Lauri Porra

Lauri Porra
Lauri Porra performing at the Ilosaarirock 2009 festival
Background information
Born	(1977-12-13) December 13, 1977 (age 39)
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Neo-classical metal, power metal, progressive metal, avant-garde jazz, jazz fusion, post-rock
Instruments	Bass
Years active	1997–present
Associated acts	Sinergy, Stratovarius, Almah

Lauri Porra (born December 13, 1977) is a Finnish bassist and composer, best known for his work in Stratovarius and Sinergy. Lauri Porra is a fourth generation musician, and the great-grandson of famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. He started to study music at age 6 when he started to play cello in a local music school. In 1993 he switched to bass guitar and continued his studies in the Helsinki Pop Jazz Conservatory (1994–2004). Additionally he has taken lessons on piano, double bass, trumpet and male vocals. During 1997-1999 he sang with the renowned YL male choir performing for instance with the London Symphony Orchestra. He has released three instrumental solo albums. He has also composed music to numerous movies, tv-series and commercial spots. Lauri´s Entropia concerto for electric bass and orchestra was premiered by Lauri Porra and Lahti Symphony orchestra in 2015. In 2016 Lauri was nominated for HARPA nordic film composer music award. Lauri won the VOITTO-prize for the best advertisement music of the year in 2016 for his music in Visit Finland´s Polar Night Magic spot.

In Portuguese, "Porra" is a pejorative slang for sperm. The fact made Timo Kotipelto introduce him as "Mr. Porra" in Stratovarius concerts in Brazil. Lauri is known during his bass solos with Stratovarius to often play the local national anthems of the countries they are visiting.