Otto Tolonen - November 8, 2003

Otto Tolonen (b.1980) started his musical studies in 1985 with piano. In 1991 he changed the instrument to the guitar and studied it with Andrzej Wilkus in Espoo Music School.

Since autumn 1995 Otto Tolonen has studied in Helsinki Sibelius-Academy under the guidance of Timo Korhonen, Jukka Savijoki and Jyrki Myllärinen. He has also studied with Raphaella Smits in Belgium and with Oscar Ghiglia in Siena, Italy at ”Accademia Musicale Chigiana” where he received the diploma of honour (Diploma di Merito) in three consecutive years. During the semester 2001-02 Tolonen studied in Weimar, Germany (Hochschule fur Musik) with Maestro Thomas Mueller-Pering.

Otto Tolonen has appeared as guitarist in solo concerts but also in chamber groups and orchestra soloist in his own country and also in Poland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Checz Republic and Argentina. During summer 2003 he toured Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin with the Sibelius Music festival.

Tolonen has won the following prices in international competitions:
-1995 special price as the youngest contestant and best performance of Villa-Lobos in Zory, Poland
-1997 winner at Frechen, Germany in competition for guitarists under 20 years
-1999 finalist and best performance of contemporary work in Admira Young Guitarist of the Year, England
-2000 second price (no first price given) in Tychy, Poland. Also price for the best performance of a Polish contemporary work
-2001 second price in Ville d’Antony, Paris
-2001 first price in Bratislava, Slovakia at ”Johan Kaspar Mertz” competition
-2002 first price in National K.V Leino guitar competition, Jyväskylä, Finland
-2002 first price in “Fernando Sor” competition, Roma, Italy
-2002 first price in Templin, Berlin
-2002 second price in Tychy, Poland
-2003 third price in Stotsenberg, Los Angeles

Otto Tolonen plays guitars made by Brian Cohen, 1996 and Camillo Perrella, 2002.

”Tolonen is one of the most outstanding talents, better to say: mature young talents in the guitar world... His technique is just excellent, his sense for sound, for subtle colours and his instinct for expressive dynamics, tension, dimensions and drama in the music could be described as rare and quite unique.”
(Thomas Mueller Pering)

”Tolonen showed exceptional musical maturity. His interpretation of the Villa-Lobos concerto was intensive, peaceful and full of content showing that he had understood the work and dissolved it into his spinal fluids”
(Mikko Voutilainen/Keskisuomalainen)

”The word that best describes Tolonen´s playing is easiness. Technical diffculties do not slow him down. When he plays, all the musical nuances come easily and naturally... Tolonen seized the audience into the Shakespearean world. His performance of the extremely demanding, thirty-minute work (“Royal Winter Music I” by Hans Werner Henze) was an unforgettable experience.”
(Aija Haapalainen/Turun Sanomat)