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The Finnish-born violinist, Vesa-Matti Leppänen, began violin lessons at the age of 5 and studied at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki before joining the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the oldest orchestras in Europe. At 16 years of age, he won the National Violin Competition for young Finnish violinists..
Vesa-Matti Leppänen moved to New Zealand in 2000, and was appointed New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster in 2003. He has earned international recognition for his musicianship as a chamber musician, teacher, jurist, and soloist. He has performed as soloist with all the major orchestras in New Zealand. With the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra he has performed Sibelius, Lalo, W.A. Mozart and J.S. Bach concertos as well as works by leading New Zealand composers. As a soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra he has also recorded works by Lyell Cresswell and Ken Young.
Internationally, Vesa-Matti Leppänen has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Australia, China, Japan, Philippines and Scandinavia. In 2005 he led the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra on its European/Japanese Tour and again in 2010 including unforgettable performances in the Musikverein in Vienna and Lucerne Festival Hall. On both of those tours he was also featured as a soloist. He has worked alongside internationally renowned soloists Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, Pinchas Zukerman and Janine Jansen, to name a few. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Avanti! Chamber Orchestra.
Vesa-Matti Leppänen is also a member of Irons/Leppanen/Joyce piano trio, which performs regularly Leppänen teaches at the New Zealand School of Music and has given master-classes and coached the NZSO National Youth Orchestra and the Asian Youth Orchestra. He is also a Jury member in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He currently lives in Auckland, New Zealand. |
