Jaakko Kuusisto
Violinist Jaakko Kuusisto has become one of the most visible musicians in his native Finland and beyond, with a career that has encompassed conducting and composition as well as violin recordings. Among the most often recorded artists in Finland, he has made major recordings of Finnish composers, including Jean Sibelius as well as top contemporary figures.
Kuusisto was born in Helsinki on January 17, 1974. He grew up with a violin-playing brother, Pekka Kuusisto, with whom he played double-concerto music as a child. Both brothers won prizes in Finnish and international violin competitions in the 1990s, and both studied at East Helsinki Music College and moved on to the Sibelius Academy, studying with Tuomas Haapanen. Both brothers then moved to the U.S. for graduate study at Indiana University, working with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss. Kuusisto's view of the American music scene is nuanced: he told the Finnish Music Quarterly that he found Indiana's orchestral programs too oriented toward rote rehearsals, but charged Finns with being overly "snooty" toward American compositional contributions, saying that "We should, after all, remember that some of the best composers of today are at Hollywood," and that it is "high time the Finns learnt to accept that not all countries create music in the same way as they do and that other approaches may be equally good." Indeed, Kuusisto himself has performed and recorded jazz with the Trio Töykeat.
Kuusisto has been associated with the BIS, Ondine, and Finlandia labels, making his debut on the former in a recital of Sibelius' youthful works as part of the label's massive Sibelius cycle and continuing to contribute to recordings of violin works in that series. He has recorded concertos of illustrious Finnish contemporary composers, including Rautavaara, Sallinen, and Aho. From 1999 to 2012, Kuusisto was concertmaster of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, with which he has also often collaborated on recordings. As a conductor he has worked with major Finnish orchestras, with the Minnesota Orchestra, and with three top orchestras in Australia, among others. Sometimes Kuusisto has arranged or orchestrated the music he has conducted, including the opera Indigo by two metal-oriented Finnish cellists, Eicca Toppinen and Perttu Kivilaakso. A symphonist at age nine, Kuusisto has written more than 30 works, including a family opera called The Canine Kalevala. His chamber works were collected on the 2016 BIS release Glow.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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BACH, J. S.: Violin Concertos (Kuusisto)
Jaakko Kuusisto, Pekka Kuusisto, Tapiola Sinfonietta
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
RANTALA, I.: Piano Concerto and Concerto in G sharp major / A flat major / Astorale / Tangonator / Final Fantasy (Rantala)
Iiro Rantala, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jaakko Kuusisto
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MUSTONEN, O.: Triple Concerto / Petite Suite / Nonets Nos. 1 and 2 / Frogs Dancing on Water Lilies (Rousi)
Pekka Kuusisto, Martti Rousi, Jaakko Kuusisto, Lisa Batiashvili, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Olli Mustonen
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chamber Music (Finnish): Century of Finnish Chamber Music (A)
Chamber Music - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Sonatas & Partitas
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rautavaara: Symphony No. 8, "The Journey" / Violin Concerto
Jaakko Kuusisto, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 May 2004
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sallinen: Symphony No. 8 & Violin Concerto
Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Jaakko Kuusisto, Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Soloists, Ari Rasilainen
Classical - Released by CPO on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kalevi Aho: Chamber Music
Samuli Peltonen, Sonja Fraki, Jaakko Kuusisto
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 May 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Song of the Scarlet Flower (Full Score to the 1919 Film)
Gävle Symphony Orchestra, Jaakko Kuusisto
Classical - Released by Ondine on 11 Jan 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kärki konsertissa
Panu Savolainen, Jaakko Kuusisto, Helsingin Kaupunginorkesteri
Jazz - Released by Doorbell Music on 3 Dec 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Masonic Ritual Music
Hannu Jurmu, Harri Viitanen, YL Male Voice Choir, Mika Pohjonen, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Jaakko Kuusisto
Classical - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestral Music - BACH, J.S. / MOZART, W.A. / BEETHOVEN, L. van / SIBELIUS, J. / RAITIO, V. (Idyll - Music for Daydreaming)
Classical - Released by Ondine on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Piano Quintet / Svartsjukans Natter / Andante - Allegro / O, Om Du Sett / Vivace
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 2007
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kulkurin iltatähti
Panu Savolainen, Jaakko Kuusisto, Helsingin Kaupunginorkesteri
Pop - Released by Doorbell Music on 19 Nov 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sallinen: Complete Works for Violin, Cello, Double Bass and Piano
Saara Hakkila, Jaakko Kuusisto, Mats Rondin, Ilkka Paananen
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 31 Dec 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Complete Piano Quartets
Folke Gräsbeck, Jaakko Kuusisto, Peter Lonnqvist, Taneli Turunen, Satu Vanska, Harri Viitanen
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Jan 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lauri Porra: Entropia
Lauri Porra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Jaakko Kuusisto
Classical - Released by BIS on 5 Jan 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Complete Youth Production for Violin and Piano, Vol. 1
Folke Gräsbeck, Jaakko Kuusisto
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Sep 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 1
Jaakko Kuusisto, Satu Vanska, Marko Ylonen, Folke Gräsbeck
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Aug 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Complete Piano Trios, Vol. 2
Jaakko Kuusisto, Marko Ylonen, Folke Gräsbeck
Chamber Music - Released by BIS on 1 Mar 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo