Concerts: Elokuu-ensemble 3. august 20:00
Elokuu-ensemble (August Ensemble) is a 10 year old Finnish chamber music orchestra bound together by passion and friendship. The members – Kati Arikoski, Anna-Mari Murdvee, Reetta Kataja, Leena Jaakkola, Mikk Murdvee, Jussi Aalto, Mathias Hortling and Samuli Peltonen – have been highly succesful in several national and international competitions. The players also conduct their careers in several symphony orchestras as well as leading a professional life as soloists and chamber musicians. Elokuu-ensemble performs regularly round the year within smaller ensembles and gathers at the end of summer in Southern Ostrobothnia, in the town of Seinäjoki, where they organize a chamber music festival called Säveliä Elokuussa (Tunes in August).
The repertoire of Elokuu-ensemble is wide - from solo pieces to sextets and septet's. During this particular 2010 Nordic tour we are happy to perform music composed by the Dane Hans-Henrik Nordstrøm, the Icelander Karolina Eiriksdottir and the Finn Aulis Sallinen, among the others. This tour is kindly supported by the Nordic Culture Found.
Samuli Peltonen (b. 1981) is a student of professor Arto Noras at the Sibelius Academy. He has also participated in master classes conducted by Torleif Thedeen, Martti Rousi, Marko Ylönen and Franz Helmersson. Samuli Peltonen has performed with several of Finnish orchestras (Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku philharmonic Orchestra, Seinäjoki City Orchestra, Sigyn-sinfonietta) and in solo and chamber music recitals in Finland, Estonia, Sweden and in Germany. In early 2006 he was awarded the 1st prize in the national Turku Cello Competition, having previously won the second prize in the Jyväskylä duo competition with Anna-Mari Murdvee. He won the 1st prize in the K. Penderecki -cello competition in Cracow 2008, where he was awarded the special prize of best piece by K. Penderecki.
Kati Eriikka Arikoski (b. 1979) began her piano studies at the Conservatory of Kuopio, Finland in 1986. Since 1999, she has studied at the Turku Art Academy in Finland and graduated as a piano teacher ( spring 2005) from the class of Jukka Juvonen. She has pursued her studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with associate professor Niklas Sivelöv. Arikoski undertook studies at the Music University of Graz between 2001 and 2003. She has also frequently participated in masterclasses, both in Finland and abroad and has given a number of solo concerts. She has also been a member of various chamber music ensembles in Finland, the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Austria.She won the 3rd prize at the national Leevi Madetoja piano competition in Oulu in January 2006.
Anna-Mari Murdvee (b. 1980) has studied at the Turku Art Academy and at the Helsinki University of Applied Sciences and graduated as piano teacher and music pedagogue in 2005. She has also studied in the postgraduate programme of classical music with lecturer Valeria Resjan. In 2002–2003 she undertook studies at the Academy on Performing Arts in Prague with professor Peter Toperczer as her teacher. Anna-Mari has performed as soloist and as a member of several chamber music ensembles in Finland, Denmark, the Czech Rebuplic, Spain, Estonia, the Faroe Islands and Austria. She has also won the second prize at the Jyväskylä duo-competition with cellist Samuli Peltonen. Anna-Mari teaches chamber music in Helsinki at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, and since 2009 she has been the leader of the string orchestra camp at the South Ostrobothnia Folk High School.
Mikk Murdvee was born in Tallinn in 1980. He started playing violin at the age of six. In Estonia he studied at Tallinn Music High School and Estonian Academy of Music. Since 1999 he has studied in Sibelius Academy, Finland. In 2002 he was accepted to Sibelius Academy's conducting class, where he studied with Leif Segerstam, Atso Almila, Jorma Panula and other visiting professors. He has conducted Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, city orchestras of Oulu, Lappeenranta, Vaasa and Seinäjoki, Pori Sinfonietta, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and many others. He has conducted in Estonian National Opera, Pori Opera, Kerava Opera and the opera of music festival Ilmajoen Musiikkijuhlat and has been assistant conductor of Tampere Opera during 2005-2007. Mikk Murdvee is appointed as chief conductor of Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat (Helsinki University Symphony Orchestra) since 2007, and he is continuing his career both as conductor and as a sought-after soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster.
Leena Jaakkola (b.1987) began her violin studies at the Kerava Music Institute with Erkki Palola. In 2004 she was admitted to the Sibelius-Academy Youth department to study with Seppo Tukiainen. In 2006 she started studying at the department for Music Performance. Currently Leena is studying with professor Mari Tampere-Bezrodny and completed her Bachelor's degree in Spring 2010. Leena has participated in many masterclasses with for instance: Hagai Shaham, Gerhald Schultz, Tuomas Haapanen, Vilmos Szabadi, Päivyt Meller andGordan Nicolich. She has also studied chamber music with Paavo Pohjola, Marko Ylönen, Martti Rautio and Gerhard Schultz. She has played with the Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra and performed solo and chambermusic in Finland and Estonia.
Jussi Aalto (b. 1981) has graduated from the Sibelius-Academy in 2009, where he studied under guidance of lecturer Jouko Mansnerus. He has participated in several masterclasses with e.g. professors Daniel Raiskin, Paul Silverthorne, Yuval Gotlibovich, Simon Rowland-Jones, Wolfgang Klos, Ilari Angervo and Ralf Gothóni. As a chamber musician he has played in several groups giving concerts in France, Spain, Sweden, Estonia and Finland. Jussi has gained orchestral experience by playing in orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki and Turku Philharmonic orchestras, the city orchestras of Mikkeli, Hämeenlinna, Pori and Kymi. Jussi Aalto has won 3rd prize in the national Tampere viola competition in 2006.
Mathias Hortling (b. 1980) took his cello diploma in the year 2008 and graduated from the Sibelius-Academy, where he studied under the guidance of Marko Ylönen and Martti Rousi. Hortling has attended numerous masterclasses for e.g. with Philippe Mueller, Truls Mörk, Heinrich Schiff, Torleif Thedéen and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. He has performed as soloist with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä andTurku Philharmonics. He has also appeared both as a soloist and a chamber musician in Finland, in several European countries, North America and Asia. He won the 4th prize in the Turku cello competition in 2002 and 2006. In 2007 he reached the semi-final in the International Paulo Cello Competition.
Reetta Kataja (b. 1986) is currently studying with lecturer Janne Malmivaara at the Sibelius-Academy, where she completed her Bachelor of Music-degree in spring 2010. She has taken part in several masterclasses, the teachers include Pertti Sutinen, Kaija Saarikettu, Regis Pasquier, Jaakko Kuusisto, Tuomas Haapanen, Hagai Shaham, Mark Gothoni and Timothy Summers. Reetta has performed as a soloist in Finland with the Seinäjoki symphony orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and the Kuopio symphony orchestra. She has taken part in the violin competitions of Kuopio 2010, the Jyväskylä International Forum in 2004 (Grand Prix Laureate), and the Jyväskylä violin competition in 2003 and 2006 (finalist).
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