VIOLINIST
KREETA-MARIA KENTALA
Violinist Kreeta-Maria Kentala is a pioneer in the Finnish movement for early music. She’s at home as a soloist, a leader and a pedagogue of Baroque, Classical, Romantic music as well as folk music. She regularly gives concerts as a solo artist, a member of chamber music projects, and as a soloist, concertmaster and a leader of an orchestra.
Recordings Kreeta-Maria has made as a chamber musician and a soloist have gathered great acclaim in Finland and abroad. She’s received three Emma Awards (Finnish Grammy), a Janne Award from the Finnish AV producers and two Album of the Year awards of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. In the year 2016 The Arts Promotion Centre Finland granted Kreeta- Maria a five-year artist grant for the years 2017– 2021.
GUITARIST
OTTO TOLONEN
Otto Tolonen is one of the most versatile and active classical guitarists of his generation. He is an artist who is constantly looking for new repertoire and experimenting with new concert forms and techniques. His career took off when he won top prizes in 20 international guitar competitions between 1995 and 2009, among them the Andrés Segovia (Herradura, Spain), the Markneukirchen (Germany), the Tokyo International and the Guitar Foundation of America.
Tolonen is an active soloist and chamber musician and has performed across Europe, the Americas and Japan. He commands a wide range of musical styles. In his choice of repertoire, he sets the highest quality standards: the dense polyphony of the chromatic fantasies of John Dowland, the complex spectral modulations in Tristan Murail’s Tellur, and the French sound refinement of Georges Migot and Gustave Samazeuihl are just a few examples.
PIANIST
Janne Mertanen
Mertanen came to the attention of the wider musical public in 1992 with a win in the International Chopin Competition in Darmstadt, Germany. In the same year he won the first price also in the Nyborg Nordic Competition. Janne Mertanen has had orchestra engagements in South America, Asia and in Europe. In March 2010 he made his South American debut as the soloist of the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of the National Theater of Brazil conducted by Ira Levine. In 2014 he made his soloist debut in Japan with Tokyo New City Orchestra. Recital appearances have taken him around most of the European countries, Canada, America, Australia and Asia. He made his debut at the Wigmore Hall in London in October 1994 with a programme of works by Chopin.
ENSEMBLE
THE STENHAMMAR QUARTET
was founded in 1995. The members are Peter Olofsson and Per Öman, violins, Tony Bauer, viola and Mats Olofsson, cello.Their warm and energetic musicianship together with striking technical refinement have given them a position as one of the most interesting and respected quartets in Scandinavia today. Tours in Sweden as well as invitations to many chambermusic festivals have brought the quartet to England, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Algers, Finland and India during last years. In 2010 the quartet made it’s debute in London and was reinvited for 2012. The main emphasis of the repertoire is on Swedish music, but, needless to say, the international repertoire is of course also included.New music has a special place for them and they have commissioned and premiered quartets by Mats Larsson-Gothe, Per Mårtensson, Mika Pelo, Viktoria Borisova-Ollas ao.
ENSEMBLE
4th LINE HORN QUARTET
is formed by four french horn players, who studied together in Sibelius-Academy and in Hannover Hochschule für Musik. The quartet was founded in 2016 when these remarkable ladies realized that they have together great musicianship, group dynamic and a wonderful group sound. 4th Line wants to introduce Finnish and Scandinavian horn music from composers as Jukka Harju, Erkki Melartin, Daniel Kjellesvik, Johan Kvandal, Matthew Whittal and Jean Sibelius. Their first CD will be released in 2020. When not performing as a quartet, the hornists of 4th Line can be found in permanent positions in Turku Philharmonic orchestra, Tampere Philharmony and in Finnish national opera orchestra
CONDUCTOR
LEIF SEGERSTAM
Mr. Segerstam is one of the most versatile musical talents of the Nordic Countries – conductor, composer, violinist, and pianist. Known for his free-pulsative style, Leif Segerstam’s exceptionally large-scale composing production consists of over 330 symphonies and many other composition works.
Segerstam has conducted in a variety of orchestras since 1963, mostly American, Australian and European orchestras. He is widely known through his recorded discography, which includes the complete symphonies of Brahms, Mahler, Nielsen, and Sibelius, as well as many works by contemporary composers, such as the American composers John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse, the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, Swedish composer Allan Pettersson and the Russian composers Alfred Schnittke and Alexander Scriabin.
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artists@alba.fi
+358 50 363 5264
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Credits:
Mika Kirsi, Ulla Nikula, Ville Paul Paasimaa, Bo Söderström