“Music begins where the possibilities of language end.” – Jean Sibelius. Sibelius was so right! Come and enjoy Finnish Landscapes painted by Finnish composers. Kati Eriikka Arikoski-Johnson will perform both romantic as well as more contemporary piano tunes by marvellous composers: Einojuhani Rautavaara, Toivo Kuula, Jean Sibelius, and Einar Englund.

Bio of Performer: The Finnish pianist Kati Eriikka Arikoski (b.1979) has been closely linked to the music all her life. As a 3 year old her very first hobby was Finnish folk dancing. Dance was complemented by piano studies at the Kuopio Conservatory in Finland as 6 years old. When she reached high school in Kuopio, she began to box. As a 16 year old she started to compete and participated regularly in competitions winning many awards. In 1999 she won the Finnish championship in boxing in 60 kg class. At that point she stood at a crossroads to be a boxer or a pianist – she chose the piano. Since 1999, she studied in the Turku Art Academy in Finland and graduated as a piano teacher in the spring 2005 from the class of the head teacher Jukka Juvonen. In spring 2008 she graduated with a masters degree at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from the class of professor Niklas Sivelöv. Arikoski played her debut concert from soloist line in march 2011 and continued the advanced postgraduate diploma programme with her ensemble Piano Trio Gimelia. Ensemble played debut concert spring 2012. Arikoski undertook her studies at the Music University of Graz between 2001 and 2003. She has also frequently participated in master courses, both in Finland and abroad. Her teachers have included Matti Raekallio, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, José Ribera, Pierre Réach, Emanuel Krasovsky, and Liisa Pohjola, et al. She has given a number of solo concerts, has been a member of various chamber music ensembles and worked as lied pianist in Finland, Sweden, USA, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Island and Austria. Life is not just about playing the piano. Sports and dance have always had a big role in Kati’s life. She discovered swing dancing shortly after relocating to Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007. Four years later she began teaching and performing in a range of styles, including Lindy Hop, Balboa, 1920s Charleston and Vernacular Jazz. Kati relocated to the Atlanta metro area in 2017, where she currently runs a non-profit swing dance company called Triple Step Studios (www.triplestepstudios.com) and teaches piano in Decatur at her home studio.