Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

. Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to living composers and improvisation. He has performed with many orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Filarmonica della Scala, RAI Torino, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, NHK Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Shanghai Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, and Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, and at major festivals worldwide. Karttunen has given world premieres of over 200 works, among them 31 for cello and orchestra. Many composers have dedicated works to him, including

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(''

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''), and

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. Karttunen has transcribed over 60 pieces for cello or various chamber ensembles, such as

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

's Piano Quintet for string quintet and Händel-Variations for

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cell ...

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Album für die Jugend ''Album for the Young'' ('), Op. 68, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1848 for his three daughters. The album consists of a collection of 43 short works. Unlike the ', they are suitable to be played by children or beginners. The second part, s ...

for string trio, Cello Concerto for cello and string quartet and for cello and

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

. Karttunen regularly performs with various chamber ensembles, including the Sons of Chipotle with

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, the Zebra Trio with violinist Ernst Kovacic and violist

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, a cello-piano duo with

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, and the Tres Coyotes with

and John Paul Jones. From 1994 to 1998 Karttunen was the artistic director of the

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. He has been artistic director of the Helsinki Biennale (1995, 1997), the Suvisoitto-festival in Porvoo, Finland (1994-1997) and the

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Festival 2015. He was principal cellist of the

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from 1999 to 2005. Karttunen has directed the Creative Dialogue workshop in Santa Fe, NM and Järvenpää, Finland since 2007 with Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg. In 2021 he created the Creative Dialogue France held in the Chateau de Beauchêne. He teaches at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris. Together with

Jean-Baptiste Barrière Jean-Baptiste Barrière (2 May 1707 – 6 June 1747) 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. In due co ...

and Muriel von Braun, Karttunen created www.petals.org, a nonprofit organisation for distributing music in different forms over the internet. In 2019 he co-founded the ensemble Sons of Chipotle with

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

fame. The group premiered with concerts in

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, and at the Pit Inn in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, that year, joined by musicians Jim O'Rourke and

Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in ...

. The ensemble was scheduled to play its first U.S. date in March 2020 at the

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, but the festival was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Karttunen's teachers included Erkki Rautio,

William Pleeth William Pleeth OBE (12 January 1916 – 6 April 1999) was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré. Biography Early years William Pleeth was born in London. His p ...

Jacqueline du Pré Jacqueline Mary du Pré (26 January 1945 – 19 October 1987) was a British cellist. At a young age, she achieved enduring mainstream popularity. Despite her short career, she is regarded as one of the greatest cellists of all time. Her care ...

and Tibor de Machula. He plays a cello by

Francesco Ruggeri Francesco Rugeri (Cremona, 1628; 28 October 1698), also known as Ruger, Rugier, Rugeri, Ruggeri, Ruggieri, Ruggerius, was the first of an important family of luthiers, the Casa Rugeri in Cremona, Italy. His instruments are masterfully construct ...

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

References

External links

Karttunen.org
the cellist's official website

Zebra Trio website
Petals.org
Petals website

Tres Coyotes website Finnish classical cellists 1960 births Living people Finnish expatriates in France {{Cellist-stub