Since graduating from the Sibelius-Academy Sauli Zinovjev has been focusing mainly on orchestral music with commissions and performances by distinguished orchestras such as the Finnish and Swedish Radio symphony orchestras, philharmonic orchestras of Oslo, Helsinki and Gothenburg and the Bamberger Symfoniker, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Tapiola Sinfonietta. Zinovjev has collaborated with some of the frontline musicians such as Klaus Mäkelä, Víkingur Ólafsson, Tuuli Lindeberg, Pekka Kuusisto and Sakari Oramo. Zinovjev’s most recent works include a Piano Concerto for pianist Vikingur Olafsson commissioned by Finnish and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestras and a new orchestral piece Wiegenlied commissioned by the Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and Helsinki Philharmonic orchestras.

Zinovjev composes music that conveys vast emotions. The kind of music which also made him a composer. Until the age of sixteen, he played the guitar in a rock band and skateboarded. Then he saw a clip online with György Cziffra performing Liszt.

“It was as if wallpaper had been torn off the wall revealing a window to an open landscape. The euphoria and the virtuoso performance left a fanatic impression on me. To have the ability to inject so much art into a single moment. The entire spectrum of life.” — Zinovjev

Zinovjev uses classical music to make his view of the world intelligible. To convey it – life – to others.