Anssi Karttunen

Who is Anssi Karttunen?

Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish cellist.

Anssi Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to the most recent composers. He performs with most world-class orchestras in Europe, Asia and the Americas and at major festivals worldwide.

Karttunen has given world premieres of over 125 works for cello, among them 23 concertos. These include Fred Lerdahl's 2010 Arches. A large number of composers have dedicated works to him, among them Luca Francesconi, Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Tan Dun, and Rolf Wallin. Karttunen has transcribed over 50 pieces for cello or various chamber ensembles, such as Brahms's Piano Quintet for String Quintet, Händel-Variations for String Trio and Schumann's Cello Concerto for solo cello and String Quartet.

Karttunen plays in the Zebra Trio with the violinist Ernst Kovacic and the violist Steven Dann.