Olli Mustonen occupies a central position within Finland’s classical music world through his activities as pianist, composer, and conductor. He has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras inside and outside the country while occupying multiple leadership posts. A sustained artistic partnership links him with cellist Steven Isserlis, and he continues to perform as recitalist and concerto soloist at festivals and with orchestras worldwide. In 2021 he assumed the roles of principal conductor and artistic director of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra.
Keyboard instruction began for Mustonen at age five with eminent pianist Ralf Gothóni. From age seven he studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara, one of Finland’s foremost contemporary composers. Like compatriot Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mustonen receives wider international notice for his playing than for his writing, yet within Finland his reputation rests chiefly on his compositions. The 1989 Toccata for piano, string quartet, and double bass first drew attention to him as a composer. He served as music director of the Turku Music Festival from 1990 to 1992 and helped establish the Helsinki Festival Orchestra, which he also conducted.
Mustonen entered a recording agreement with Decca in 1991 and released Shostakovich’s Preludes, Op. 34, together with Alkan’s Preludes, Op. 31. The album received the Gramophone Award for Best Instrumental Performance in 1992, yet further projects with the label did not follow; he has since recorded primarily for Ondine. He remains a frequent presence on concert programs, especially across Europe and Australia. Composer Rodion Shchedrin dedicated Piano Concerto No. 5 to him, and Mustonen gave the premiere in 1999 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2003 until 2009 he held the artistic directorship of the Tapiola Sinfonietta.
His works range across orchestral, solo, and chamber genres, including the Three Mysteries for orchestra of 2002 and numerous pieces that feature cello. The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned his Symphony No. 1, Tuuri (2012), and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Symphony No. 2, Johannes Angelos (2013); Mustonen led both premieres. Interpretations of cello repertoire have involved close work with Steven Isserlis and Daniel Müller-Schott. The association with Isserlis dates from an early-1980s concert encounter when Mustonen was 16 and has produced regular joint appearances, among them a 2014 recording of cello sonatas by Martinu, Sibelius, and Mustonen.
In 2019 the City of Hanau awarded Mustonen the Hindemith Prize for distinguished musical achievement in memory of Paul Hindemith. That year he and Isserlis released a recording of sonatas by Shostakovich and Kabalevsky. Commissioned by the Beethoven Festival Bonn for the composer’s 250th-anniversary observances, Mustonen’s String Sextett received its first performance in February 2020. He began his tenure as artistic director and principal conductor of the Turku Philharmonic in January 2021.
