Henrik Järvi was born in Harjavalta, Finland. He started playing the piano by ear as he could reach the keys. During school years, Järvi was a serious listener of the piano music by Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. He amazed his schoolmates by performing a polonaise by Chopin at 12 years of age. Järvi performed the Konzertstück by Weber with orchestra aged 15 and his first public solo piano recital when he was 16. Soon after, he performed the Piano Concerto by Grieg with Oulu Sinfonia and the 3rd Piano Concerto by Prokofiev with Jyväskylä Sinfonia.
After finishing high school, Järvi began studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Liisa Pohjola, well-known for her intensive approach on teaching and performing. He received 1st prize at the Sibelius Academy Piano Competition and performed the 1st Piano Concerto by Liszt with Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.
During his years in Helsinki, he played recitals in Sweden, Norway and Switzerland, and in Finland, at the Turku Music Festival, Piano Aura Festival and Soiva Akatemia. With his chamber musician friends he performed at the Kuhmo Music Festival, Kamarikesä in Helsinki, Aurora Chamber Music in Sweden, Apeldoorn Festival in the Netherlands and Ciclo de Camera Auditorio Sony in Madrid. He toured Germany with his piano trio, and Baltic countries and Indonesia with the piano ensemble Piano Nyt!
Of major importance were his studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Alexei Lubimov, who enlarged Järvi's horizons in the skill and delicacy of piano playing. Järvi was fortunate to experience the artistry of Alicia de Larrocha in Villecroze, France, at a masterclass that became a major event for everyone attending. Larrocha's mastery of sound color and expression became an ideal for Järvi. Spain was also the place where Järvi stayed for a year during his chamber music studies at the Institute of Reina Sofia in Madrid, where his professors were Ralf Gothóni and Eldar Nebolsin.
Successfully finishing his studies, he settled in his home town of Turku, Finland, where he took a position as a lecturer of piano. His students pushed him on to investigate the physiological aspects of piano playing and to polish off his own playing and work on new repertoire with Alexander Sandler in St. Petersburg.
At the moment Järvi is finishing his artistic doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy, focusing on the piano music by Selim Palmgren.
Studies
PRESENTLY
2013-16
Finishing an artistic doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, focused on the piano music by Selim Palmgren.
piano
Alexander Sandler (St. Petersburg Conservatory)
other
2017 Jorma Panula Academy Conducting Masterclasses
2016 7th International Piano Masterclasses Katowice
2015 International Piano Academy Freiburg
2015 Orchestral Conducting Master Class. Ennio Nicotra, Venice, Italy
2013 Feldenkrais Workshop. Raisa Wennamo
2013 Resonanzlehre Summer Class. Thomas Lange, Berlin
2013 Music Physiologie Studies. Kurt Singer Institut, Berlin.
2012 Feldenkrais Method and Piano Technique, Amsterdam. Alan Fraser
2000-09
PIANO
2008-09 Reina Sofia Madrid, Chamber Music Academy. Ralf Gothoni, Eldar Nebolsin
2005-06 Salzburg Mozarteum. Alexei Lubimov
2000-08 Sibelius Academy Helsinki. Liisa Pohjola, Erik. T. Tawaststjerna, Juhani Lagerspetz
Masterclasses
Alicia de Larrocha, Olli Mustonen, Matti Raekallio, Dominique Merlet, Pascal Devoyon, Emanuel Krasovsky, Niklas Sivelöv, Mats Widlund, Natalia Trull
1993-2000
PIANO
Turku Conservatory. Jukka Juvonen
Masterclasses
Meri Louhos, Henri Sigfridsson, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, Eero Heinonen
Henrik Järvi received first prizes at the piano competitions of Turku (1995), Leevi Madetoja (2000) and Sibelius Academy (2003). He received the audience prize and IV prize at the Finnish National Jyväskylä Piano Competition. He took part in the Tallinn Piano Competition (2006) and the Edvard Grieg Piano Competition (2012).
Henrik Järvi’s activities have been supported by the following grants: Pro Musica (2004 and 2008), Swedish Culture Foundation (2013), Konstsamfundet (2013) and Finnish Culture Foundation (2014).
