Daniel Pastewski & Anni Poikonen · Chanson

BIOGRAPHIES

Finnish pianist Anni Poikonen studied at the Kuopio Academy of Music and Dance with Kirsti Huttunen and Aissa Bah. She has lived in Germany since 2011. A master's degree in song interpretation led her to the Karlsruhe University of Music, where she studied in the song class of Prof. Dr. h. c. Mitsuko Shirai and Prof. Hartmut Höll. She completed all her courses with top grades. She received important impulses for her artistic work through master classes with Tuija Hakkila, KS Brigitte Fassbaender, Udo Reinemann, Ralf Gothóni, Anne Le Bozec, Wolfgang Rihm and Daniel Fueter, among others. In addition to her soloist duties, Anni Poikonen is particularly interested in chamber music work with other artists. She is a highly esteemed chamber music and lied partner. She has permanent ensembles with, among others, the pianist Rita Klose, the mezzo-soprano Felicitas Brunke and the bass Daniel Pastewski. Anni Poikonen can be heard throughout Europe in many chamber music series. She has made guest appearances at the Engadin Lied Festival, at "das salonfestival" and at the "Rising Stars!" festival in Karlsruhe, among others. During her studies Anni Poikonen was a scholarship holder of Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Oberrhein e.V.. Through master classes with Daniel Fueter she discovered her love for chanson. Since then she has been performing successfully with various chanson programs. Together with singer Daniel Pastewski, she was awarded 1st prize at the Heinz Kunle Competition for Chanson 2015. Since 2014, Anni Poikonen has been a lecturer for piano and accompaniment at the Jugendmusikschule Württembergisches Allgäu in Wangen.

The German bass Daniel Pastewski studied diploma singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig and at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. Already during his training, he performed at the Karlsruhe Hochschule as Snug ("A Midsummer Night's Dream"), Presto ("Les mamelles de Tirésias"), Bartolo ("Le nozze di Figaro") and Sarastro ("Die Zauberflöte"), among others. In 2012, he made his debut at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in the children's opera "Dino und die Arche". Further guest engagements followed, including as Hartmann ("Fantasio"), Zweiter Geharnischter ("Die Zauberflöte"), Harry ("My Fair Lady") and Hagen ("Die lustigen Nibelungen"). At the Theater Chemnitz Daniel Pastewski is a resident guest and can currently be seen in "Brundibár", "My Fair Lady" and "Spuk unterm Riesenrad". At the Semperoper Dresden he guest stars in the roles Dickes Ungeheuer / 2nd Sanitäter ("Drei miese, fiese Kerle").
(Status: 2022)