Siba Talks: Keval Shah & Erik T. Tawaststjerna

In the March edition of Siba Talks, the guest is Erik T. Tawaststjerna, professor emeritus of piano music.

About the artists

Erik T. Tawaststjerna

Erik T. Tawaststjerna (“Ta-va-sher-na”) is Professor Emeritus at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. He began his musical education in Helsinki and then continued his studies in Moscow, Vienna, and New York. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School and a Doctoral Degree from New York University. He participated in master classes given by Wilhelm Kempff and Dmitri Bashkirov. He won the second prize at the Helsinki Maj Lind National Piano Competition in 1968 and has since given concerts around the world. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in Finland, performing such works as Rachmaninoff’s Concerto no. 3 and Leonard Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety, among others.

Mr. Tawaststjerna has made numerous recordings, among them a series of 8 CDs presenting the complete piano music of Jean Sibelius. Many of his students have received top prizes in international piano competitions and several of them now work as professors in major European universities. He was also the artistic director of the PianoEspoo festival for almost 20 years, together with Marita Viitasalo.

Mr. Tawaststjerna has been on the juries of numerous important competitions, such as the Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna, The New York International Piano Competition, the Dublin Piano Competition, and the James Mottram International Piano Competition in Manchester. He has given master classes, among other places, at the Guildhall School of Music in London, the University of the Arts in Berlin, and the Tokyo College of Music. In Tokyo, he was invited to perform at the Imperial Court.

He has collaborated with artists like Martti Talvela, Arto Noras, and Leonidas Kavakos. He has also often performed works for piano duo together with his wife, Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna. He has worked as a visiting professor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. He was given the honorary title ‘Professor of the Year’ by the Finnish Professors’ League. In 2019, he published a CD with the title “Ballades and other stories” presenting the four Ballades of Chopin and contemporary Finnish piano music.

Keval Shah

British-Indian pianist Keval Shah (b. 1993) is celebrated for the intellectual and creative depth of his artistic vision. A laureate of multiple international competitions, Shah has performed at many of Europe’s major concert halls and festivals, and has recorded for labels including Deutsche Grammophon.

Alongside successes in the traditional field, Keval is a pioneer in concert design and curation, regularly commissioning contemporary music and building artistic projects that mix different genres, cultures, and philosophies. His musical practice is guided by a fascination with cross-cultural and multi-cultural processes, and the artistic and social possibilities which can be found therein.

Alongside his work at the Sibelius Academy, Keval frequently works as a broadcaster at the BBC, most recently presenting a documentary about Kaija Saariaho’s final projects.

Changes are possible.

Further information: Janne Ikäheimo, janne.ikaheimo@uniarts.fi