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Kurt Nikkanen has been a public favorite and a veteran of the concert stage internationally for over two decades. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he began his violin studies at the age of three, later studying with Roman Totenberg and Jens Ellerman. At twelve he gave his Carnegie Hall debut, performing the Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the New York Symphony; two years later he was invited by Zubin Mehta to perform the Paganini Concerto No.1 with the New York Philharmonic for a Young People's Concert. In 1986 he gained his Bachelor's Degree from the Juilliard School where he was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay.

Mr. Nikkanen regularly receives invitations from many of the leading orchestras and recital presenters in the USA and Europe, and has toured Japan and the Far East. In North America he has appeared with orchestras such as the Dallas Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, and in Europe with the BBC Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle. He has worked with many leading conductors including Ashkenazy, Davis, Tate, Vonk, Wolff, Jarvi and Litton.

An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Kurt Nikkanen has given numerous performances (including some territory premieres) of the John Adams Violin Concerto, with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oregon Symphony, Hallé Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony (all under the composer's direction). He has also performed the work with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Norrkoping Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Lahti Symphony and on tour in New Zealand. Other contemporary projects include Aaron Jay Kernis' Concerto for violin & guitar, which he performed at the 1998 Aspen Festival conducted by Hugh Wolff; and HK Gruber's violin concerto Nebelsteinmusik, performed with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the composer's direction in April 1999. With the National Chamber Orchestra of Washington, he recently recorded Steven R Gerber's violin concerto, which was written especially for him, for Koch International. He has also just given the world premiere of John Zorn's Contes de Fées for violin & chamber orchestra, with the EOS Orchestra of New York.

Other highlights of recent seasons have included UK tour with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Libor Pesek, performances with the Gothenburg Symphony and Neeme Jarvi in Gothenburg and at the BBC Proms, and concerts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Prague Symphony and RTE Orchestra in Dublin; also with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Suddeutscher Rundfunk orchestras, both with Yakov Kreizberg, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Junichi Hirokami. He has also appeared with the Belgian National Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony and the orchestra of RAI Turin. During the 1998/9 season he also gave performances with the Detroit Symphony and Orchestra of Galicia, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony and Malaysian Philharmonic. Engagements for 1999/2000 have included a reinvitation to the Rotterdam Philharmonic, with Paavo Berglund, and performances of the Dvorak concerto with the Czech Philharmonic and Vladimir Ashkenazy, both in Prague and on tour in the USA, with concerts in New York and Chicago.

Kurt Nikkanen's recital partners have included Jon Kimura Parker, which whom he has given recitals in Europe, and Cristina Ortiz, with who he has given a short UK recital tour, and performed in a chamber concert at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. During 1999 he gave recitals at London's Wigmore Hall and at New York's Lincoln Center, performing "ViolinDance": a programme consisting of pieces composed upon or inspired by dance forms. With the pianist Maria Asteriadou, Kurt Nikkanen has given numerous recitals throughout the USA and Greece and continues to do so in forthcoming seasons.

Forthcoming solo engagements include reinvitations to the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, National Orchestra of Belgium, Royal Philharmonic of Galicia, St. Louis Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and concerts with the Gelders Orchestra in Holland and the Beethoven Academie of Antwerp.