Kalevi Kiviniemi

Kalevi Ilmari Kiviniemi (born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish concert organist.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s he started an international career with recitals in Prague, Japan and London.

He has toured e.g. in Europe, the US, Russia, Asia, Australia and the Philippines.

Kiviniemi has frequently performed at Notre Dame in Paris.

Born in Jalasjärvi, Kiviniemi studied at the Sibelius Academy, concert diploma in 1983 under Eero Väätäinen and Olli Linjama (improvisation).

Kiviniemi was the artistic director of the Lahti Organ Festival for eleven years, from 1991 to 2001.

He worked as the artistic counsellor of the Lapua Organ Festival for eleven years.

He has served on the juries of international organ competitions (Nuremberg 1996, Capri 1998, Speyer 2001, Korschenbroich 2005, St. Albans 2013, Strasbourg 2016).

Kiviniemi has been a jury member at international organ competitions, Nuremberg in 1996, Capri in 1998, Speyer in 2001, Korschenbroich in 2005, St. Albans International Organ Festival, U.K. in 2013, Strasbourg in 2016.

He has given master classes and lectures, for instance at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, the University Appleton, Lawrence, USA, Gustavus Adolphus College, USA, the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, Moscow, Russia, the University of Graz, Austria, the Museum of Science and Technology, Belgrad, Serbia, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland.

Many of his recordings have won awards, Improvisation was named Star Recording by the magazine The Organ in 1999, and Visions, containing Finnish organ music, received the Janne Prize for the best Finnish solo disc.

He has given over 2000 concerts, and his discography includes nearly 200 titles, many of them featuring significant and unique organs across the US, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany.

Kiviniemi is also considered to be a distinguished improviser, especially in the tradition of a French line that runs from Charles Tournemire through to Pierre Cochereau.

His first performance there in 2000, together with Olivier Latry, titulaire des grands orgue of Notre-Dame, was televised.

With the Finnish publisher Fuga he began in 2001 a series of recordings, OrganEra, planned to contain 20 volumes.

His first solo performance at Notre Dame was in 2002.

In addition to solo recitals and chamber music recitals, he has appeared with major orchestras such as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.

Kiviniemi has worked together with composer Aulis Sallinen and premiered his works in Finland, France and Great Britain.

Kiviniemi has played in some of the most celebrated venues in the world, such as Notre-Dame de Paris, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and the Sejong Art Center in Soul, Korea.

He has given recitals at St. Sulpice and Basilique Sainte-Clotilde in Paris, Berlin Cathedral, Passau Cathedral, Merseburg Cathedral, Saint John the Divine in New York, Rockefeller Memorial Chapels in both Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Saint Patrick's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and Toronto Cathedral.

In Japan Kiviniemi has been invited to the Metropolitan Theatre, Osaka Concert Hall, Sapporo Kitara Concert Hall, Yokohama Minato Mirai Concert Hall and Tokyo Cathedral.

Kiviniemi received the Luonnotar Prize at the Sibelius Festival in Lahti in 2003 and the trophy of the Organum Society in 2004 for services to Finnish organ music.

In 2009 he played a concert of transcriptions at the Konzerthaus Dortmund.

In 2009 his CD Lakeuden Ristin Urut was chosen as the organ album of the year in the US.

Kiviniemi has improvised and composed.

In 2009 he was awarded the State Prize for Music in Finland for lifelong achievements in music.

In 2010 he played a concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego.

In autumn 2010 he played concerts at the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam, at the Internationales Düsseldorfer Orgelfestival, at the Wuppertaler Orgeltage and at St. Martin, Idstein.

Kiviniemi was the first to record the complete organ works of Jean Sibelius, reviewed in 2010:

"'Judicious' is an apt description of Kiviniemi's playing style, as well as his choice of organ and repertoire. Whether it's the mighty Cavaillé-Coll of Saint-Ouen, the Grand Paschen organ of Pori’s Central Church or the noble Kangasala at Lakeuden Risti, one senses his choices are carefully made, the music matched to the instrument and its unique acoustic. This Sibelius recital is no exception, the late-19th-century Walcker – three manuals, with 16' and 32' pipes – seems ideally suited to the thrust and scale of the works at hand."

Kiviniemi's discography numbers more than 200 titles as of 2020, including recordings made on historic organs in the US, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland and Germany, such as the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of St. Ouen, Rouen and Orléans Cathedral.