➤ FESTIVAL’S OPENING CONCERT
P 21.08 kl 19:00 / Mustpeade maja Valge saal
Johanna Vahermägi
/ viola
Johanna Vahermägi is an Estonian-born violist, currently working as an international freelance musician, playing concerts as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player both home and abroad as well as holding a teaching position for viola and chamber music at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre.
She obtained her bachelor’s degree with Prof. Avri Levitan at the Aragón Higher Conservatory of Music in Spain and master’s degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in the class of Prof. Roi Shiloah for viola and Prof. Zvi Plesser for chamber music.
She was awarded 1st prize in Spain at the international competition for soloists “Illa de Menorca FIDAH” (2011) as well as at the David Gritz String Competition in Jerusalem (2015).
She has been regularly invited to perform at festivals such as the “Voice of Music” Chamber Music Festival in Israel, Musethica Chamber Music Festival in Zaragoza and Tel Aviv, Berlin Music Festival, Pärnu Music Festival, Nargen Festival, Arvo Pärt Festivals in Estonia and Moscow, etc, and collaborated with musicians such as Guy Braunstein, Amihai Grosz, Nicolas Chumachenko, Sharon Roffmann, Roi Shiloah, Marina Chiche, Zvi Plesser, Ohad Ben Ari, David Apellániz, Gerard Poulet, Ivari Ilja, Riivo Kallasmaa, Anna Staskiewicz, etc.
Johanna has played in the Barcelona Liceu Opera Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, among other orchestras and recorded the music of Pärt, Shostakovich, Luis de Pablo and others with Vox Clamantis, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, contemporary music group Ensemble Plural, Kristjan Järvi, and others.
In recent years she was one of the featured artists at the Jerusalem Music Centre’s “Young Artists” program and gave recitals in Jerusalem and Estonia as well as at the “Young Estonian Soloists” showcase concert at the Pärnu Music Festival; toured Italy as a soloist in Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” with the Young European Chamber Orchestra and maestro Paolo Olmi.
In 2017 she was awarded the national award from the Estonian Cultural Endowment for outstanding artistic activities. Vahermägi plays on an instrument made by Thomas Urquhart in 1650, kindly on loan to her from the Estonian Foundation of Musical Instruments.