Pohjola worked as a concertmaster in Finland, Germany and Sweden, and was a respected chamber musician, conductor and teacher
The Finnish violinist, chamber musician and conductor Paavo Pohjola died on 17 January 2026, aged 91.
Pohjola was born on 22 February 1934 in Seinäjoki, Finland. He came from a musical family; his three siblings, Ensti, Erkki and Liisa were renowned Finnish musicians in the fields of choral singing, pedagogy and piano.
He studied at the Sibelius Academy as well in Vienna with Ernst Morawec, a teacher at the Vienna Music Academy and violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic.
He began his orchestral career as a member of the first violin section of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1954 to 1960, before becoming concertmaster of the Heidelberg City Orchestra in Germany from 1960 to 1962.
He worked as concertmaster of the Lower Saxony Orchestra in Hanover from 1962 to 1963, before returning to Finland to take up the role of concertmaster with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1965. He later became concertmaster of the Stockholm Philharmonic and Drottningholm Opera Orchestra in 1965 and remained in Sweden until 1973.
As an educator, Pohjola taught at the Espoo Music Institute from 1974 to 1983, as well as at the Sibelius Academy as chamber music lecturer from 1982 to 1997. Working at the Espoo Music Institute, he helped develop the Espoo Chamber Orchestra as artistic director and conductor.
Following his retirement, Pohjola worked as a tutor at the Sibelius Academy, as well as visiting professor at the Malmö Academy of Music from 1997 to 2003.
No comments yet