Niklas Pokki (Finland)

Dr. Niklas Pokki (1976) is founder and artistic director of Mänttä Music Festival, the most important annual piano event in Finland, since 1999. He works as Head of Piano Department at the University of the Arts Helsinki, Sibelius Academy. Several of his students have won prizes in national and international competitions. Pokki is an active master class teacher and lecturer, and he works constantly as a juror in national and international piano competitions. He is also co-founder and coordinator of a prestigious talent education program, the Youth Piano Academy Finland. As a researcher, he has publications in the fields of music pedagogy and music psychology.

Pokki has performed as a soloist with e.g. Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. He has premiered works by e.g. Jean Sibelius, Erkki Melartin, Kalevi Aho, Osmo-Tapio Räihälä and Tõnu Kõrvits. He has played broadcasted concerts (Finnish Broadcasting Company, Classic FM, Eesti Klassikaraadio and SWR1) and made studio recordings.

Niklas Pokki studied at the Sibelius Academy and at the Music University of Karlsruhe, Germany. His teachers include Matti Raekallio, Teppo Koivisto, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, Carmen Piazzini and Emanuel Krasovsky.