival performances included the Chiemgauer Festival in Germany, Storioni Festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands, the Naantali, Kuhmo and Korsholm festivals in Finland, the Clandeboye Festival and the Seoul International Chamber Festival. BIS released her recording of Kalevi Aho’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Kymi Sinfonietta and Olari Elts.
The 2023-24 season sees her as a soloist in the US and Canada, with Columbus Symphony Ohio and Symphony Nova Scotia, in the UK with Dalia Stasevska and BBC Symphony Orchestra in London as part of a Total Immersion project on the works of Missy Mazzoli, and across Europe in Slovenia, Sweden and Finland. She also makes returns to Wroclaw Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Norrkoping Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic Lahti Symphony and Lohja City Orchestras, the Naantali Music Festival, and the Seoul International Music Festival.
Elina has given world premieres of Aulis Sallinen's Chamber Concerto, Curtis Curtis-Smith's Double Concerto, Jaakko Kuusisto’s Violin Concerto, and Kalevi Aho’s Concerto no 2, all of which were written for her, as well as Jan Sandström’s Concerto. In addition, she gave the first Nordic performance of Corigliano’s Violin Concerto ‘The Red Violin’ and is one of the soloists of choice for this work. Befitting her Finnish roots, she has premiered many chamber works and violin concertos by Finnish composers, including those by Magnus Lindberg and Jaakko Kuusisto, and is one of very few to perform the Sibelius concerto in its early version.
Elina is committed to the development of skills and opportunities for young musicians. In 2009 she launched the Violin Academy, a masterclass-based educational project for highly talented young Finnish violinists funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Previously professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany, she has been professor at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna since September 2019.
She performs with a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin made in 1780.
*Updated January 2024
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May 31, 2019: Elina Vähälä Has Been Appointed Professor Of Violin At The University Of Music And Performing Arts In Vienna
- mdw MediaMay 14, 2020: Finnish Star Of The Violin, Elina Vähälä, Has Been Appointed Co-Artistic Director Of The Oulu Music Festival
- Oulun MusiikkijuhlasäätiöJanuary 5, 2023: Naantali Music Festival announced the first program designed by Elina Vähälä
- Emotionzine -
KALEVI AHO: VIOLIN CONCERTO No. 2
“Elina Vähälä, for whom the work was written, brings virtuosity to the solo part, and intensity to the long-spun and wide ranging line in the lyrical Adagio, where double stops add to the weight of the texture.”
-Martin Cotton, May 2023, BBC Music Magazine
SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY PREMIERES A MICHAEL DAUGHERTY PIECE INSPIRED BY SONOMA LANDSCAPES
“The first half was just as good, particularly Finnish violin soloist Elina Vähälä, who offered an impassioned performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto. Clad in a floor-length, bare-shouldered, flowing blue gown, Vähälä produced a consistently gorgeous and piercing tone, making herself easily heard above the orchestra. She played mostly without score but occasionally peeked at a foot-powered tablet on a nearby stand. Her bow arm moved like a ballerina’s, and her bow traversed the strings in an invariably straight line. Her stance was both solid and relaxed, and she often leaned back to emphasize important notes. Little wonder that the audience applauded warmly at the end of the first movement, before she had displayed her talents in full.”
- Steve Osborn, May 9, 2022, San Francisco Classical VoiceSTRIKING GOLD IN THE MUSICAL YUKON
“A D Major Violin Concerto by the 20th century Austrian émigré Erich Wolfgang Korngold was performed by Elena Vähälä from Finland. She had no robust rafter-ringing tone (in Weill Hall, anyway) but was evocative in her interpretation, playing the first notes of the piece, then going thru a highly demanding cadenza (solo display segment). She clearly mastered all the virtuosity, which was considerable.”
- Paul Hertelendy, May 9, 2022, ARTSSFMINNESOTA ORCHESTRA’S SIBELIUS FESTIVAL PROVIDES A STAR TURN FOR ANOTHER FINN
“…Vähälä’s playing on the early-model concerto was breathtaking, full of fluidity and flair, her tone full-bodied and resonant… You seldom see a partial standing ovation after a work’s opening movement, but the violinist earned one.”
– Rob Hubbard, January 2022, Star TribuneREVIEW: MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA CONTINUES JOYFUL, SKILLFUL CELEBRATION OF SIBELIUS
“Next was the early version of the Concerto in D minor for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 47, played by the elegant and masterful Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä. You know how you’re not supposed to clap between movements? Well, sometimes audiences screw that part up. Maybe there’s that one person in the crowd who doesn’t know the rule and they open the clapping floodgates. Or a movement has such a climactic sound the listeners think the whole piece is finished. On Friday, Vähälä, whose very first concert at the age of 12 was with the Lahti Symphony when Vänskä was conductor there, was so good the audience couldn’t help themselves. Many jumped to their feet in a standing ovation.”
– Shiela Regan, January 2022, Pioneer PressMINNESOTA ORCHESTRA MAKES SIBELIUS PROUD
“From her first entrance, Vähälä’s sound was as commanding as her presence was unassuming. Unlike many concerto soloists, she didn’t use physical gestures to emphasize her performance abilities. She made her part look easy, almost effortless at times.At one point, for example, the violinist is called upon to play four notes at once; by quickly curling the bow along the four strings, they can approximate these four-note harmonies. Vähälä navigated this passage with ease, even managing to compliment the inner-harmony melodies she was playing that were also sounding in the upper woodwinds.
The orchestra, particularly the upper strings, seemed to build off of Vähälä’s energy. A performance that began tentative and fragile ended bright and triumphant. The Minnesota Orchestra clearly knows its Sibelius, from the sweeping melodic lines double by the strings to the occasional brass melodies and woodwind solos that briefly come to the fore.
After Vähälä’s stellar performance and the audience’s two rounds of applause, the orchestra began one of Sibelius’s most performed works: the “Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major.” Yet again, the opening minutes felt tentative and rushed. Some of the accelerandos and ritardandos (increases and decreases in tempo) were slightly exaggerated.”
– Sammy Sussman, The Michigan DailySARASOTA ORCHESTRA ENDS SEASON WITH AN ADVENTUROUS RIDE
“Corigliano’s Violin Concerto (“The Red Violin”) is a delicious addition to the solo violin repertoire so heavily weighted in the 19th century. In this case, the rich melodic baby was not thrown out with the bathwater. Soloist Elina Vähälä played the demanding score with great passion and bravura evoking a vision of Paganini’s sister.”
– Gayle Williams, Herald TribuneVIOLINIST ADDS VIRTUOSITY TO ATMOSPHERIC BPO CONCERT
“The Adagio was the highlight. The beautiful music spotlighted Vahala’s full, rich tone. The galloping last movement brought back the excitement of the first. Vahala’s virtuosity was matched by the orchestra’s. The blasts of brass, the rumbles of timpani, everything made for great drama and build-ups of sound. Even when the music was over, the theater wasn’t over. Vahala, in her gorgeous gown, swept over to embrace Falletta and shake the hand of concertmaster Dennis Kim. The crowd rose and applauded. It was one of those wonderful live music moments. I think all the listeners were glad they ventured out in the snow.”
– Mary Kunz Goldman, Buffalo NewsPETRENKO AND VÄHÄLÄ SHINE IN A HOUSTON SYMPHONY PROGRAM WITH ITALIAN FLAIR
“Vähälä’s interpretation of the chaconne was thoroughly committed. She navigated the difficult double-stops, including a cadenza, with security and projected the expressive intensity of the soaring melodic lines. In terms of both her playing and the composition as a whole, this was the most successful movement.”
– Lawrence Wheeler, Texas Classical ReviewDETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/HANNU LINTU – THE FAIRY’S KISS & SIBELIUS 2 – ELINA VÄHÄLÄ PLAYS JAAKKO KUUSISTO’S VIOLIN CONCERTO
“Having remembered, this time, that when the UK puts its clocks back an hour I need to tune into the DSO webcast sixty minutes earlier than normal, until the US retards similarly, I was pleased not to miss The Fairy’s Kiss, Stravinsky’s Hans Christian Andersen-inspired homage to Tchaikovsky, including orchestrations of his piano pieces and songs, and fully worthy of both composers. The Divertimento Stravinsky made from the ballet score requires expressive and deft playing, and rhythmic precision. Hannu Lintu achieved each of these, DSO soloists shone, and togetherness was exact. Greater lightness and a touch of wit would have been welcome in the faster passages of ‘Danses suisses’, but pirouettes were charming and some of the third section reminded of The Sleeping Beauty.Jaakko Kuusisto (born 1974) is also a violinist and was concertmaster of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra when Osmo Vänskä was its conductor. His thirty-minute Violin Concerto makes a big impression and opens with a long statement, intense and meditative, for the violinist that increases in speed to cue the orchestra, used dynamically and colourfully, for a rhapsodic first movement that vies lyricism and emotionalism in a seamless trajectory and which leads into an ethereal Lento that develops powerful upsurges. The separated Finale is as playful as it is manic until something slower and moodier stops it in its tracks, but there is a grandstand conclusion. Elina Vähälä gave a fabulous performance, her superb technique serving deeply committed musicianship (she played from memory) and she was accompanied in virtuoso fashion. If you like Korngold’s and Menotti’s Violin Concertos, you’ll like Jaakko Kuusisto’s, which flies high yet also takes us into the woods.
As to Lintu’s conducting of it, although the music is self-evidently in his blood (and memory), the first movement was over-sectionalised, too pulled around for what is anyway one of Sibelius’s looser structures. Lintu was more satisfying in the volatility of the next movement, introduced by a dramatic timpani roll; whether brooding or erupting, if some relationships were sacrificed, it was eloquent and exciting. So too the Scherzo, a rushing wind, the Trio’s contrasting poetry led by a really lovely oboe solo, and out of its second appearance the eventually triumphant Finale hauls itself, Lintu, with soul and stealth, keeping it on course to its brassy and expansive victory parade.”
– Colin Anderson, Classical Source -
Aho, Kalevi
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2Arutiunian, Alexander
Violin ConcertoBarber, Samuel
Violin ConcertoBartók, Béla
Violin Concerto No. 2Beethoven, Ludwig van
Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 61
Concerto in C Major for violin, cello, piano Op. 56
Romance in G Major Op. 40
Romance in F Major Op. 50Berg, Alban
Violin ConcertoBernstein, Leonard
SerenadeBrahms, Johannes
Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 77
Double Concerto in a minor Op. 102Britten, Benjamin
Violin ConcertoBruch, Max
Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor Op. 26Chausson, Ernest
Poéme, Op. 25Corigliano, John
Violin Concerto “The Red Violin”
Chaconne from “The Red Violin”Englund, Einar
Violin ConcertoHaydn, Joseph
Violin Concerto C Major Hob7a:1
Violin Concerto in G Major Hob7a:4
Violin Concerto in A Major Hob7a:3
Concerto for Violin and Keyboard Hob18:6Korngold, Erich Wolfgang
Violin Concerto, Op. 35Kuusisto, Jaakko
Violin Concerto, Op. 28Lindberg, Magnus
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2Mazzoli, Missy
Violin Concerto “Procession” (2021)Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix
Violin Concerto in d minor Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in d minorMozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Concerto No. 4 in D Major, KV 218
Concerto No. 5 in A Major, KV 219 Concerto for Violin and Piano (Mozart-Willby) Sinfonia Concertante, KV 364 Concertone for two violins KV 365Mustonen, Olli
Violin concerto, world première in December 2024*Penderecki, Krzyszotof
Concerto doppio for Violin, Viola/Cello and OrchestraProkofiev, Sergei
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op.63Ravel, Maurice
Tzigane, Op. 76Richter, Max
Vivaldi Four Seasons RecomposedRosza, Miklos
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Cello and OrchestraSaint-Saens, Camille
Introduction and Rondo Capriccio, Op. 28
Havanaise, Op. 83Sallinen, Aulis
Violin Concerto, Op. 18
Chamber Concerto for Violin, Piano and Chamber Orchestra, Op. 87Sarasate, Pablo de
Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20Schnittke, Alfred
Concerto Grosso No.1 for Two Violins and OrchestraShostakovich, Dmitri
Violin Concerto No. 2Sibelius, Jean
Violin Concerto in d minor, Op. 47
Violin Concerto in d minor, early version
Six Humoresques
Serenade g minorStravinsky, Igor
Violin Concerto in D MajorSzymanowski, Karol
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2Tchaikovsky, Piotr
Meditation, Op. 42
Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34Vasks, Pēteris
Violin Concerto "Distant light"Vaughan Williams, Ralph
The Lark AscendingVivaldi, Antonio
Four Seasons, Op. 8 No 1-4
L’estro armonico Op.3, 12 concertos for different ensemblesWeill, Kurt
Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op.12Wieniawski, Henryk
Violin Concerto No. 2 in d minor, Op.22*Update as of October 2023