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Kalevi Aho



Kalevi Aho, one of Finland’s foremost contemporary composers, was born in Forssa in southern Finland on 9th March 1949. He commenced violin studies in his home town at the age of ten, and his first compositions also date from this time. From the autumn of 1968 he studied the violin and composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki; his composition teacher was Einojuhani Rautavaara.

After graduating as a composer (1971), Kalevi Aho continued his studies in Berlin (1971–72) as a pupil of Boris Blacher at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik and darstellende Kunst. From 1974 until 1988 he was a lecturer in musicology at Helsinki University, and from 1988 until 1993 he was a professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy. Since the autumn of 1993 he has worked in Helsinki as a freelance composer.

The central focus of Aho’s work consists of large-scale orchestral, chamber and vocal works; to date his output includes five operas (1978–2013), seventeen symphonies (1969–2017), twenty-eight concertos (1981–2016), three chamber symphonies for string orchestra, other orchestral and vocal music and a large amount of music for chamber ensembles and solo instruments.

He has also made a number of arrangements and orchestrations of works by other composers. The most important of these is the completion of Uuno Klami’s unfinished ballet Pyörteitä (Whirls). In 1992 the Lahti Symphony Orchestra appointed Kalevi Aho composer in residence, and since 2012 he has been its composer laureate.

In Finland Aho has also gained a reputation as an assiduous writer on music and with his writings and speeches he has also taken a critical stand on the culture politics of Finland. He has occupied a number of important positions in Finnish cultural life.
 



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Jaakko Kuusisto - Symphony
BIS2747
24 FLAC Discount This disc is a double tribute.
  
Children! - Hiyoli Togawa
BIS2643
24 FLAC Discount After Songs of Solitude (BIS-2553), a projec...
  
Aho - Concertante works for recorder, saxophone and accordion
BIS2646
24 FLAC Discount Concertante works featuring the recorder, te...
  
Kalevi Aho - Concertos for Violin and for Cello
BIS2466
Having broken off work on a second violin concerto in 2012, the ...
  
Kalevi Aho - Double and Triple Concertos
BIS2426
Concertos for cor anglais are few and far between, and harp conc...
  
Kalevi Aho - Solo, Vol. 1
BIS2446
Kalevi Aho is one of today’s most prolific composers of large-sc...
  
Songs of Solitude
BIS2533
Songs of Solitude was conceived by the violist Hiyoli Togawa at ...
  
Kalevi Aho - Sieidi & Symphony No. 5
BIS2336
With 17 symphonies and 32 concertos to date, Kalevi Aho is one o...
  
Kalevi Aho - Chamber Music
BIS2186
Internationally acclaimed for his music for orchestra (17 sympho...
  
Kromos - 21st-Century Guitar Music
BIS2395
For his new recital disc, the acclaimed Finnish guitarist Ismo E...
  
Aho – Concertos for Trombone and Trumpet
BIS2196
Hugely prolific as well as widely acclaimed, Kalevi Aho has comp...
  
Kalevi Aho – Wind Quintets 1 & 2
BIS2176
With 17 symphonies in his list of works, not to mention operas a...
  
Aho - Saxophone Concerto and Quintet
BIS2216
To date, Kalevi Aho has composed sixteen symphonies and twenty-e...
  
Aho & Fagerlund - Bassoon
BIS2206
BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award 2018 The Finnish composer K...
  
Aho - Piano works
BIS2106
Recording of the Month, MusicWeb-International.com 5 Diapasons,...
  
Aho – Theremin and Horn Concertos
BIS2036
“Empfehlung” Klassik-Heute.de “Here are new works that are bo...
  
Aho - Music with Organ
BIS1966
A companion to Jan Lehtola’s previous recording of Kalevi Aho’s ...
  
Aho - Symphony No.15
BIS1866
”…terrific music, and the Lahti musicians, under three different...
  
Kalevi Aho – Works for the Oboe
BIS1876
Music Web International, May 2013: "Fine music and musicianship,...
  
Aho - Symphony for Organ
BIS1946
Klassik Heute 9/9/9, February 2013.
  
The Chamber Music for Clarinet
BIS1886
Music Web International: outstanding August 2012: "Fine writing ...
  
Kalevi Aho - Chamber Symphonies Nos 1-3
BIS1126
  
Kalevi Aho – Symphony No.13
BIS1316
Classics Today: "A terrific release".
  
21st-Century Tuba Concertos
BIS1685
The Norwegian tubaist Øystein Baadsvik has made his mark with a ...
  
Aho – Concert for Chamber Orchestra
BIS1686
Music Web International: Recording of the Month.
  
Aho - Tuba Concerto & Contrabassoon Concerto
BIS1574
Music Web International: outstanding.
  
Nielsen & Aho Clarinet Concertos
BIS1463
BBC Music Magazine: Editor's Choice; Gramophone: outstanding; In...
  
Aho - Symphony No.11
BIS1336
Classics Today 10/10; Gramophone: outstanding; BBC Music Magazin...
  
Aho / Mussorgsky
BIS1186
Classics Today 10/10; Music Web International: Disc of the Year.
  
Finntastic - Musical Souvenirs from Finland
BIS1277
  
Solo Flute from A to Z - Vol.1
BIS1159
10/10/10 Klassik-Heute.de 2001 Diapason d'Or Diapason 08/2002 ...
  
Aho - Chinese Songs and Symphony No.4
BIS1066
Classics Today 10/10: 'The Lahti Symphony under Osmo Vänskä play...
  
Aho - Oboe Quintet
BIS1036
American Record Guide: Critic's Choice; Penguin Guide 3 Stars; K...
  
Rautavaara: Lintukoto / Pohjola: Tapiolandia
ABCD202
  
Aho: Tristia - Kantelinen: Ghost - Sallinen: The Palace Rhapsody
ABCD170
  
Aho - Quintets
BIS866
BBC Music Magazine: outstanding; Klassik Heute: outstanding.
  
Nordic Trombone Concertos
BIS888
  
Aho - Symphonies Nos 2 & 7
BIS936
BBC Music Magazine: 5 Stars; Penguin Guide: 3 Stars.
  
Aho - Symphony No.10
BIS856
Gramophone: outstanding.
  
Aho - Symphony No.9
BIS706
  
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