biography
Starting her career in Finland in 2014 after winning the Turku Cello Competition and became a finalist of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, today Senja Rummukainen becomes one of the brightest cellists of her generation. Praised by critics for her "unbelievable power and intensity", she performs with the renown orchestras at the most remarkable venues.
'If I had to tell anyone what it means to "live through", I would urge you to listen to Rummukainen's presentation.' — Helsingin Sanomat
Chamber music is Rummukainen's another passion. Her revealed ability to be a sensitive partner on a stage, attention to details, careful attitude to music, constant extending of the repertoire and the abilities of the instrument gave her both the reputation of an amazing chamber musician and opportunity to share a stage with Janine Jansen, Ilya Gringolts and Augustin Hadelich and Olli Mustonen.
Rummukainen aims for her cello to sound as smooth and sweet as she liked it when she first heard it at the East Helsinki Institute of Music at the age of six. Such timbre can express emotions and cause them in others even more precisely than words, because it is the cello that is closest to the human timbre of all instruments.
Rummukainen currently plays a Giovanni Grancino cello from 1698, owned by OP Art Foundation.
Rummukainen currently plays a Giovanni Grancino cello from 1698, owned by OP Art Foundation.
2024/2025 season's highlights include her debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmonica de Bogota and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, performance at the BBC Proms with Sakari Oramo, at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Nowadays, Senja is regularly invited as a soloist by the leading conductors – Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Nicholas Collon, Dima Slobodeniouk, Tarmo Peltokoski, Emilia Hoving – to perform with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Nowadays, Senja is regularly invited as a soloist by the leading conductors – Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Nicholas Collon, Dima Slobodeniouk, Tarmo Peltokoski, Emilia Hoving – to perform with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Teachers have always opened new doors to endless possibilities of music for Rummukainen. She started her studies in the classes of Taru Aarnio. At the Sibelius Academy, under the guidance of Marko Ylönen, she learned to handle large lines and large entities.
In the Class of Truls Mørk at the Norwegian School she found her own personal voice, and with the help of Jens Peter Maintz at the University of music Berlin, another part of Rummukainen's toolbox was found: the ability to explore the beauty of small details by working with microscopic precision.
In the Class of Truls Mørk at the Norwegian School she found her own personal voice, and with the help of Jens Peter Maintz at the University of music Berlin, another part of Rummukainen's toolbox was found: the ability to explore the beauty of small details by working with microscopic precision.
press
"On Thursday evening, she surprised with the Scottish pianist Steven Osborne in the Cello Sonata op. 61 by Benjamin Britten. <…> Unbelievable power and intensity. How well-matched the pianist and cellist turned out to be, and how much they seemed to constantly challenge each other."
(Brabant Cultural)
(Brabant Cultural)
"The highlight of the evening was still Senja Rummukainen's sensationally fine performance of Shostakovich's first cello concerto. Rarely do you hear such an emotional matter in the expression – which, however, never sounded the slightest exaggerated or forcibly suppressed – in combination with such exquisitely mastered sound and intonation care."
(Huvudstadsbladet, Mats Liljeroos)
(Huvudstadsbladet, Mats Liljeroos)
"The highlight of the evening was still Senja Rummukainen's sensationally fine performance of Shostakovich's first cello concerto. Rarely do you hear such an emotional matter in the expression – which, however, never sounded the slightest exaggerated or forcibly suppressed – in combination with such exquisitely mastered sound and intonation care."
(Huvudstadsbladet, Mats Liljeroos)
(Huvudstadsbladet, Mats Liljeroos)
"Senja Rummukainen is a fantastic cellist."
(Göteborgs-Posten, Magnus Haglund)
(Göteborgs-Posten, Magnus Haglund)
"Senja Rummukainen presented her playing skills and the wide range of expression of her beautifully-sounding Stefano Scarambella cello in the turns of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. In the first parts of the work, which opened loudly and clearly, the solo part was characterized by lightness and springiness. As the playing progressed, joyful playfulness could be heard, which deepened into expressive melodic lines and tight legatos."
(Gikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus)
(Gikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus)
"Senja Rummukainen presented her playing skills and the wide range of expression of her beautifully-sounding Stefano Scarambella cello in the turns of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. In the first parts of the work, which opened loudly and clearly, the solo part was characterized by lightness and springiness. As the playing progressed, joyful playfulness could be heard, which deepened into expressive melodic lines and tight legatos."
(Gikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus)
(Gikka Holmberg, Kulttuuritoimitus)
Finland
RAITALA MUSIC
Anna-Liina Lindeberg
anna-liina@raitala.com
Anna-Liina Lindeberg
anna-liina@raitala.com