Biography
Cellist Sirja Nironen is a soloist, chamber and orchestra musician and performs in varied contemporary and jazz ensembles.
Nironen has had the pleasure to premiere chamber and solo works including cello concerti by Matilda Seppälä, Elisar Riddelin and Sauli Zinovjev. She has performed at the inaugural concert of the Helsinki Music Center, and as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra among others. As a chamber musician she has participated in festivals such as the Helsinki Festival, the Musical Chairs Festival in Montreal, the Santa Fé Chamber Music Festival, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale, the Tampere Biennale, the Naantali Music Festival and the Korsholm Music Festival to name a few.
Nironen is a member of Versoi Ensemble and ÄÄNI collective and has visited as a solo cellist in orchestras such as the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony & Opera Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Vantaa Pops Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta and Pori Sinfonietta. She held a position of Sub-Principal Cellist in Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra from 2020 to 2024.
Nironen is a prize winner of the Turku Cello Competition 2018, the Rome Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition 2017 and Finnish chamber music competitions. She holds a Bachelor's Degree from the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and a Master's Degree from the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Nironen has studied under Taru Aarnio, Hannu Kiiski, Arto Noras, Frans Helmerson and Martti Rousi, and has participated masterclasses by Lynn Harrell, Natalia Gutman and Jean-Guihen Queyras to mention a few.
Nironen plays a significant role in releases "Avanti! - Lotta Wennäkoski ZENG" (Alba Records, 2023), "Restart - Finnish Game Music Revised" (Game Music Collective, 2023) "Mikko Sarvanne Garden - Heräämisen valkea myrsky" (Eclipse Music, 2022), "Lucy Abrams - Duel" (Siba Records, 2022), "Uuno Klami's chamber music" (Alba Records, 2020), "Double Identity - Simon Kanzler" (WhyPlayJazz, 2016), "Quartphonic EPK - Elena Mindru Third Stream Project" (EM Records, 2016), "Vita Brevis, Ars Longa" (2012, Naantali Music Festival). In 2019 cellist Sirja Nironen with Naoko Ichihashi on piano, recorded works by Scriabin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.
Nironen has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Arts Promotion Center, the Music Promotion Foundation, Pro Musica, Pro Orchestra, the Alfred Kordelin Foundation, the Wegelius Foundation, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Pro Orchestra, and numerous private sponsors.
