Jouko Tötterström

Jouko Tötterström (b. 1956) studied piano at the Sibelius Academy with Liisa Pohjola, Eero Heinonen and Matti Raekallio. In addition, he studied organ with Enzio Forsblom and composition with Paavo Heininen. Tötterström graduated with a piano diploma and a master’s degree in music in 1983 and gave his debut concert in Helsinki a year later. He completed his Doctor of Music degree in 2008 on the topic Challenges of the Piano Duo: Practical and Pedagogical Questions and a Composition Collection.

He is a composer, pianist and pedagogue.

Tötterström served as a principal lecturer of piano at the Oulu Conservatory from 1985 to 1999, after which he moved to the position of principal lecturer at the School of Culture at Oulu University of Applied Sciences in 1999. He retired from that position in the autumn of 2023. He has a long pedagogical career, teaching piano, didactics, chamber music and composition.

Tötterström has served as the chairman of the Contemporary Music Society October (Nykymusiikkiseura Lokakuu) (2018–2023) and as the artistic director of the Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu festival (October of new music) (2013–2015). He has been awarded the Order of the Lion of Finland (2023) and the Finnish Cultural Foundation / North Ostrobothnia Regional Fun'd’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2024) for his merits in the music industry.

Tötterström’s works have been played extensively in Finland and abroad. Many of his compositions have been commissioned by musicians. He also works actively with other art forms representatives, such as visual artists, photographers and dancers. Tötterström’s extensive compositions include two symphonies and other orchestral works, a chamber opera, a ballet, a piano concerto, vocal music, chamber music and plenty of piano music.