Official Biography

Born in Siberia in 1976, Julia started to play  the piano at age of three under the guidance of her mother, Lidia Mustonen.
She has studied  in Sibelius-Academy in Helsinki and Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg. Her  "Akademischer Grad Diplom-Pianist" she did in Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin. She continued her postgraduation studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Musik, Dublin in "Performace Artist" program, in Granados-Marshall Academy , Barcelona in "Master of Spanish Music" program and since 2005 in  Stockholm Royal Academy of Music in "Advanced Master" Soloist-Diploma program.

Her main teachers have been Erik T. Tawaststjerna in Helsinki, Vitali Berzon in Freiburg, Laszlo Simon in Berlin, John O'Conor in Dublin, Alicia de Larrocha in Barcelona and Staffan Scheja in Stockholm.
Julia has also participated in masterclasses with  Dominique Merlet, Klaus Hellwig and Olli Mustonen.

Regular concerts she started to give in really early age and has since performed extensively in Russia (Siberian region), central Europe and Scandinavia. She has aslo performed as a soloist  with numerous orchestras and appeared in various music Festivals, charity concerts, TV and Radio. In the year 2001 she performed the Russian Debut of Einar Englund´s Piano Concerto nr 1 with Krasnoyarsk Philarmonic orchestra. In year 2006-2007 will perform Complete Works by C. Debussy in Finland, Sweden and Denmark.

Julia has also had success in piano competitions; she has claimed top prizes at several domestic and international competitions and she in the winner of  Nordic Bluethner Piano Competition  in 2004, where she was awarded new Bluethner Grand Piano model 6  and in year 2006 she was invited to play in "World Piano Masters of Monte Carlo" competition, where she acdlaimed the group of top 4.
She was also awarded by Kordelini Foundation (2002 and 2006), Jenny ja Antti Wihuri Foundation (2001 and 2003) and Culture Foundation in Finland (2005), Società Dante Alighieri in Stockholm,  Anders Wall Foundation in Sweden and the Finnish Performing Music Promotion Centre in Finland (2006)

The Finnish pianist Julia Mustonen is gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting young artists in nothern Europe. Among a number of prizes in International Competitions, she is the winner of Nordic International Piano Competition in 2004 where she was awarded with a Bluethner Grand Piano worth 35.000 Euro. 2006-2008 she performed the Complete Piano Repertoire of Claude Debussy on tours in the Nordic countries.

Born in a Finnish-Russian family, she started to play piano at the age of 3. Growing up in communist Siberia, she was considered a child prodigy and gave concert tours at a very early age, sometimes under inhumane conditions. Traveling around the Siberian region, she had sometimes to play concerts in halls with a temperature of -10C, while it was -40C outdoors.  Julia always loved to perform and play for an audience and until now the contact with her audience is central in her artistry.

At the age of 16 she completed her first professional degree after a spirit-breaking music education in Siberia. When she moved to Finland with her family, she decided to stop performing on stage and did not give a public concert in more than 7 years.  During that time Julia was living and studying in Germany, resulting in a Master degree in Freiburg and a Postgraduate degree in Berlin. An important figure for Julia was Vitali Berzon, her teacher during those years, who rebuilt her as a pianist.

After those 7 years, one of the most famous musicians in Finland, Erik. T. Tawaststjerna, professor at the Sibelius Academy, encouraged Julia to return to the concert stage, and shortly after that she won a small international competition in Paris, and this convinced her to continue to pursue a life as a performing artist.

Since 2003 Julia has been working with great pianists such as Staffan Scheja, Alicia de Larrocha, John O’Conor and Olli Mustonen. They have all influenced her deeply.  She has also received awards from among others the Cultural Foundation, the Music Performance Promotion Centre in Finland, The Royal Academy of Music and the Anders Wall Foundation in Sweden.

In 2007 she had a critically acclaimed debut performance at the Gotland Chamber Music Festival where she got the following review: ” …the young pianist Julia Mustonen played ”Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. She delivered an interpretation that left us completely breathless. …It has to be like that so that a soloist of great stand can go into the music, become one with the instrument…Julia was living inside the music with strong and sensible theatrical gestures, she was so physical and both caressing and taming the grand piano, as if it were a giant body. Brilliant playing and a long well-deserved applause, with her being called back to stage a number of times!”