Maano Männi
Alternating 1st Concertmaster
Maano Männi (1966) studied violin at the Estonian Academy of Music under Professor Jüri Gerretz in 1985–1992. Männi was the concertmaster of the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra from 1993 to 1996 and the first concertmaster of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 2000. Since the autumn of 2002, Männi has been the alternating first concertmaster of the Vaasa City Orchestra, and in 2004–2005 he was the visiting concertmaster of the Estonian Theatre in Estonia. He has worked as a chamber musician in the Nyyd Ensemble, Nobel Quartet and Camerata Nordica (SE), as well as at the Korsholm Music Festival. In 2001, Männi founded the Tobias String Quartet, with which he has performed throughout Europe. Männi has performed as a soloist in various orchestras, conducted e.g. by Neeme Järvi, Alexander Vedernikov, Andrey Boreyko, Arvo Volmer, Juha Kangas and Jin Wang.
Maano Männi has attended the conducting courses of Jorma Panula and Leonid Grin and studied privately under Ilmar Tõnisson. He has conducted the Vaasa and Pärnu city orchestras as well as the Klaaspärlimäng Sinfonietta (Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta Tallinn). Männi has recorded for several record companies, including Erdenklang and Alba Records. In 2012, the album Six Seasons + was released. On it, Männi plays works by Astor Piazzolla and Evald Vain for violin and orchestra as a soloist with the Pärnu City Orchestra. The album has received glowing reviews, such as this comment by critic Igor Garšnek: “Every music lover should have Six Seasons+ on their shelf!” (Sirp, 10/04/2013).
Since January 2016, Männi has played the violin built by Charles François Gand in 1810, owned by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. In 2017, Männi was with the Glasperlenspiel Sinfonietta on concert tours, in the spring in Israel and in the summer in South America. In January 2018, Männi conducted and performed as a soloist in the Estonian Sinfonietta concert at the Estonia Concert Hall and with the same ensemble in May at the Vienna Musikverein (conductor Kristiina Poska).