Dr. Niklas Pok­ki (1976) is the co-foun­der and ar­tis­tic di­rec­tor of Mänt­tä Music Fes­ti­val since 1999. He works as Head of Pia­no De­part­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts Hel­sin­ki, Si­be­lius Aca­de­my. He teac­hes also e.g. at the Tur­ku Con­ser­va­to­ry.

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 the co-foun­der and coor­di­na­tor of the Youth Pia­no Aca­de­my Fin­land.

Pok­ki has per­for­med as a so­loist with e.g. the Ba­den-Ba­den Phil­har­mo­nic Orc­he­stra and the Tal­linn Cham­ber Orc­he­stra. He has pre­mie­red works by e.g. Jean Si­be­lius, Ka­le­vi Aho, Osmo-Ta­pio Räi­hä­lä and Tõnu Kõr­vits. He has played broadcas­ted concerts (Fin­nish Broadcas­ting Com­pa­ny, Ron­do FM, Ees­ti Klas­si­ka­raa­dio and SWR1) and made stu­dio recor­dings. He has per­for­med in se­ve­ral Fin­nish music fes­ti­vals, e.g in Tur­ku Music Fes­ti­val, Si­ba­Fest and Maj Lind Pia­no Fo­rum.

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

niklaspokki.com