Lauri Ojala

Lauri Frithof Ojala is an almost legendary figure among his country’s musicians. His trumpet playing has charmed music lovers for decades and his fame has spread abroad.

He was born in Kaustinen on 22nd September 1918. His father was a well known popular musician so it was natural for him to follow in those footsteps, learning first the Kannel (a kind of zither) and then the (folk) violin. “Lasse”, as his friends call him, followed the traditional path: at the age of fourteen he joined the Military Music School of the Uudenmaa Regiment and in 1932 he went to Helsinki Conservatoire (studying the violin with Arvo Hannikainen and the trumpet with Vilho Pynnönen). He completed his studies in 1938 with superb credentials, went off to his military service and soon joined the military band of the Pori Regiment. But war had broken out. He was called to the front but soon joined an entertainment unit whose job was to maintain the troops’ morale. He played the brilliant fantasies of Hoch and Glickman, broadcasting sometimes on Radio Karelia. In 1944, when these terrible years were past, Lauri Ojala’s career could take shape at last.

Rapid rise

As with all gifted people he passed quickly through all the stages leading to the top. He was taken on “without audition” as solo trumpet at the Orchestra of Turku (Finland’s second city). This was his first experience of a symphony orchestra. Only a few weeks later there was an epic audition session for the job of solo trumpet at the Helsinki Philharmonic, following the death of Vilho Pynnönen. Three applicants were short-listed and had to fight it out over Cords’ “Fantasy”, the Haydn concerto and orchestral excerpts by Wagner, Sibelius etc.

In the third part, the orchestral excerpts, I was in trouble because I had never transposed before. Fortunately Holger Fransman, then solo horn in the orchestra, stood beside me and whispered, “Two and a half steps higher! One tone lower!” What a business! I tied with another applicant and we were both invited for a six-month trial with the orchestra. I stayed as solo for 34 years, until 1977!

Two events reveal Lauri Ojala’s talent: in 1947 he won 2nd prize (no 1st prize awarded) for trumpet at the Geneva international musical performance competition (with Henri Gagnebin, Karl Schuricht, Conrad Beck etc. in the jury); in 1963 he was offered the job of solo trumpet at the Vienna Symphony.