Lauri Metsvahi started studying music in 1996 in Tallinn Music High School from which he graduated cum laude with a degree in percussion (Kristjan Mäeotsa’s class). He studied classical percussion at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (Rein Roos’s and Odd Kyrre Alsvik’s class) as well as pop and jazz music at Georg Ots Tallinn Music College (Andrus Lillepea’s class). Since 2011 Lauri Metsvahi studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm from which he graduated with a master’s degree in orchestral percussion in 2015 (tutored by Joakim Anterot, Mika Takehara and Niklas Brommare). He also obtained a soloist diploma in chamber music in 2018 (with Daniel Berg and Håkon Kartveit as teachers). From 2016, Lauri worked as a percussionist with the Swedish Wind Ensemble, becoming the section’s concertmaster in 2017. He often performs with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta, Gävle Symphony Orchestra and other Swedish orchestras. In 2012–2014 he toured with the European Union Youth Orchestra as the first Estonian percussionist and in 2016 Metsvahi joined the Baltic Youth Philharmonic. Lauri Metsvahi has been a percussionist in The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) since 2019. He has also worked in Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Estonian National Opera Orchestra, Nordic Symphony Orchestra, YXUS Ensemble, PaukenfEst, the rock band Põhja Konn and in many other projects. Lauri is the founding member of Estonian Percussion Quartet.
Photo: Christopher Hastbacka