Matti Hirvonen

Matti Hirvonen was born in Lappland in the northern part of Sweden. He studied the piano at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He pursued his studies in London with Peter Feuchtwanger (piano) and Geoffrey Parsons, (accompaniment).
 
After his studies Matti specialized in chamber music and accompaniment. He has collaborated with many distinguished instrumentalists, for example the violinists Isabelle van Keulen and Leon Spierer, the clarinetists Karl Leister and Michael Collins, cellist Truls Mork and the Wihan Ouartet.
 
Matti Hirvonen’s career as a performing accompanist began at the invitation of the famous soprano Elisabet Söderström. Matti has since performed extensively with such renowned singers as Nina Stemme, Hillevi Martinpelto, Miah Persson, Anna Larsson, Ida Falk Winland, Margareta Hallin, Katarina Karnéus, Maria Fontosh, Charlotte Hellekant, Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, Håkan Hagegård, Erik Saedén, Olle Persson, Anders Larsson and Peter Mattei.
 
Matti Hirvonen is a frequent guest at many important music centers and festivals throughout the world including Edinburgh International Festival, Festival d´Aix-en Provence, Carnegie hall in New York, Usedom Festival, Båstad Chamber music, Rome, Warsaw, Athens, Antwerp, Brussels, Helsinki, Paris, Nice, Madrid, Budapest, Tallinn, Kiev, Oslo, Mexico City and Tokyo.
 
Matti appears on many CD recordings with, among other works, lieder by Schubert, Scandinavian songs, piano music by Schumann and Schubert, Poulenc’s trio and Schubert’s "Troutquintet”. Matti has also recorded Scandinavian contemporary piano music written and dedicated to him.
 
Matti Hirvonen is a professor of Accompaniment and Chamber music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and a professor of Vocal Repertoire at the Royal College of Music in London. He regularly gives master classes in the art of lieder for both singers and pianists.
 
Since 2006 Matti Hirvonen is the Artistic Director of the song recital series "SOPRANOS" in the museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. 
 

During the season 2010/2011 Matti Hirvonen has performed at concerts in Zürich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Birmingham, Barcelona, Aten, Vienna, Hamburg, Cologne and Stockholm.