Kalevi Kiviniemi
Finnish organist Kalevi Kiviniemi was born in Jalasjärvi - now part of Kurikka - on 30 June 1958, began to play the organ when he was seventeen and studied at the Kuopio Conservatory and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
He was organist at the Ristinkirkko, the main church in Lahti (1985-2000) and began his international career towards the end of the 1980s. He was artistic director of the Lahti Organ Week (1991-2001), served on the juries of international organ competitions and gave masterclasses and lectures.
He was known as an improviser, and for being the first organist to record all of Sibelius' organ works. He gave over two thousand concerts and made almost two hundred recordings, many of them on significant organs internationally.
Kalevi Kiviniemi died in Kurikka on 3 April 2024, aged sixty-five.