Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 cellist

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

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Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to the most recent composers. He performs with most world-class orchestras in Europe (Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Filarmonica della Scala, RAI Torino, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra etc.), Asia (NHK Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta etc.) and the Americas (Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra etc.) and at major festivals worldwide.

Karttunen has given world premieres of over 125 works for cello, among them 23 concertos. A large number of composers have dedicated works to him, among them Luca Francesconi, Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg

Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...

, Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho

Kaija Saariaho is a Finnish composer.Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by...

, Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...

, Tan Dun

Tan Dun

Tan Dun is a Chinese contemporary classical composer, most widely known for his scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.-Early life in China:...

, and Rolf Wallin

Rolf Wallin

Rolf Wallin is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist.Rolf Wallin has established a reputation as one of the leading Scandinavian composers of his generation. He studied in Oslo with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen and later at the University of California...

. Karttunen has transcribed over 50 pieces for cello or various chamber ensembles, such as Brahms's Piano Quintet for String Quintet, Händel-Variations for String Trio and Schumann's Cello Concerto for solo cello and String Quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

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Karttunen plays in the Zebra Trio with the violinist Ernst Kovacic and the violist Steven Dann

Steven Dann

Steven Dann is a Canadian violist, based in the United States.-Early years:Dann was born in Burnaby, British Columbia. He played the violin until 1970, when he switched to the viola. He began studying with Lorand Fenyves in Toronto in 1972, and continued his studies until he graduated from the...

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Between 1994 and 1998 Karttunen was the artistic director of the Avanti! Chamber orchestra in Finland. He was the artistic director of the Helsinki Biennale (1995, 1997) and the Suvisoitto-festival in Porvoo, Finland (1994-1997). He was the principal cellist of the London Sinfonietta

London Sinfonietta

The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...

 (1999-2005).

Karttunen's teachers included Erkki Rautio, William Pleeth

William Pleeth

William Pleeth OBE was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré.- Early years :...

, Jacqueline du Pré

Jacqueline du Pré

Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE was a British cellist. She is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor; her interpretation has been described as "definitive" and "legendary." Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, which forced her to stop performing at 28 and led to her...

 and Tibor de Machula. He plays a cello by Francesco Ruggeri.

Together with Kaija Saariaho, Jean-Baptiste Barrière

Jean-Baptiste Barrière

Jean-Baptiste Barrière was a French cellist and composer. He was born in Bordeaux and died in Paris, at 40 years of age.-Musical career:Barrière first studied the viol, and published a set of viol sonatas...

and Muriel von Braun, Karttunen created www.petals.org, a non-profit organisation for distributing music in different forms over the internet.

Anssi Karttunen lives in Paris and is married to the Venezuelan-Finnish painter and sculptor Muriel von Braun.

External links

• Karttunen.org the cellist's official website
• http://web.me.com/anssivk/Anssi/Zebra.html Zebra Trio website
• Petals.org Petals website