On December 17 the Ensemble Sospeso performs the American premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen's cello conerto Mania, written for and performed by Anssi Karttunen, under the baton of the composer.

The Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen is one of the most versatile performers on his instrument. He leads a busy career as a soloist and chamber-music player, performing extensively all over the world. He performs on modern cello, classical and baroque cellos and on violoncello piccolo.

Among the orchestras he performs with are the Los Angeles, Oslo, Tokyo , Luxembourg and Helsinki Philharmonic; Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Dutch Radio Orchestras; Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish, Orchestre de Paris, Residentie Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Avanti! and Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar, Orquesta Municipal de Caracas, Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato, etc...

Mr Karttunen performs at most major festivals in Europe: Edinburgh, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Spoleto, Berlin, Venice, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Helsinki etc..

In May 1999 he gave the world première of Magnus Lindberg's Cello Concerto with Orchestre de Paris, a work he has since then performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kirov Theatre Orchestra, Avanti!, Barcelona Opera Orchestra, Flanders Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Orchestra.

Anssi Karttunen performs all the standard cello works, but has also discovered many forgotten masterpieces and arranged a number of pieces for cello. He is a passionate advocate of contemporary music and his collaboration with composers has led him to give a great number of world premieres of works by composers such as Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Rolf Wallin and Tan Dun.

In June 2000 gave the world première of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Mania for cello and ensemble and a new solo piece by Kaija Saariaho followed in September. February 2001 he will give the first performance of Martin Matalon's Cello Concerto with the Orchestre National de France.

The CD´s of Anssi Karttunen range from the complete Beethoven works for cello and fortepiano (on period instruments) and 20th-Century works for solo cello to concertos with London Sinfonietta and Los Angeles Philharmonic with Esa-Pekka Salonen. He is a founding member of www.petals.org, a non-profit organisation for the production and sale of CDs on the Internet. He also appears on the first ever contemporary music CD-ROM: Prisma, which features the music of Kaija Saariaho.

Anssi Karttunen has also branched out away from the cello, in February 2000 he conducted Lindberg's Kraft in Antwerp on a very short notice, and participated in a choreography by Serge Louis-Fernard "Les Ames sont.." in June in Paris. Between 1994 and 1998 Mr Karttunen was the artistic director of the Avanti! Chamber orchestra. He was also the artistic director of the 1995 Helsinki Biennale and the Suvisoitto-festival in Porvoo, Finland from 1994-1997.

His teachers included William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré and Tibor de Machula. He also studied classical and baroque styles with Malcolm Bilson and John Hsu.

Since December 1999 Anssi Karttunen is the principal cellist of the London Sinfonietta.