Alanko, Petri

Petri Alanko is the most internationally acclaimed Finnish flutist. He studied flute with Mikael Helasvuo at the Sibelius Academy and with William Bennett and Hans-Peter Schmitz at the Freiburg Music Academy. He started his professional career as principal flute at the Zurich Opera Orchestra and switched to Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra year after (1988). After winning two major competitions: Kobe (1989) and ARD (1990), Petri Alanko performed as soloist trhoughout Europe, USA and Japan. He has made an impressive number of recordings with all major Finnish orchestras for Avanti and Naxos labels, including Nielsen, Ibert and Jolivet concertos with Finnish Radio Symphony under Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
Since 2012 Petri Alanko is a faculty member of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. From 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Crusell Music Festival in Uusikaupunki, Finland. Petri Alanko has been a jury member of ARD, Kobe, Budapest, Beijing, Krakow etc. competitions.