Pekka Kuusisto wins Finnish Cultural Fund prize

Violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto was this week revealed as one of three Finnish creatives to receive the Finnish Cultural Fund’s award for significant cultural achievements. Kuusisto was awarded the prize alongside architect Benito Casagrande and doctor of chemistry Mirja Salkinoja-Salonen on Monday (27 February), the eve of Finnish Culture Day.

Kuusisto was granted the award, which comes with a cash prize of €40,000, in recognition of his ‘mastery of the violin, baton, and bits and for questioning boundaries.’ Architect Casagrande receives the same sum for ‘respecting history’ and ‘preserving beauty’, while Salkinoja-Salose, emeritus professor of microbiology at the University of Helsinki, is granted his award in recognition of his career spent ‘purifying the air, earth, and waters and for improving our health.’

Born in 1976, Kuusisto began playing the violin at the age of three, and studied at the East Helsinki Music Institute, the Sibelius Academy and the University of Indiana before becoming the first Finnish winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995.

Artistic director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Kuusisto is also artistic partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, artistic best friend of the Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and collaborative partner of the San Francisco Symphony as well as being Sinfonieorchester Basel’s artist in residence. Later this year he will also take up the role of principal guest conductor and artistic co-director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.