When two teenage girls started to play Finnish folk
music back in 1976, no one could expect the collaboration to
turn out to be longlasting and especially fruitful. It was the
result of an initiative of the Espoo music institute to let their
students, basically trained in classical music, get in touch
with the traditional national music. Teachers were chosen from
the Leikarit group, which specializes in music from the Espoo
area. In the years to come the girls started to play more and
more together, became friends and took part in competitions where
they usually collected top prizes. Meiskarit was born.
Life went on, Maria entered the
Sibelius Academy as one of the first shift to major in folk music.
She was recently appointed honorary professor and is pursuing
an active carreer as a performer all around the globe in various
groups while teaching at the Sibelius Academy. Maarit took her
degree as a classical violinist from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory
and is playing in the top level Tapiola Sinfonietta chamber orchestra
these days. During the years Meiskarit has appeared in countless
radio recordings and done many trips abroad. A special place
in their repertoire is reserved to the music of Maarit's father,
accordionist Martti Kyllönen. It was him too, who would
drive them to their concerts, while the girls were chatting and
having fun ('meiskata' in finnish) in the back seat. Another
accent in the repertoire lies on traditional Swedish polskas
and waltzes which may find it's origin in the fact that Maarit
was born in Sweden and Maria is a Swedish-speaking Finn.
Maria Kalaniemi, a master of free-bass button
accordion, is one of Finland's leading contemporary accordionists.
Once a member of pioneering groups Niekku and Aldargaz, from
the famed Sibelius Acdemy Folk Music Department, where she now
teaches, her roots are in folk and classical music but her sights
and abilities go far beyond existing styles. Technically brilliant
as a player, and adept at improvisation, she is also a very powerful,
intuitive and sensitive composer, with pieces that stylistically
touch in numerous areas but feature her own personality as the
driving force. Melody is the meaning and with Maria, listeners
are sure to feel her message deeply. Maria has released many
albums, the latest are the duo and live trio CDs with pianist
Timo Alakotila. She is also a member of the international accordion
collective Accordion Tribe, Swedish-Finnish music group Ramunder,
UNTO Tango Orchestra as well as many other projects. Maria has
toured and performed with these groups and other projects throughout
Europe, USA and in Canada. Her new work is centered around solo
accordion pieces. In Sept. 2005, the Arts Council of Finland
appointed Maria Kalaniemi one of four new Artist Professors for
a five year term alongside composer Kaija Saariaho, writer Olli
Jalonen and artist Juho Karjalainen. This is the second time
the Professorship has been awarded to a composer/musician from
the folk music field, the first being Heikki Laitinen in the
mid 90s.
Maarit Kyllönen was born in Sweden where she spent her first
nine years. She started playing the violin after moving to Finland.
After winning a national competition, Maarit entered the Moscow
Tchaikovsky Conservatory and graduated in 1986. After doing postgraduate
studies in Holland, specializing in chamber music, she auditioned
and won a spot in the prestigious Tapiola Sinfonietta chamber
orchestra where she's been playing ever since. Maarit is an eager
and active chamber musician and a very enthusiastic teacher at
the Espoo Music Institute where she also leads a folk music ensemble.
Annual visits to the Kaustinen festival, as a member of the group
Leikarit, have been a longtime habit. Her greatest hobby are
her three children that inevitably are brought up in a musical
world balancing between classical and folk music.
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