World-renowned woodwind players to give masterclasses in Uusikaupunki, Finland, in 2023!
Crusell Music Festival in Uusikaupunki, Finland, is one of the few festivals in the world focused around woodwind instruments. Next summer will be the 42nd edition of the Crusell Music Festival, and the festival will take place July 22-29. In addition to fantastic chamber music concerts, Crusell Music Festival organizes annual masterclasses. We are proud to present some of the world’s finest woodwind artists and pedagogues as our teachers each year.
In 2023 the Crusell Music Festival will organize masterclasses for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. In addition to the masterclasses, the festival will host flute and clarinet courses, aimed for both younger and older woodwind enthusiasts and students.
We at the Crusell Music Festival want to make our festival a meeting place for woodwind professionals from both the orchestral and teaching fields. We would like to warmly welcome you to further your knowledge as a performer or as a teacher by following our masterclasses. You can follow the masterclasses by buying a passive student’s pass. With a student pass you can follow the masterclasses and learn the teaching methods of our guest teachers, get new inspiration as well as create some international relations and networks. At the end of the festival we will organize a roundtable discussion with the teachers and students of the masterclasses. The objective of the roundtable is to discuss the different paths of becoming a professional musician and the ways to further develop oneself as a musician.
Welcome!
Christina Fassbender, flute masterclass
Christina Fassbender has performed as a soloist with orchestras like Berlin Radio SymphonyOrchestra, Orchestra of the Beethovenhalle Bonn and many more. From 1999 to 2012 she held the position as solo flutist of the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin. In this position she was invited as a guest musician to orchestras. From 2012 she followed her vocation to teach. Christina Fassbender was appointed in 2017 professor to the Universität der Künste Berlin. She is a frequent lecturer at international master classes and regularly serves as a juror at national and international competitions as last in 2019 as chairwoman of the 71st competition of the Prague Spring.
Annaleena Jämsä, flute class
Annaleena Jämsä has worked as the principal flutist of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra since 2009. She has previously been employed as the principal or co-principal flutist e.g. in the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. She also teaches flute at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences and gives master classes regularly. In 2001, she won a special prize in the Crusell Flute Competition. Annaleena is known as a positive and inspiring teacher.
Juri Vallentin, oboe masterclass
Oboist Juri Vallentin’s permanent search for new forms of expression and narratives for his instrument has earned him a prominent place among young soloists of his generation. His goal is the constant development of a contemporary context for classical music from the baroque to the present. Winner of major international competitions, such as the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition St. Petersburg as first oboist he has performed as a soloist with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Orchestra St. Petersburg, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn among others. In addition to the classical core repertoire he devotes himself with great passion to collaborating with contemporary composers. In 2021 Juri Vallentin was appointed professor of oboe at the Karlsruhe University of Music.
François Benda, clarinet masterclass
François Benda comes from a long line of professional musicians. He has been awarded the “Premio internationale per le Arti dello Spettaccolo” in Rome. François Benda performs at the most important music venues and appears as clarinet soloist with many leading orchestras. He is a highly sought after performing artist both as a soloist and chamber music partner. He is professor at Berlin’s Universität der Künste and teaches at Basel’s Hochschule für Musik.
Olli Leppäniemi, clarinet class
Olli Leppäniemi has years of experience in Crusell Music Festival as student, performer and from 2019 on as an artistic director. Olli Leppäniemi won 1st prize in Carl Nielsen clarinet competition in 2009 and he has since then performed as a soloist in many orchestras. In addition to his career as a soloist Leppäniemi has worked as a principal clarinetist e.g. in Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2019 he as been principal clarinetist in Tapiola Sinfonietta.
Mor Biron, bassoon masterclass
The Israeli Bassoonist was from 2007 to 2021 a member of the World known Berliner Philharmoniker. As a Scholarship holder from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, he won numerous prizes, among them 1st prize of the “Aviv” Competition in Tel Aviv. Mor is a founding member of the west-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the musical direction of Daniel Barenboim. He is an active chamber musician, a member of Ensemble Berlin-Prag and the Philharmonisches Oktett and following his passion for early music.
As a teacher and lecturer for bassoon and music, Mor is investing a lot of time giving master classes worldwide, meeting young musicians. Mor is a leading Professor of the Bassoon Studio at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin. His Performance and personal musical inner-voice are a very important value which he passes on to his students and colleagues.