Markku Luolajan-Mikkola is a Finnish baroque cellist and

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

player. Born in Helsinki, he studied cello with

Arto Noras Arto Noras (born 12 May 1942, in Turku) is a Finnish cellist who is one of Finland's most celebrated instrumentalists and amongst the most outstanding internationally acknowledged cellists of his generation. At the age of 8, Arto Noras started ...

at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It al ...

, where he received his diploma in 1983. Later, an interest in baroque music led him to summer courses with

Laurence Dreyfus Laurence Dreyfus, FBA (born 1952) is an American musicologist and player of the viola da gamba who was University Lecturer and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Early life Dreyfus was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, and lived in Ch ...

, and afterwards he went on to

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Nether ...

where he studied viola da gamba with

Wieland Kuijken Wieland Kuijken (; born Dilbeek, 31 August 1938) is a Belgium, Belgian musician and player of the viola da gamba and baroque cello. Biography Kuijken started his career in music in 1952 with the Brussels Alariusensemble of which he formed part un ...

and baroque cello with

Jaap ter Linden Jaap ter Linden (born 10 April 1947, in Rotterdam) is a Dutch cellist, viol player and conductor. He specialises in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments. He began his career as principal cellist of notable baro ...

, receiving postgraduate diplomas in viola da gamba and baroque cello in 1992. He is a founding member of the celebrated Phantasm viol quartet the Norwegian baroque ensemble

Bergen Barokk Bergen Barokk is a Norwegian music ensemble that specializes in 17th and 18th century Western European music. They are supported by the city of Bergen and Arts Council Norway The Arts Council Norway ( no, Norsk kulturråd, often shortened to ' ...

and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (being its artistic leader from 2009 to 2013). His engagements include appearances in Europe, America and Asia. The Finnish Broadcast Company honored him as "Musical act of the year 2003" which was awarded after his "Gambaa!" recitals series of French baroque music, giving more than 50 recitals with different programs. He has performed recitals with all

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...

cello suites and is one of the pioneers commissioning contemporary music for the bass and treble viols. His more than 40 solo and chamber music recordings (stand out his solo parts of

Marais Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to: People * Marais (given name) * Marais (surname) Other uses * Le Marais, historic district of Paris * Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France * Marais (c ...

, Forqueray and

Couperin The Couperin family was a musical dynasty of professional composers and performers. They were the most prolific family in French musical history, active during the Baroque era (17th—18th centuries). Louis Couperin and his nephew, François Coup ...

) are available on the Alba, Avie, BIS, Linn, Simax, Channel Classics, Decca, GMN and Toccata Classics labels. Gramophone Awards -of the year and editor's choice- (with Phantasm), Emma Award ("Finnish Grammy"),

Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...

, and Chod du Monde de la Musique, BBC Music Magazine, Rondo Magazine, Best Recordings of the Year-Helsingin Sanomat, MusicWeb International, are some of his awards. He teaches baroque cello and viola da gamba at the

, and is the artistic director of the largest Scandinavian early music festival BRQ Vantaa Festival in Vantaa (Finland). In 2002 he founded Lu-Mi Strings Ltd,Lu-Mi Strings Ltd
/ref> a company which produces fine hand made contemporary baroque instruments in Beijing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luolajan-Mikkola, Markku Sibelius Academy alumni Living people Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni Finnish cellists Viol players Year of birth missing (living people)