Marie-Helen Aavakivi

May 6, 1988, Tallinn
Member of the Association of the Estonian Professional Musicians

Violinist Marie-Helen Aavakivi (Rannat) has received her Master’s degree cum laude in violin performance from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (EAMT) in 2012 with Prof Alexander Fischer and Prof Tõnu Reimann. In 1995–2007, she studied violin in the class of Toomas Nestor at the Tallinn Music High School. Spring 2019, she completed her doctoral studies under the guidance of Prof Kristel Pappel, Prof Urmas Vulp and Prof Marje Lohuaru. She has participated in the masterclasses of Zakhar Bron, Marianne Boettcher, Irina Botshkova, Mihhail Gaisler, Mi-Kyung Lee, Stanislav Pronin, Marina Chiche and others

Marie-Helen Aavakivi also teaches violin at the EAMT and has given masterclasses at the Shenandoah University, Texas, USA.

Since 2012, Marie-Helen Aavakivi has been a member of the chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica (Artistic Director world-famous violinist Gidon Kremer) with whom she has given nearly 400 concerts at different renowned concert venues in Europe, Russia, South-America and North-America and in many Asian and Arabic countries (including as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals in Latvia and Costa Rica, 2013, 2016) and recorded several CDs which have gained international recognition (e.g. Grammy nomination for a set of CD-creations by Mieczysław Weinberg, 2016; ECHO Klassik Award 2016 for the recording of the Piano Concertos by Shostakovich).

Marie-Helen Aavakivi has played violin in the European Union Youth Orchestra (2006–2011, in 2010 as a Principal 2nd violin) and worked in the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and as the Principal 2nd Violin of the Estonian National Opera Symphony Orchestra.

She has appeared as a soloist with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Tallinn Music High School and the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of Paul Mägi, Toomas Kapten and Risto Joost.

Additionally, Marie-Helen Aavakivi has participated in the recording of Estonian composer Mihkel Kerem’s author album (Toccata Classics, 2013), the projects of chamber orchestra Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta (e.g. festival Mirror in the Mirror in Moscow) and performed with pianist Ralf Taas in the concert series Palace Music in Tallinn.

In 2020, Marie-Helen Aavakivi released with Ralf Taal a CD of violin and piano music by Johannes Brahms, Eduard Tubin, Franz Schubert and César Franck.

Marie-Helen Aavakivi was the grantee of the Estonian National Culture Foundation in 2016.

Homepage of Marie-Helen Aavakivi

EMIC 2018
(updated in August 2020)