Joonatan Rautiola
Saxophonist Joonatan Rautiola is one of today's most recognized young Finnish soloists and a brilliant representative of the new generation of Nordic classical wind players.
Joonatan Rautiola studied at the Sibelius Academy under Pekka Savijoki and in Paris with Nicolas Prost and Christian Wirth. In 2010 he became the first Nordic saxophonist having graduated from Claude Delangle's world-renowned Paris Conservatory saxophone class. His other teachers include clarinetist Paul Meyer and legendary oboist Maurice Bourgue.
Joonatan Rautiola has appeared as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorfer Symfoniker, Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin, Het Kamerorkest Brugge, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Kymi Sinfonietta, Mikkeli Orchestra and with several professional Nordic wind orchestras. He has given recitals in London, Dublin, St. Petersbourg and at New York's Carnegie Hall. During a five-year long membership in the award-winning Quatuor Ellipsos, Rautiola performed in prestigious French concert venues such as the salle Pleyel and Radio France, and appeared together with world-class artists and ensembles - Eric le Sage, Jean-François Zygel and the Quatuor Voce.
An active performer of contemporary music, Joonatan Rautiola has premiered works by Patrick Marcland, Tapio Tuomela, Olli Virtaperko, Tuomas Turriago, Gerald Shapiro, Yann Robin, Mandy Fang, Jorge Sancho, Ilkka Hammo and Christian Lauba, and has received tuition from the composers Pierre Boulez and Betsy Jolas. September 2011, Joonatan Rautiola recorded Patrick Marcland's Saxo-solo for tenor saxophone and tape for an album with the composer's complete solo works, most of the other works being recorded by world-renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain's soloists.
Joonatan Rautiola is the only wind instrumentist having won the Finnish National Radio’s Young Soloists’ Competition. His numerous prizes in international competitions include first prizes at the Nordic Wind Soloists' Competition and the Nova Gorica International Saxophone Competition, third prize and two special prizes at the International Aeolus Competition for Wind Instruments and fourth prize at the International Adolphe Sax Saxophone Competition in Dinant, Belgium.
Equally in demand as a teacher, Joonatan Rautiola teaches at the Sibelius Academy and at the Tampere Music Academy and has given masterclasses at the Helsinki, Nantes and Strasbourg Conservatoires, Senzoku Gakuen College of Music (Tokyo) and the Trinity College of Music (London). Since 2012, he has taught at the Bretagne International Saxophone Academy with Alexandre Souillart and Hiroe Yasui.
In 2013, Joonatan Rautiola premieres Tapio Tuomela's Saxophone Concerto with the Joensuu Orchestra, appears as a soloist with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Mikkeli Orchestra and the Finnish Guard Band and gives masterclasses in Latvia and Portugal.
Joonatan Rautiola plays saxophones by Henri Selmer Paris and reeds by Rico.
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