Pekka Kuusisto
Violin
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto is one of the most versatile and distinctive musicians working today. Always demonstrating his extraordinary individuality and imagination, Pekka is unusually free and fluid in his approach and has been acclaimed for the spontaneity and freshness in his playing. Pekka says, “I don't play to be different or the same as anyone else, I just play it the way I think it and feel it.”
In 1995, Pekka became the first Finn to win the Sibelius Violin Competition.
Setting Pekka apart from most other violinists of his generation is his desire and ability to improvise, and his love of playing many different styles of music – channelling the same intensity into each genre. In 2005, Pekka performed at the Barbican with the Finnish electronic jazz group Rinneradio as part of Herbie Hancock’s festival. He appeared last season in Dublin with Irish accordionist Dermot Dunne in a programme which combined Bach, Stravinsky and solo electronic violin improvisation. He also played at the St Olav Festival in Trondheim, joining with Fe-Mail, a Norwegian noise duo consisting of French horn and vocals, performing electronic music based on improvisation with live sampling. This season, he appears at de Singel in Antwerp with his Finnish folk group the Luomu Players, and performs jazz with members of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra.
“Playing folk, jazz, electronic music and improvising as well as classical music has really given me the relationship I have with my violin. It has taught me that a fiddle is not something to control – if you want to play in a free way you have to feel free and the folk musicians I admire the most would agree. They couldn’t play the Sibelius Concerto to save their lives, but they are some of the happiest musicians I know.”
Pekka is seen increasingly directing ensembles from the violin, and has excelled at this role with the London, Scottish, Irish and Australian chamber orchestras.
“It’s about being a chamber musician, just like the other players. It’s the best way of ensuring there’s good communication between everyone. When I direct, I get feedback straight from the musicians and develop individual relationships with them.”
A keen exponent of contemporary music, Pekka gave the Finnish première of the Thomas Adès Violin Concerto last season with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and performed Distant Light by Peteris Vasks with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
Each summer, Pekka creates his own programme of events at Finland’s Lake Tuusula Chamber Music Festival, of which he is Artistic Director.
Pekka’s most recent CD releases are two highly-acclaimed discs of works by Sibelius. Pekka also features in 4, a DVD documentary about Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, in which he presents Winter, set in the snowscapes of Lapland.
Pekka Kuusisto plays a Giovanni Baptista Guadagnini violin of 1752 kindly loaned by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.