The Festival Head Start (Varaslähtö) is the closing concert of the Nordic Piano Academy's master class and, as the name suggests, a head start into the week of the Mänttä Music Festival.
The Nordic Piano Academy organises an annual master class for young pianists in conjunction with the Mänttä Music Festival. It brings together talented pianists of school and upper secondary school age from all the Nordic countries. The master class is organised in cooperation with the Youth Piano Academy Finland.
Professors of the Nordic Piano Academy in 2026:
- Johan Fröst, Kungliga Musikhögskolan, Stockholm, Sweden
- Ivari Ilja, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Tallinn, Estonia
- Niklas Pokki, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland
Programme
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Etude op. 10 no 12 in C minor
Aleksi Sarkkinen, 13 (Finland)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Caprice op. 24 no 3
Jooseppi Pyykkö, 13 (Finland)
Matthew Whittall (1975- )
Thou aloft full-dazzling
Arwen Lu, 14 (Finland)
Lowell Liebermann (1961- )
Gargoyles op. 29 no 1
Joachim Tian, 15 (Sweden)
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Etude op. 2 no 1 in D minor
Gennadii Tinovitskii, 15 (Finland)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Waltz op. 42 in A flat major
Ingmar Poll, 15 (Estonia)
Aleksandr Scrjabin (1872-1915)
Etude op. 8 no 12 in D sharp minor
Nuutti Hirvonen, 16 (Finland)
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
Etude-tableau op. 33 no 7 in E flat major
Nooa Hilli, 16 (Finland)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Etudes op. 10 no 9 in F minor and no 10 in A flat major
Sauli Aaltonen, 17 (Finland)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Etude op. 25 no 12 in C minor
Aapo Luoma, 17 (Finland)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonata op. 31 no 3 in E flat major
II Scherzo. Allegretto vivace
Esther Scalamonti Marsh, 17 (Sweden)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Invention in E flat major, BWV 776
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Ostinato
Sebastian Benkestein, 17 (Finland)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Excursions for the piano op. 20
IV Molto allegro
Hillevi Björkman, 18 (Finland)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Five Pieces op. 75
III Aspen
V Spruce
Väinö Viljanen, 18 (Finland)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Faschingsschwank aus Wien
V Finale
Antti Pimiä, 18 (Finland)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Andantino op. 24 no 7
Jesse Mäki, 18 (Finland)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
English Suite no 3 in G major, BWV 808
I Prelude
Nelis Vernik, 18 (Estonia)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude and fugue in F major, BWV 856 (DWK I)
Atte Kohtala, 18 (Finland)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Prelude op. 28 no 17 in A flat major
Julia Elomaa, 19 (Finland)
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Etude op. 10 no 12 in C minor
Elmeri Utriainen, 19 (Finland)