Guitar Concerto No. 5, Helsinki / Iberia Suite / From Yesterday to Penny Lane

Timo Korhonen (b. November 6, 1964) is one of the most versatile proponents of his instrument in the world. Freedom of interpretation, bearlike strength and richness of sound are components of his deep-rooted artist persona. Korhonen's interpretations are natural, strong in contrast and uncompromising in their aim at reproducing the content of a composition in as true a manner as possible and with a profound understanding of its style. He is an ardent promoter of contemporary music, and he has premiered over 30 works. Several composers, including Magnus Lindberg, Leo Brouwer, Usko Meriläinen and Jouni Kaipainen, have dedicated works to him. Korhonen likes to construct his concert programmes by using the tension caused by an unprejudiced juxtaposition of musical styles. Since September 1999, he has been performing one of the strangest key works of the 20th century: Ursonate (Sonate in Urlauten) by Kurt Schwitters. Korhonen's performance of this phonetic dada composition for human voice has generated interest and confusion in a number of places.

Korhonen is an active globetrotting soloist, chamber musician and teacher of masterclasses. He has appeared at distinguished music festivals all around the world, including the Ojai Festival in Los Angeles, the Chopin Festival in Hong Kong, in Strasbourg, London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Havana, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Montevideo, and at the Atempo Festival in Caracas. He has appeared with orchestras such as the St Petersburg Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Rhineland-Palatinate State Orchestra, working with conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Osmo Vänskä, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Tuomas Ollila and Joseph Swensen.

The leading North American online record magazine ClassicsToday.com selected Timo Korhonen's previous Ondine disc containing works by Leo Brouwer for guitar and orchestra (with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and Tuomas Ollila, ODE 979-2) Disc of the Month in April 2002. In January 2003, the Brouwer recording received a Cannes Classical Award.