Kalle Randalu

Kalle Randalu is an Estonian pianist of international acclaim. He studied at the Tallinn Music High School with Tiina Kurik, at the Tallinn Conservatoire with Prof. Bruno Lukk and the Moscow Conservatoire with Prof. Lev Vlassenko. He is a laureate of several international piano contests: First Prize from the Ústí nad Labem International Piano Competition (Czech Republic, 1971), First Prize from the Soviet Union Piano Competition in Tallinn (1976), prizes from the International Robert Schumann Contest in Zwickau (1981), and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1982) and First Prize from the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (1985).

Kalle Randalu settled in Germany in 1988. From 1994 to 1997 he was a professor at the Freiburg University of Music and since 1997 he has held a professorship at the Karlsruhe University of Music.

Kalle Randalu has given concerts in most European countries, the USA, Australia, Russia and Japan. Among the venues where he has performed are the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Hercules Hall Munich, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Grand Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, the Grand Hall and Small Hall of St. Petersburg Philharmonia, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, theMusikhalle Hamburg, the Finlandia-talo in Helsinki, the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg and the Rosengarten Mannheim.

Kalle Randalu has performed with many prominent orchestras such as theSymphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian State Orchestra, the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Württemberg, Bratislava, St. Petersburg, Berlin and Ostrobotnian Chamber Orchestras and many others. He has collaborated with such conductors as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mariss Jansons, Natan Rahlin, Nikolai Alexeev, Maxim Shostakovich, Juha Kangas, Leif Segerstam, Osmo Vänskä, Jörg Faerber, Jac van Steen, Kazushi Ono, Christoph Poppen, Vladimir Fedosseyev, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Peeter Lilje, Arvo Volmer, Eri Klas, Olari Elts, Risto Joost and Jüri Alperten among others.

Kalle Randalu has over 50 piano concertos in his repertoire and a large number of solo and chamber works. In collaboration with the Finnish conductor Juha Kangas he has played nearly all the Mozart piano concertos. On many occasions Kalle has played all the Beethoven concertos and the Choral Fantasy within two evenings. Thanks to close connections with Estonian composers he has premiered many contemporary Estonian works. For over 20 years he has been connected with Villa Musica, one of Germany’s biggest concert institutions, which brings together leading German musicians and organizes about 150 chamber music concerts a year all over the country. His partners in Villa Musica have been Sabine Meyer, David Geringas, Radovan Vlatković, Dag Jensen, Martin Ostertag and others. He collaborates constantly also with ensembles Mandelring Quartet and Trio di Clarone with Sabine Meyer, Wolfgang Meyer and Reiner Wehle.

Kalle Randalu has recorded over 40 CDs and 16 LPs. Exceptionally successful has been a cycle of Paul Hindemith’s complete sonatas (recorded together with Villa Musica players) which has been awarded such prizes as the Classical Award in Cannes and ECHO Klassik (German Phono Academie). With Tallinn Chamber Orchestra conducted by Juha Kangas he has recorded Mozart Piano concertos K. 413, 414 and 415. With Neeme Järvi and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra CDs with all Beethoven Piano concertos and both Brahms’ Piano concertos have been released recently.

Very important is Kalle Randalu’s pedagogical activity. Besides his professorship in Germany he has been giving masterclasses in the United States, Australia, Germany, Finland and Estonia.

In 1987 Kalle Randalu was named National Artist of Estonia and since 1999 he has held an honorary doctorate of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. In 2001 Kalle Randalu received the 4th class Order of the White Star.

Links:
Wikipedia (English)
Wikipedia (German)
Edition49
Spotify
Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe

Personal website www.kallerandalu.com