Iiro Rantala

After touring the world for 18 years with Trio Töykeät, Finland’s most famous and longest running jazz group, piano virtuoso Iiro Rantala is still at the forefront of international pianism. The energetic keyboard lion crosses musical genres with style, ease and excitement, playing at his exhilarating and adventurous best. Definitely entertaining, zany, unconventional and occasionally wicked, but always uncompromising, Iiro Rantala is among the most internationally visible Finnish musicians, and is second to none when it comes to unsurpassable keyboard technique and flaring showmanship.

Exploring the boundaries between musical genres is a strong characteristic of Rantala’s artistic personality. He appears in Finland with symphony orchestras, performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Mozart’s No.23 piano concerto, and his own Concerto in G#majAb, first premiered in 2003 with the Tapiola Sinfonietta. Rantala’s creative diversity has also seen him intensively engaged with music for children’s theatre, as well as performing with cross-over classical musicians, including the Finnish vocal group Rajaton, and recently as a tango duo with world renowned virtuoso violinist Pekka Kuusisto.

“It is important to experience Finnish jazz live, as it is difficult to describe. Finnish jazz is peopled with originals (…) His voluminous body suits his playing well, which to put it mildly is virtuoso. One must perhaps go all the way back to Franz Liszt to find the same kind of virtuosity. At least there is lots real romanticism in Rantala. But there was much else too. Elegant and original melodies, lots of imposing, insisting and fascinating repetitive figures, extreme improvisations and a good grain of melancholy and humor – yes humour.” (Kjeld Frandsen/Denmark)