Roland Peter Pöntinen is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

He is the son of a Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

-speaking father, a native of the Russian district of Ingria

Ingria

Ingria is a historical region in the eastern Baltic, now part of Russia, comprising the southern bank of the river Neva, between the Gulf of Finland, the Narva River, Lake Peipus in the west, and Lake Ladoga and the western bank of the Volkhov river in the east...

 (near Leningrad

Leningrad

Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...

) who emigrated from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 to Sweden in 1945. He studied at the Adolf Fredrik Music School and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

 in Stockholm with Gunnar Hallhagen, then with Menahem Pressler

Menahem Pressler

Menahem Pressler is a German-born American pianist, founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio.-Professional career:...

, György Sebok

Gyorgy Sebok

György Sebők was an internationally renowned pianist and Distinguished Professor at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington USA....

 and Elisabeth Leonskaya at Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, USA.

He made his debut in 1981 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm.The orchestra was founded in 1902 as the Stockholm Concert Society . The orchestra became a permanent ensemble in 1914. Since 1926, it has been based in the Stockholm Concert Hall...

 and has since then performed with major orchestras in Europe, USA, Korea, South-America, Australia and New Zealand. He has worked with conductors Myung-Whun Chung

Myung-Whun Chung

Myung-whun Chung is a South Korean pianist and conductor.His sisters, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Myung-wha Chung, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Chung studied conducting at...

, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos is a Spanish conductor and composer.Frühbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid...

, Neeme Järvi

Neeme Järvi

Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...

, Paavo Järvi

Paavo Järvi

Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor, and current Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to conductor Neeme Järvi and Liilia Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also musicians...

, Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...

, Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...

, Leif Segerstam

Leif Segerstam

Leif Segerstam is a Finnish conductor and composer.He studied violin, piano and conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and conducting at the Juilliard School in New York with Jean Morel....

, Evgeny Svetlanov

Evgeny Svetlanov

Yevgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov was a Russian conductor, composer, and though less well-known, a pianist.Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1955 he conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre, being appointed principal conductor there in 1962...

, Franz Welser-Möst

Franz Welser-Möst

Franz Welser-Möst is an Austrian conductor who is currently the music director for the Cleveland Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera.- Biography :...

 and David Zinman

David Zinman

David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...

 amongst others. He has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra

Philharmonia Orchestra

The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...

 as well as appearances in London Proms where he has played both the Grieg Piano Concerto

Piano Concerto (Grieg)

The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and among the most popular of all piano concerti.-Structure :The concerto is in three movements:...

 and the György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

 Piano Concerto.

Pöntinen's solo record debut was a recital of Russian piano music on the BIS Records

BIS Records

BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....

 label in 1984. He has since made over 50 records as soloist, accompanist and with orchestra.

Selected list of compositions

The following list is based on information from the composer's web site.

• The Girl from Brazil (1981)
• Camera per trombone e pianoforte (1981) also version for jazz-group
• Blue Winter for trombone and strings (1987)

A performance of this piece on February 3, 1998, given by the Philadelphia Orchestra

Philadelphia Orchestra

The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...

 in Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

, New York, was reviewed by Bernard Holland in the New York Times:

"A newer piece was Roland Pontinen's Blue Winter for trombone and orchestra. Mr. Pontinen takes an unlikely solo instrument deadly seriously as an agent for rich, flexible lyrical writing. Blue Winter is a kind of elegy in one movement. The trombone part, played here with skill and sincerity by Nitzan Haroz

Nitzan Haroz

Nitzan Haroz is an Israeli trombonist. He has been the principal trombonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995.Haroz was born in Israel. His mother, Adina Haroz, is a professional harpist...

, is made to sing against slow-moving chordal sheets of string sound. The effect is both icy and mournful; the acid harmonies keep sentimentality at bay."

• Tango Plus for clarinet,violin,cello and piano (1993)
• Capriccio for two flutes and strings (1993)
• Mercury Dream for clarinet and piano (1994)
• Concerto for piano and winds (1994)

A recording of this piece with Pöntinen as the pianist was reviewed by James R. Oestreich in the New York Times:

"...the prime attraction on that Bis disc [Bis 377; CD] is a sharply defined performance of the Concerto for Piano and Strings by Roland Pontinen and the Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Lev Markiz. Here it is Tchaikovsky's 1812 that is savaged, or at least the liturgical tune used in it. Pummeling pianism -- cannonry of sorts -- gives way to transcendence and ultimately to calm."

• Aiming at the ocean (1997)
• Sombre seascapes glowing (1997)

Sources

• Official web site. Accessed 21 August 2009.
• Biography at bach-cantatas.com. Accessed 21 August 2009.