Karin Bonelli
In 2012, Karin Bonelli became the first woman to obtain a position in the woodwind section of the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic. Born into a well-known family of flutists, it seems her fate was decided early on. Alongside her position in Vienna, Karin is dedicated to sharing her passion for the flute and piccolo as founder of the Penthesilea Academy, an orchestral training academy for young flutists, and teacher at the Music and Arts Private University of Vienna.
Elisabet Franch
Elisabet currently serves as Assistant Principal Flute of Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès and combines her duties with the orchestra with her solo career. She has received numerous international recognitions: Grand Prix of the 27th World Music Competition, Vienna, Anton Rubinstein International Flute Competition, Domenico Cimarosa International Flute Competition, among others. In 2022, she made her deby with Sony Classical, releasing his second album, Frach plays Franch.
Giovanni Perez
Since 2011, Dr. Giovanni Andrés Pérez has been the Assistant Professor of Global Music and Applied Flute at Liberty University. Pérez has received numerous awards and nominations including a Latin GRAMMY® Award Nomination for Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album as Producer, Recording Engineer, and Piccoloist. He is an active member of the Victory Players and commissions new works regularly for Pierrot Ensemble. Pérez is endorsed by Trevor James Flutes.
Isabella Østenby
Isabella Østenby Vesti is the founder and Artistic Director of Nordic Piccolo Festival. Through her travels she realized how little is known about the art of playing piccolo in Denmark and the Northern countries in general. Her goal with the NPF is to bring knowledge, enthusiasm, and a positive learning environment for piccolo flutists in the North. Østenby also spends her time working with orchestras such as The Royal Danish Orchestra and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.
Jérémie Abergel
Jérémie Abergel began his professional career as both a chamber and orchestral musician, performing in orchestras such as the Dresdner Philharmonie, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin, MDR Sinfonieorchester and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Since 2019, he has held the position of principal piccolo at the Staatsoper Hannover. He is also a member of the Bayreuther Festspielorchester and the Leipzig flute ensemble Quintessenz.
Jenny Villanen
Jenny Villanen has held the Solo Piccolo position in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007. Prior to that she held a position in the Guards Band of Finland. Villanen has also performed with the Finnish National Opera & Ballet, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. She also enjoys playing a diverse range of music with her duo 2Clazz! and quartet 4Clazz!.
Carlos Cano Escribá
Flutist, composer, arranger and music producer, Carlos Cano Escribá is known for his Latin hits. A Powell artist, Cano was born in Havana but established his residence in Spain in 1994. He has worked with various orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, Madrid Symphony, Symphony of the Gran Teatro del Liceo, and others. Cano has been nominated for a Latin Grammy and Global Music Awards various times. He is currently a Professor at the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music.
Beatriz Macías
Beatriz Macías is the founder and Artistic Director of the Tampere Flute Fest. She has held the position of Principal Flutist in the Luxembourg Chamber Orchestra and has worked with numerous orchestras including the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Dutch National Opera and Ballet, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Houston Symphony, among others. Beatriz also enjoys a career as a singer.
Robert Tobin
Robert Tobin is originally from Ireland but has been living in Finland since 2017. Having studied in Dublin, Vienna and Zürich he freelances in Finland and Europe. Tobin’s focus lies currently in chamber music and Irish traditional folk music, in which he has many groups he plays in regularly, including Tale of the Gael, the Atlantic Orchestra project and others. He also plays with guitarist Jonne Grans, bringing new transcriptions to life for flute and guitar.
Annaleena Jämsä
Since 2009, Annaleena Jämsä has held the position of Principal Flutist at the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Previously, she held the same position in the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. Jämsä has also performed with the Kymi Sinfonietta, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Norwegian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, among others. In addition, Jämsä is a member of the Oslo Kammerakademi and flute teacher at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences Music Department.
Malla Vivolin
Malla Vivolin is the Co-Principal Flutist of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of Uusinta Ensemble. A contemporary music enthusiast, Vivolin is currently concentrating on her doctoral thesis at her alma mater, the University of Arts’ Sibelius Academy. Vivolin is also a flute teacher at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences Music Department. She plays a custom Emanuel flute, built 2008 in Boston, with a J.R. Lafin head.
Hanna Kinnunen
Hanna Kinnunen is an avid performer of contemporary music. She is one of the founding members of defunensemble and performs also frequently with CHANGEnsemble and Zagros, as well as in the
Tulkinnanvaraista concert series. Before 2014, she led a somewhat more traditional musical life, playing
among others in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra for six full years, the last three of which as the first solo flute. Currently Hanna devotes most of her attention to her students at the Sibelius Academy, Käpylä Music Institute and Metropolia.
Johanna Kärkkäinen
Johanna Kärkkäinen is a versatile flutist, poet and artist. She is currently working as flutist in the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Kärkkäinen graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 2015 under the guidance of Petri Alanko. She works with various Finnish orchestras such as Seinäjoki City Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Oulu Sinfonia and Kymi Sinfonieta. She has released two poetry books, one in 2017 and the other in 2020.
Anni Ranta
Anni Ranta is a flutist, music therapist and neuropsychiatric coach. Her main focus, apart from music therapy, is on trauma therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy. She works with clients of different ages and various needs in Finland. Ranta has a Bachelor Degree in Music Education from the Sibelius Academy of Music and Masters in Philosophy from the University of Tampere.
Ilkka Eronen
Ilkka Eronen is a flute and traverso player from Helsinki. He performs regularly with early music ensembles and orchestras such as the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, playing music and historical instruments from renaissance to early romantic periods. He has also worked as a flutist and piccolo player in the Guards Band of Finland and the Helsinki City Theatre. He is a member of the early music ensemble Æstus.
Sofia Zhilina
Sofia Zhilina (16) is studying flute at the conservatory level. She has participated in various festivals across Europe and performed in masterclasses for Paolo Taballione, Felix Renggli, Carlo Jans, among others. As a winner of the 2023 Young Performers Series, Martyna will perform as a soloist at TFF.
Martyna Kruk
Martyna Kruk (14) has won numerous prizes in some of Poland’s most recognised youth competitions. She has also performed in masterclasses for Mario Caroli, Berten Dhollander, among others. As a winner of the 2023 Young Performers Series, Martyna will perform as a soloist at TFF.
Paloma Catalá Parga
Spanish flutist Paloma Catalá Parga has performed around the world, including in Argentina, France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Finland. She graduated from the ESMUC University of Music in Barcelona. Shortly after her studies, she was appointed Flute Professor of the Culleredo Conservatory. Catalá is the founding member of Trio Brigantia, Flutello Eventos and Ruska Duo. Her recent work with children can be seen through her role as Kids Coordinator of the Tampere Flute Fest and as the host of her own show with Pikku Kakkonen: Paloman sanaton muskari.
Jaana Laasonen
Jaana Laasonen is Lecturer of Flute at the East Helsinki Music Institute in Finland. She obtained her diploma in 1986, having studied the flute in Finland and at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. As an educator, Laasonen has developed a method for young flutists called Colour Flute, which is based on Zoltán Kodaly’s ideas. Outside Finland, she has taught the Colour Flute Method in Hungary, Ireland, England, Latvia, Estonia, Austria and The Faroe Islands.
Finnish National Opera Flutists
The Finnish National Opera flutists consist of: Alexis Roman (Principal, 2020), Bernadett Bogáyi (Alternating Principal, 2006), Matti Närhinsalo (Deputy Principal, 2010), Ilkka Laivaara (Piccolo, 2019) and Timo Pulakka (Former Principal, 1996).
Helsinki Flute Orchestra
Now in its 11th year, The Helsinki Flute Orchestra was started as an ensemble for adult flutists to return to a musical practice in a supportive and challenging environment. The ensemble uses improvisation and extended techniques as rehearsal techniques and in performance. In addition to regularly performing in local spaces, the HHO has participated in several Finnish Flute Association festivals, among others. The orchestra is led by Dr. Kathleen Weidenfeller.
Elina Raijas
Elina Raijas is Alternating Principal Flute of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HKO) and teacher at the Sibelius Academy of Music. Previously, Raijas worked in the Joensuu City Orchestra and with orchestras around Finland. At the age of nine she began her flute playing journey at the Lohja Music College and later continued her studies at the Sibelius Academy of Music where she has been mentoring young flutists for the past four years.
Veera Degerholm
Veera Degerholm graduated in 1995 with a Master of Theater Arts from the University of Tampere, and a Character Therapist from the Gestalt Institute of Scandinavia in 2022. She has worked as a freelancer in the creative field since 1997. Her work has included acting, scriptwriting, directing, etc., especially in children’s culture. From 2005 until today, she has worked in YLEN’s Pikku Kakkonen magazine program, e.g. as an actor, presenter, screenwriter and personal director.
Iago Castro Pérez
Spanish cellist Iago Castro Pérez has completed his cello studies at the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. Iago has worked as a cello teacher in the social project of the Galician Symphony Orchestra in the years 2012–2019. He is a versatile musician with experience especially in classical music, but also in jazz, pop and rock music. He has worked as a musician, arranger and founder of e.g. Brigantia in trio, Flutello Evento and Ruska Duo.
Hernán Milla
Twice nominated for the Latin GRAMMY® Award and winner of the Independent Music Award, the Gold Medal of the Global Music Awards and the Akademia Award, Hernán Milla is an imaginative musician, of extraordinary versatility and creative capacity: pianist, harpsichordist, composer, improviser, arranger and music producer. He has made productions within the sphere of classical music, Latin jazz, world music and music for children. His discography includes works as a soloist, under the NAXOS label, as a chamber musician, forming a duo with the flutist Carlos Cano Escribá and as a composer and improviser together with the poet and oral narrator Aldo Méndez, under the Veleta Roja Editions label.
Viktor Pellia
Pianist Viktor Pellia has lived in Finland since 2011. He has won numerous awards in international competitions and has performed solo and chamber music concerts in Finland, Norway, France, Germany and Russia. As a soloist, he has appeared with various orchestras, including the Karelian State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio City Orchestra, Oulu City Orchestra, and Savonlinna Camerata. Pellia is also an active accompanist and has worked with several Finnish festivals. Currently, he works at the Tampere Conservatory of Music.
Tuomas Turriago
Tuomas Turriago is recognized as a Finnish composer, pianist and conductor. Since 2004 Turriago has served as senior lecturer in accompaniment at Tampere University of Applied Sciences. In 2019 he became part of the Sibelius Academy faculty as a Chamber Music teacher. Turriago has performed as a soloist in Estonia, Norway, Germany, Hungary, Israel, The United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, Colombia and Finland. His compositional oeuvre of 41 works to date have all been recorded.
Ville Hautakangas
Pianist Ville Hautakangas has been playing with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002. During these 20 years, the orchestra has flourished under the artistic guidance of prestigious conductors such as Eri Klas, John Storgårds, Hannu Lintu and Santtu-Matias Rouvali. Hautakangas has been teaching piano and working as an accompanist at the Tampere Conservatory and Tampere University of Appilied Sciences since 2006. He is also a member of the contemporary music ensemble TampereRaw. His newly released solo album “12 Premieres – Contemporary Finnish Piano Music” has been met with glowing reviews. In addition to his music career, Hautakangas works as a freelance photographer.
Hanna-Leena Savolainen
Pianist Hanna–Leena Savolainen works as an accompanist and pedagogue at TAMK Music Academy and Pirkanmaan Music School. She is an active chamber musician and frequently performs with various ensembles such as the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Savolainen has performed as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, and won numerous awards in competitions such as the prestigious Leevi Madetoja Piano Competition. Savolainen is co-founder of the Kitee Chamber Concerts.
Meri Holma
Pianist living in Tampere, Meri Holma graduated in 2022 from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and now holds a degree in Music Education. She works as a piano
teacher at SASKY Municipal Education and Training Concortium. In addition to that, she spends her time playing solo and chamber music on the piano. Meri Holma is
also a graduate flute teacher.
Catherine Rhatigan
Catherine Rhatigan comes from Co. Sligo, Ireland and plays Celtic harp and piano. The main scope of Catherine’s work is to create innovative arts based programmes, then initiate, produce and direct them in collaboration with other arts professionals. She has played as part of many groups, and the majority she has initiated herself to include Irish Harp Orchestra, Harpers Bizarre, Tale of the Gael, Atlantic Orchestra project and others. The historically informed shows and musical events Catherine creates have been performed across Europe and America.