Antti Siirala is a Finnish pianist. Antti Siirala?s international career was launched when he won First Prize in the 10th Vienna Beethoven competition as the youngest contestant, receiving the special award for the best performance of a late Beethoven sonata. Subsequently he was awarded First Prize in the London International Piano Competition 2000, the Dublin International Piano Competition and the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2003. Siirala?s debut in Brussels in December 2004 was a matchless success. Due to illness the conductor had to cancel on very short notice. Siirala agreed to lead the orchestra from the piano and saved the whole concert by playing in the second half Beethoven?s Diabelli variations in place of the orchestra. Immediately he was re-invited for concerts with the Orchestre National and for a recital by the Palais des Beaux Arts. Standing in for sickened Emanuel Ax in February 2005, Siirala gave a sensational debut recital at the Cologne Philharmonie. According to the newspaper K�lner Stadt-Anzeiger ?His recital will be remembered as one of the most outstanding events of this season?. 

May 16th, 1979 in Helsinki (Age 44)