Janne Mertanen

Pianist Janne Mertanen is known as a Chopin specialist but also plays a variety of other music, much of it Scandinavian. He has recorded for the Alba and Sony Classical labels. Mertanen was born on August 28, 1967, in Joensuu in eastern Finland. He has retained ties to that city, serving as artistic director of the Joensuu Music Festival. Mertanen attended the Joensuu Institute of Music from 1982 to 1986; his principal teacher was Matti Haapasalo, but he also attended master classes, traveling to Zurich, Switzerland, for one with Verena Pfenninger. He moved to the Finnish cap...