Winter post

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Dear all! It is mid-February and the winter is in its full blooming in Finland- no signs of spring here for still quite a while. The above picture is from Joensuu (a frozen river).

I have some exciting new trips for performances and master classes and recordings coming soon- and next week I will be in Lisbon, Portugal for teaching at Escola Superior de Music de Lisbon and playing with the greats Ricardo Pinheiro, Massimo Cavalli and Eric Ineke. The concert will be held on February 21st at Fabrica Braco de Prata in Lisbon.

Other news and information for this winter/spring soon!

Here below some memories from the past 2-3 months:

In December I spent a week in Belgium (plus one day in Holland): I was doing master classes at the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, and had a concert in Brussels at the famous Archiduc with Peter Hertmans, Sal la Rocca and Lionel Beuvens (the pic below). It was great fun, and we had a really nice dinner later on with Peter and his lovely wife Roweena!
On the sama trip I sneaked out to Den Haag for a very cool reunion with the brilliant Juraj Stanik, Eric Ineke and Dan Nicolas and also Steve Willem Swanik.The gig was at Pavlov and it was great fun indeed!

For the Holiday Season we (me and my sweet kids, Lumi and Milo) travelled again)to Italy, spending time both in Rome and Lecce and other spots in the fantastic Salento. It was a lovely trip, had finally some time for chill down with my bunnies. Some highlights from that trip: 
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A photo session at Gallipoli Baia Verde, New Year's Eve 2018.

From Castro Marina

Nardo Centro Storico

Lecce Cathedral

Rosario Giuliani Trio at the Gregory's Jazz Club

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Our last night of the trip, checking out Rosario's band and meeting some friends!

The rest of January was quite busy with teaching in Joensuu, and in early February I returned to Italy, did a short studio session with my dear friend Greg Burk and attended the AEC Pop/Jazz Platform Conference in Pescara. I also one concert at the Gregory's Jazz on Feb 7th, with Francesco Puglisi and Valerio Vantaggio. I met a lot of really cool people on this trip, so it was definitely worth doing! Below some photos..

Dinner in Pescara on the first night with my friend Peter Hertmans.

The opening session of the conference.

A beautiful castle we visited and had dinner in the other night, outside Pescara,

At the famous Fabbrini Piano shop in Pescara.- the owner is a legendary guy - he has been known to many of world's best pianists..

Here at the Fabbrini, on the right Greg Burk, on the left Clive Simons (studio owner and engineer) and in the middle Mr. Fabbrini himself.

Nice dinner gang and hang on the last night in Pescara! From left: Chantal Charlier, Andre Charlier, Benoit Sourisse, Benoit Baumgartner, Michel Paré, me and Peter Hertmans,

Now I'm already in Portugal - will be performing and teaching here in Lisbon at the Escola Superior de Musics de Lisboa and performing (at least) on February 21st with Ricardo Pinheiro, Massimo Cavalli and Eric Ineke. Will be fun! 
Stay well, and stay tuned! All the best, Pekka