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The Finnish pianist, Jouni Somero, began studying organ when he was 8 years old but switched to the piano at the age of 12. He studied piano in Switzerland and at the Music Academy in Cologne under Professor Herbert Drechsel. Under the legendary Hungarian pianist György Cziffra, he deepened his knowledge of the interpretation of Franz Liszt's music. Michael Ponti, the American virtuoso, has also acted as Somero's musical advisor. Somero was awarded a diploma at the International Music competition in Rio de Janeiro.
From 1981 to 1989 Jouni Somero lived in Germany, working e.g. as an assistant at the Music Academy of Düsseldorf. From 1990 he has pursued his career solely as a concert pianist. Somero is one of the most diligent performers among present Finnish musicians. So far he has given over 2000 concerts all over the world, including Australia, Japan, Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Brazil, Canada and Finland.
His wide repertoire includes almost all the solo piano works of Sergei Rachmaninov and Bortkiewicz as well as seldom heard music by, among others, Charles-Valentin Alkan, Leopold Godowsky, Henselt, Blumenfeld and Gottschalk. He has also made many piano arrangements of orchestral, operetic and pop music.
Jouni Somero's recording career began in 1989 (with F. Liszt's 12 Transcendental Etudes), after which he has made about 40 recordings for different labels. These include J.S. Bach's Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (BWV 846-869) and Die Kunst der Fuge (BWV 1080), F. Liszt's Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses, Liszt's arrangements of L.v. Beethoven's Symphonies No. 1 and 5, the Bach arrangements, by Ferruccio Busoni, Johannes Brahms and Wilhelm Kempff, Henselt's Concert Etudes Op.2, Schubert's Wanderer-Fantasy, and the world premier recording of several piano works by Felix Blumenfeld. |
