Biography

Patrik Kleemola is one of the foremost North European classical guitarists. After winning the 2nd Guitaristival “Takemitsu” International Guitar Competition in Finland and gaining prizes in other competitions such as Gargnano's International Guitar Competition in Italy, his international concert career with hundreds of concerts has taken him from his native Finland to London, Buenos Aires, Hiroshima, Rome, Milan, Dublin, Athens, Tallinn, Augsburg and many other major cities in Europe, South America and Asia.

His solo recitals has taken him to major venues such as Purcell Room of the Queen Elisabeth Hall (London), Teatro dal Verme (Milan) and The House of Nobility (Helsinki). He has appeared as soloist on important festivals such as Turku Music Festival and Tampere Biennale (Finland), La Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Bergamo Festival Internazionale della Cultura, Nuovi Spazi Musicali and Festival 5 Giornate (Italy), Forum of contemporary music festival Oberstdorf and Jetzt:musik! in Augsburg (Germany), Lidköping Music Festival (Sweden) and many guitar festivals such as the ones in Tampere, Tallinn and Turku.

Kleemola has performed guitar concertos by Rodrigo, Ponce, Takemitsu, Giuliani, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Vivaldi and new concertos on his commission by Hans-Jürgen Gerung, Mikko Heiniö, Markku Klami and Francesco Maggio with Orquesta Sinfonica de la Juventud Venezuelana El Sistema, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, San Remo Symphony Orchestra, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Lecce Symphony Orchestra, Uusinta Ensemble, Key Ensemble and Tampere Cappella among others. Kleemola regularly plays chamber music with various international ensembles and soloists.

Kleemola's wide repertoire includes music from the early Italian 16th century to the newest contemporary compositions written for him. Kleemola's intense collaboration with composers has led to over 60 premieres of contemporary works for guitar including concertos, solo works, chamber music and pedagogic literature. Composers like Ada Gentile, Hans-Jürgen Gerung, Mikko Heiniö, Asta Hyvärinen, Eero Hämeenniemi, Pertti Jalava, Markku Klami, Juha T. Koskinen, Paola Livorsi, Marcela Pavia, Seppo Pohjola, Harri Suilamo, Andrea Talmelli and Harri Vuori have composed and dedicated their works to him. Kleemola has made several CD recordings to international cricital acclaim and his active YouTube channel has gained millions of views.

In recent years Kleemola has focused his attention also to early 19th-century guitar repertoire and especially to Fernando Sor, whose works he performs on an original René Lacote (1839). Kleemola's research on Sor has led to many new findings on Sor's life, collaboration with the foremost scholars on the subject and a membership on The Cambridge Cohort for Guitar Research.

In addition to his performing career, Kleemola is Lecturer in Guitar at Turku Conservatory. Kleemola regularly holds masterclasses during concert tours and recently he has given those in London (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance), Buenos Aires (IUNA  - Institute Universitario Nacional del Arte), Augsburg (Leopold Mozart College of Music at the University of Augsburg) and elsewhere in Japan, Italy, England, Estonia and Finland. Kleemola is the founder and artistic director of Turku Guitar Festival in Finland.

Kleemola studied the guitar in Turku Music Academy with Timo Korhonen and Ismo Eskelinen, with Oscar Ghiglia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena gaining three times Diploma di Merito, and finished his studies and soloist diploma with maximum points at Monopoli Conservatory with Massimo Felici.

He plays instruments by José Luis Romanillos (1979) and René Lacote (1839).