Juho Pohjonen

Juho Pohjonen is a Finnish pianist acclaimed for performances across Europe, Asia and North America as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. His repertoire frequently highlights Finnish composers such as Salonen, Saariaho and Sibelius. Selected by Sir András Schiff for the Klavier-Festival Ruhr Scholarship in 2009, he is an alumnus of the Kronberg Academy and, in 2019, launched the AI accompaniment app MyPianist.

Juho Pohjonen is a Finnish pianist who has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Finnish Radio Symphony, under conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä. A dedicated chamber musician, he has a long-standing relationship with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. His repertoire often highlights Finnish composers including Salonen, Saariaho and Sibelius. His recordings include Visionaries of the Keyboard (Orchid Records), featuring Rameau and Scriabin. Selected by Sir András Schiff for the Klavier-Festival Ruhr Scholarship in 2009, he studied at the Sibelius Academy and is an alumnus of the Kronberg Academy. In 2019 he launched MyPianist, an AI-based app providing interactive piano accompaniment.

Lauded for his “impeccable technique” (The Washington Post) and “elegant musicianship” (The New York Times), the Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen is in demand internationally as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, performing throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Alongside the central repertoire, his programmes frequently highlight the music of Finnish composers such as Jean Sibelius, Kaija Saariaho and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

This season, Pohjonen returns to London’s Wigmore Hall and gives chamber music concerts in Neumarkt, Copenhagen and Portugal, among others. As concerto soloist, he performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he gives recital and chamber music performances in New York, Vancouver and San Francisco, and continues his long-standing relationship with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on tour across the United States.

Last season, Pohjonen performed alongside his regular chamber music partners, including violinist Stephen Waarts in Florence and Amsterdam, and pianist Wu Qian at the Surrey Hills International Music Festival and in Portugal. In North America, he appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Lincoln Center and at venues across the United States, before returning to the Marlboro Music Festival in the summer.

Juho Pohjonen has performed as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the BBC Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He has collaborated with conductors such as Marin Alsop, Marek Janowski, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Pinchas Zukerman, and has performed Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Giedrė Šlekytė and Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings with violinist Erin Keefe and the Kymi Sinfonietta under Osmo Vänskä.

On the recital stage, Pohjonen has performed throughout Europe, including in Antwerp, Hamburg, Helsinki, St. Petersburg and Warsaw. In North America he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, and in Philadelphia, San Francisco, La Jolla, Detroit and Vancouver. His festival appearances include Lucerne, Savonlinna, Bergen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as the Macula Musica series in Helsinki, Festspiele Südtirol and the Amsterdam Chamber Festival. He has also toured widely in the United States with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, from Alice Tully Hall to venues in Michigan, Virginia and Florida.

Juho Pohjonen’s recordings showcase the breadth and depth of his musicianship. His latest release on Orchid Classics, Unspoken, is a four-hand collaboration with pianist Wu Qian, exploring a richly varied repertoire for piano duo. In September 2026, Orchid Classics releases his next solo album, devoted to the piano music of Maurice Ravel. His earlier Orchid Classics recording, Visionaries of the Keyboard, features works by Rameau and Scriabin, highlighting Pohjonen’s ability to navigate the contrasting worlds of Rameau’s baroque elegance and Scriabin’s modernist mysticism. He also appears on Poltéra Plays Prokofiev with cellist Christian Poltéra, performing Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata in C major, and on Brett Dean’s Rooms of Elsinore, where his collaboration brings a fresh perspective to Dean’s evocative and atmospheric work.

Pohjonen’s studies began at the Sibelius Academy’s Junior Academy in Helsinki in 1989, under the guidance of Meri Louhos. He continued his education at the Sibelius Academy, earning his master’s degree in 2008 under the tutelage of Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna. In 2009, he was selected by Sir András Schiff as the winner of the Klavier Festival Ruhr Scholarship. Pohjonen is also an alumnus of the Kronberg Academy and has won prizes at both international and Finnish competitions.

Pohjonen launched MyPianist in 2019, an AI-based iOS app that provides interactive piano accompaniment to musicians everywhere. Designed and programmed by Pohjonen himself and infused with his keen musical sensibility, MyPianist acts as a “virtual pianist” for musicians looking to hone their skills or learn new material. MyPianist carefully “listens” to the musician’s playing and recreates the piano part in real time, matching the timing and nuances of the live performance. More information can be found at https://mypianist.app.