A group of piano students and teachers from Sibelius Academy of the Arts in Helsinki, the piano department of LHÍ will visit on the 24th-25th. February 2025. The visit is part of the collaborative project Crossing Keyboards which is intended to strengthen cooperation and networks between Nordic and Baltic music universities.
The visit from Helsinki ends with a piano concert in Dynjanda on Tuesday, February 25 at 7 pm, where four students from Sibelius Academy perform a variety of piano music to guests and pedestrians. More information about the performers can be found below.
Admission is free and everyone is welcome.
Alavillamo Ahti is a 22-year-old classical pianist, who is currently studying towards a Bachelor's degree in Music at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Born in Vaasa, Finland, Ahti started playing the piano at the Toivo Kuula Music Institute at the age of six. At the age of 16, Ahti moved to Espoo to further pursue his music career. In December 2021, he graduated from the Tapiola Upper Secondary School for Music, as well as the Espoo Music Institute, where he was studying for a year at the Youth Piano Academy of Finland until he was admitted into the Sibelius Academy in 2022, He was admitted to the Sibelius Academy in 2022 and his bachelor's degree in 2022.
During his studies, Ahti has collaborated with numerous musicians, as well as participated in piano competitions with success. For example, he won a first prize in the Lakeus Soi Piano Competition in 2019, and in 2022 he earned a second place in the 12th national Leevi Madetoja Piano Competition. Ahti has performed in a wide range of concerts and music festivals around Finland, and he has also taken masterclasses with some of Europe's leading piano pedagogues such as Konstantin Bogino, Gergely Boganyi, Graham Scott, Henri Sigfridsson and Paavali Jumppanen.
Cristina Tomescu was born in Craiova, Romania on September 1, 2003. She studied at the ‘Marin Sorescu’ High School of Arts in her hometown under the guidance of Prof. Mihai Ungureanu. Additionally, she has attended masterclasses of Daniela Andonova, Vinicia Moroianu, Antonio di Cristofano, Vincenzo Balzani, Andreas Frolich, Petras Geniusas, Graeme McNaught, and Jean-Bernard Pommier. Currently, Cristina is a third-year bachelor's degree student at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, in the class of Erik Tawaststjerna.
Cristina has received prizes in national and international competitions, including 1st prize at the National Olympiad (2014-2022), 1st prize in the Craiova Piano International Piano Competition (2015-2022), 1st prize in the Margareta Sterian Piano Competition (Romania), 1st prize in the Irina with Şaţchi piano competition (Romania), a Finalist at the 14th Recontres Internationales des Jeunes Pianistes (Belgium, 2018), 1st prize at the Orbetello Piano Competition (2019), and the 1st prize in the Grand Prix Smedere and Germany (Serto Pristo).
Gabrielė Agilė Bajoraitė (b. 2001) graduated from MK Čiurlionis National School of Arts in 2020, where she studied piano with Aidas Puodžiukas. She continued her studies at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy. Presently she is a student at the Sibelius Academy in the class of Niklas Pokki. Gabriele has participated in national and international competitions such as the XVI National Balys Dvarionas Competition for Pianists and Violinists, “ Golden Taste‘ in Germany (Frankfurt am Mein), International Competition Virtuosi per musica di piano forte (in Usti nad Labem, the Czech Republic), the X International Balleys Dvarionas for the Pregun, and Vistas (Navelos).
Jan Škrobánek's musical journey began at the age of three when he first touched a piano. This early started led to his education in a music school at five, and soon after, he began earning recognition at various children's and youth competitions. For further musical education, Jan studied at the Prague Conservatory under Libor Nováček and continued at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Martin Kasík. Alongside the formal education, he sweet guidance from a renovated Czech pedagogue Marta Toaderová Later, his pursuit of excellence led him to the Sibelius Academy through an Erasmus exchange, where he is now studies under Hamsa Juris.
Jan has won prizes at several international competitions, such as the International Piano Competition of Bedřich Smetana, and the International Piano Competition of Fryderyk Chopin in Mariánské Lázně. He has collaborated with orchestras like the Podkrkonossky Symfonicky Orchestr, and he was selected as a solo to perform at the Talent Music Summer Festival in Brescia. Jan's artistic journey has been enriched by playing in masterclasses of renowned pianists like Elisabeth Leonskaya, Matti Rautio, Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, and Lilia Zilberstein.