Kari Kriikku

Kari Kriikku (born 1960) is a Finnish classical clarinetist.

Kari Kriikku in Stockholm in 2009

He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and later with Alan Hacker in England and with Leon Russianoff and Charles Neidich in the United States.[1]

Concentrating on contemporary music, Kriikku has served as an interpreter of works for the clarinet by composers such as Magnus Lindberg, Vinko Globokar, Kaija Saariaho, Jukka Tiensuu, Jouni Kaipainen, Kimmo Hakola, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Pawel Szymanski, Eero Hämeenniemi, Olli Koskelin and Usko Meriläinen. He has performed Tiensuu's clarinet concerto PURO over 30 times.

Kari Kriikku is a founding member of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra and has served as the ensemble's artistic director since 1998.

Awards

His recordings of the concertos of Carl Maria von Weber was voted "best ever" recording by Classic CD and BBC Music Magazine.[2]

In 2006, his recording of Magnus Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto (2002) won both BBC Music Magazine's award and the Gramophone Award.[1][3][4]

He was the 2009 winner of the Nordic Council Music Prize: the prize committee wrote, "Kari Kriikku is an extraordinary virtuoso on his instrument, the clarinet. His performance is characterised by flexibility and a positive musician's joy – he is a musician in the best sense of the word."[5] In late 2015, he toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under guest-conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya.[6]

References
  1. "Pioneers: Kari Kriikku, clarinettist extraordinaire". Music Finland. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  2. "Concerts". ERSO. 5 December 2002. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  3. "artist information". KD Schmid. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  4. "Lindberg, Magnus/Saariaho, Kaija/Hakola, Kimmo – A Due: Duo works for clarinet & cello (Ondine Audio CD)". Boosey & Hawkes. 18 May 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  5. "Prize winner 2009". Nordic cooperation. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  6. Sell, David (5 November 2015). "Concert Review: Bold Worlds, NZSO". The Press. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
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