Kalevi Ilmari Kiviniemi, also known as Kalevi Kiviniemi, was born on June 30, 1958, in Jalasjärvi, Finland, and was an organist. He studied organ performance and improvisation at the Sibelius Academy, completing his organ diploma and music teacher’s degree in 1983. He performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral soloist, and served on the juries of several international organ competitions. He also gave masterclasses in Finland, Germany, and the United States. He was particularly associated with French organ music and created organ arrangements of works by composers including Wagner, Liszt, Franck, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin. He composed works such as Suite Française (1991), Visions for Dancers and Organ (1998), Poème (1999), Northern Lights (2005), Fantasy “Finnish Prayer” (2008), and De Profundis (2011). His discography includes more than 160 recordings made on organs in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Among his notable releases are Visions (2000), César Franck Organ Works (2009), Cavaillé-Coll (2009), Organ Gravitation (2018), and the OrganEra series. He was the first organist to record the complete organ works of Jean Sibelius. He received numerous honors during his career, including Finland’s State Prize for Music in 2009 and the title of Chevalier OCM in 2012. He passed away on April 3, 2024.
