Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo, Saxophone

Biography

Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo began his musical studies at
the age of 10 and since 1993 studied under Pekka Savijoki at the Sibelius
Academy, graduating in 1999. He is currently finishing his doctoral studies at
the Sibelius Academy as the first saxophonist to do so at the institution.

Tuomisalo is a very active performer, giving recitals and appearing as a
soloist with various orchestras. His concerto performances (almost 100) have
included works by composers such as Perttu Haapanen, Sebastian Fagerlund,
Claude Debussy, Kalevi Aho, Alexander Glazunov, Frank Martin, Henry Cowell,
Franz Waxman and Paul Creston. Tuomisalo has so far released five CD´s in his
series of "Complete Finnish Saxophone Music". Included are ten works
for saxophone and orchestra and almost the whole saxophone and piano
repertoire.

Tuomisalo leads the Academic Saxophone Quartet and performs regularly
with pianist Risto-Matti Marin. As the leading voice of the Finnish classical
saxophone, he has encouraged a rising number of composers to create a whole new
repertoire for him. He has performed under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leif
Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Vytautas Lukocius, John Storgårds, Osmo Vänskä
and dozens of others.

Tuomisalo´s recording of the Sebastian Fagerlund Saxophone Concerto was the
acclaimed highlight of the year in many Finnish newspapers. He is also the
featured artist in the Saxophone Journal May/June 2007 and Finnish Music
Quarterly 1/2008 Magazines. Some recent highlights are performances of Kalevi
Aho's Saxophone Concerto in Russia and Sebastian Fagerlund's Saxophone Concerto
in China.