Classical music may not be what comes to mind when you think of the accordion. That could be changing, thanks to Janne Valkeajoki. The New York Times picked his latest release as one of the best albums of 2024.

Janne Valkeajoki, 32, grew up as the son of two accordion teachers in the eastern Finnish town of Lappeenranta. Still, it was far from inevitable that he would pursue a career with the instrument – along with a parallel livelihood as a conductor.

“Actually, my parents tried to convince me to play almost any other instrument besides the accordion,” he recalls. “But luckily, we got a third accordion teacher in Lappeenranta, so they finally said yes. When I was 11 or 12, I got to play my first ‘real’ pieces by Bach, which was a real turning point for me.”

While he digs playing the occasional tango, Valkeajoki has focused on classical and art music since he was a kid.

“I got very into contemporary music quite young, so Pierre Boulez, Sofia Gubaidulina and Magnus Lindberg were important composers for me back then, as well as some symphonies by Sibelius, Beethoven, Brahms and so on.”

For his debut album in 2021, Valkeajoki recorded Finnish composer Lindberg’s complete works for accordion. They included two world premieres and two that he and Lindberg arranged together.

Reinventing 18^th century harpsichord pieces

For his follow-up album, Rameau: Pièces de Clavecin, Valkeajoki arranged harpsichord works by the French composer who died in 1764, well before the accordion was invented.

The disc was named as one of the best of 2024 by The New York Times, which said that he “made a persuasive case for how naturally, and how beautifully, Rameau’s keyboard works can translate to the alternatively intimate and symphonic character of his instrument”.

Playing Rameau’s works on the accordion, says Valkeajoki, “is rewarding but also a challenge: how to combine the accordion’s singing, breathing sound with this music. For me, the key was through Rameau’s operas, which are beautiful, funny and touching.” The album features one aria sung by soprano Tuuli Lindeberg amid an otherwise solo accordion set.

Busy dual careers

Valkeajoki says that “there have been a lot of things happening” since the NYT honour in late December, in both of his careers as soloist and conductor.

He has just conducted the Lappeenranta City Orchestra ahead of a Rameau recital at the Vaasa Baroque Festival on February 14 and a solo recital in Berlin in February 25.

In March, he and three other accordionists are co-nominated for an Emma (Finnish Grammy) award for the album Finnish Accordion Concertos. It showcases works by top contemporary composers Minna Leinonen, Aulis Sallinen and Veli Kujala, a sign of the lofty status of classical accordion in a country where the squeezebox is traditionally used for polkas and tangos.

“I’ve been lucky to collaborate quite a lot with Aho. His musical language is completely unique."

Along with all that, he is planning next August’s Kumaus Festival in his native Lappeenranta, where he is one of the artistic directors.

At last summer’s festival, Valkeajoki premiered a new work by Kalevi Aho, another leading composer who has embraced the instrument.

“I’ve been lucky to collaborate quite a lot with Aho. His musical language is completely unique. At the same time, he’s a true musician who understands the needs of players especially well,” explains Valkeajoki.

“A musician whose instrument happens to be the accordion”

The accordion has been used intermittently in classical music since Tchaikovsky featured it in an 1883 orchestral suite, followed by 20^th-century composers such as Ives, Prokofiev and Milhaud – as well as an array of contemporary Finns. Valkeajoki does not see himself as a defender of the often-overlooked instrument, though.

“I want to do my part for the instrument, but foremost I’m a musician whose instrument happens to be the accordion,” adding that “basically any work written for any keyboard instrument can be played on accordion.”

Growing up in a deeply musical family – Jyväskylä Sinfonia solo cellist Annika Valkeajoki is his sister – he has played the accordion since age five. At 14, he began to study conducting with the legendary Jorma Panula, who has trained world-renowned names such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Susanna Mälkki and Sakari Oramo.

"The accordion is a perfect instrument for a conductor, since you can play scores and harmonies but also have a feeling for breathing and phrasing."

He studied accordion with Veli Kujala, an accordionist and composer who straddles the classical and jazz scenes, as well as with Stefan Hussong in Germany, graduating from Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy in 2017.

At 23, he landed on the international accordion map by winning Spain’s Arrasate Hiria competition.

“For me, it’s the world’s most prestigious accordion competition, so winning it was a huge milestone. It was already clear to me then that I wanted to combine conducting and playing in my artistic work,” he recalls.

The accordion is “a perfect instrument for a conductor,” he says, “since you can play scores and harmonies but also have a feeling for breathing and phrasing. I’m rather happy with how conducting and playing are balanced in my life at the moment, but making it really 50/50 is one of my biggest goals.”