Ralf Gothóni (born in Finland, living in Spain) has a many-sided career as solo pianist, chamber musician and conductor all over the world. He became well-known for his unconventional way of music -making and as a musician with unusual thinking about music and the wholeness of musicianship.

His performances as a pianist and chamber musician include appearances at major music festivals - Salzburg, Berlin, Prague, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, La Roque de Antheron, Ravinia, Tanglewood and more - and performances with the Chicago, Detroit and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic,  Japan Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra among others. He appears annually in numerous concerts both as soloist and conductor, conducting from the keyboard. He has played world premieres of more than a dozen piano concertos; in Autumn 2004 he premiered conducting from the keyboard John Taverners piano concerto "Pratirupa" in London and in 2005-6 he premiered new concertos by Aulis Sallinen and Curtis Curtis-Smith.

Mr. Gothóni has recorded almost 100 albums for several international labels (a.o. Ondine, Bis, DGG, Decca, CPO, Da Camera, EMI, Finlandia, Finnlevy). He was named the principal conductor of the legendary English Chamber Orchestra in September 2000, in 2001 - 2006 he had the position of the Music Director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Seattle and since 2004 he is the guest conductor of Deutsche Kammerakademie. He was the artistic director of the famous Savonlinna Opera Festival (1984-1987) and in 1996 and 1998 he was the initiator and the artistic director of the “Forbidden City Music Festival” in Beijing. In 2007 he initiated a musical bridge between Finland and Egypt by organizing a festival in Cairo.

Mr Gothóni has held the position of professorship at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, at the “Hochschule für Musik” in Hamburg, at the “Hanns Eisler Hochschule” in Berlin and as a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London and at Instituto da Camara, Reina Sofia in Madrid (2006-).

The list of his compositions includes three chamber operas, instrumental chamber music and lieder.

Mr. Gothóni has been honored with several awards, including the Gilmore Artist Award in 1994, which is one of the biggest awards in classical music and the Schubert Medal of the Austrian Ministry of Culture.