Photo: Tero Ahonen
Meta4
Antti Tikkanen, violin
Minna Pensola, violin
Atte Kilpeläinen, viola
Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello
Meta4, formed in 2001, is one of the most internationally successful Finnish string quartets. In 2004 it won the first prize in the International Shostakovich Quartet Competition in Moscow and was also awarded a special prize for best Shostakovich interpretation. The quartet enjoyed continued success in 2007, when it won the first prize in the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna. Later that year the Finnish Minister of Culture awarded Meta4 with the annual Finland Prize in recognition of an international breakthrough. Meta4 was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist for 2008–2010 and in 2013 Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation awarded the quartet with a special prize in recognition of its work.
Meta4 performs regularly in key music capitals and concert halls around the world including Wiener Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall and King’s Place in London, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Cité de la Musique in Paris and Stockholms Konserthus, and has also toured in Australia. Furthermore, Meta4 served as the Artistic Director of Oulunsalo Music Festival between 2008 and 2011 and was the quartet-in-residence at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival from 2008-2017.
The quartet has studied in the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) under Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl. They have released three recordings on Hänssler Classics: Haydn’s String Quartets op. 55 1–3 (2009), which was awarded the esteemed Echo Klassik Award in 2010; Shostakovich’s String Quartets 3, 4 & 7 (2012), which received the 2012 Record of the Year award from the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE as well as the Emma prize (the Finnish Grammy) in the category of the Classical Album of the Year, as well as Bartók’s String Quartets 1 & 5, released in 2014. The quartet has also released an album of Kaija Saariaho’s chamber music works (Ondine, 2013) and an LP of Sibelius’s String Quartet ‘Voces Intimae’ (Berliner Meister Schallplatten, 2013). An album with Brahms Clarinet Quintet and Gérard Pesson’s Nebenstück together with Reto Bieri, was released via ECM Records in 2019. The most recent albums of the quartet were breleased via Bis Records: their recording of octets by Mendelssohn and Enescu with the Gringolts Quartet was released in 2020 and fall 2021 saw the release of Oceano, Chamber Music by Sebastian Fagerlund.
The members of Meta4 play distinguished instruments, which include a Stradivarius, kindly on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, a Carlo Bergonzi violin, kindly on loan from Signe and Ane Gyllenberg’s Foundation and a cello made by Lorenzo Storioni in Cremona in 1780.
Artist's/Ensemble's own websiteProgramme
20.7.
20.7.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827):
String Quartet No. 6 in B flat, Op. 18 No. 6 'Malinconia' (1798–1800)
20.7.
Robert Schumann (1810—1856):
String Quartet No. 3 in A, Op. 41 No. 3 (1842)
21.7.
22.7.
Joseph Haydn (1732—1809):
String Quartet No. 49 in B minor, Op. 64 No. 2 (1790)
23.7.
Krishna Nagaraja (1975):
Peripheries for string quartet (2026, commissioned by Kuhmo Chamber Music, premiere)
23.7.
24.7.
25.7.
Luigi Boccherini (1743—1805):
Minuetto from String Quintet in E, Op. 11 No. 5 (G. 275) (1771)
25.7.
Joseph Haydn (1732—1809):
Poco Adagio - Cantabile from String Quartet in C, Op. 76 No. 3 'Emperor' (1797)
25.7.
W. A. Mozart (1756—1791):
Molto allegro from String Quartet in G, K. 387 (1782)
25.7.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827):
Grave ma non troppo - Allegro from String Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135 (1826)
25.7.
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805—1847):
Adagio ma non troppo from String Quartet in E flat (1834)
25.7.
Robert Schumann (1810—1856):
Assai agitato from String Quartet No. 3 in A, Op. 41 No. 3 (1842)
25.7.
Maurice Ravel (1875—1937):
Allegro moderato from String Quartet in F (1902–03)
25.7.
Alban Berg (1885—1935):
Allegro misterioso from Lyric Suite (1925–26)
25.7.
Leoš Janáček (1854—1928):
Andante - Con moto - Allegro from String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' (1928)
25.7.
Amy Beach (1867—1944):
Movement from String Quartet, Op. 89 (1921–29)
25.7.
Béla Bartók (1881—1945):
Scherzo from String Quartet No. 5 in B flat (1934)
25.7.
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906—1975):
Allegro non troppo from String Quartet No. 3 in F, Op. 73 (1946)
25.7.
Kaija Saariaho (1952—2023):
Fleurs de neige from Neiges (1998, arr. for string quartet by composer 2013)
25.7.
Jaakko Kuusisto (1974—2022):
Movement from Play III, Op. 21 (2008)
Minna Pensola
12.7.
Jaakko Kuusisto (1974—2022):
Buffalo Encore for three violins (2015)
12.7.
W. A. Mozart (1756—1791):
Serenade in C, K. 648 for string trio 'Ganz kleine Nachtmusik' (ca. 1766–69)
12.7.
J. C. Bach (1735—1782):
Organ Concerto in E flat
12.7.
Astor Piazzolla (1921—1992):
The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (1965–69)
13.7.
The Heart of the Day - Artistic directors Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen discuss the process of putting together this year’s programme (this session will in Finnish, admission free).
13.7.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678—1741):
Violin Concerto in F, Op. 8 No. 3 'Autumn' (1723)
14.7.
Gioacchino Rossini (1792—1868):
String Sonata No. 3 in C for two violins, cello and double bass (ca. 1804)
14.7.
Olli Mustonen (1967):
Nonetto II (2000)
15.7.
Jouni Kaipainen (1956—2015):
Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 102 '…The Pike Rose to the Spruce's Crone…' (2014)
16.7.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827):
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F, Op. 24 'Spring' (1800–01, arr. for string trio by Anssi Karttunen)
16.7.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660—1725):
Sonata a quattro No. 1 in F minor (1725 or before)
16.7.
Joseph Haydn (1732—1809):
String Quartet in B flat, Op. 1 No. 1 'La chasse' (ca. 1760)
17.7.
Olli Mustonen (1967):
Sonata for two violins (2026, commissioned by Kuhmo Chamber Music, premiere)
17.7.
18.7.
22.7.
W. A. Mozart (1756—1791):
Melodies from the Opera Magic Flute, K. 620 for two violins (1791)
24.7.
Jean Sibelius (1865—1957):
En glad musikant (a Happy Musician), JS 70 for violin (1924–25)
25.7.
Jean Sibelius (1865—1957):
Rondino, Op. 81 No. 2 for violin and piano (1917)
Antti Tikkanen
12.7.
Jaakko Kuusisto (1974—2022):
Buffalo Encore for three violins (2015)
12.7.
W. A. Mozart (1756—1791):
Serenade in C, K. 648 for string trio 'Ganz kleine Nachtmusik' (ca. 1766–69)
12.7.
J. C. Bach (1735—1782):
Organ Concerto in E flat
13.7.
The Heart of the Day - Artistic directors Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen discuss the process of putting together this year’s programme (this session will in Finnish, admission free).
13.7.
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909—1969):
Polish Caprice for violin (1949)
14.7.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678—1741):
Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 8 No. 2 'Summer' (1723)
14.7.
Gioacchino Rossini (1792—1868):
String Sonata No. 3 in C for two violins, cello and double bass (ca. 1804)
14.7.
Olli Mustonen (1967):
Nonetto II (2000)
15.7.
Johannes Brahms (1833—1897):
Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 (1855–75)
16.7.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827):
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F, Op. 24 'Spring' (1800–01, arr. for string trio by Anssi Karttunen)
16.7.
Franz Xaver Richter (1709—1789):
String Quartet in C, Op. 5 No. 1 (ca. 1757)
16.7.
Luigi Boccherini (1743—1805):
String Quartet in C minor, Op. 2 No. 1 (G. 159) (1761)
17.7.
Olli Mustonen (1967):
Sonata for two violins (2026, commissioned by Kuhmo Chamber Music, premiere)
19.7.
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660—1725):
Christmas Cantata (1695, lyrics: Antonio Ottoboni)
21.7.
César Franck (1822—1890):
Sonata in A for violin and piano (1886)
22.7.
W. A. Mozart (1756—1791):
Melodies from the Opera Magic Flute, K. 620 for two violins (1791)
25.7.
Jean Sibelius (1865—1957):
Mazurka, Op. 81 No. 1 for violin and piano (1915)
Atte Kilpeläinen
24.7.
Johannes Brahms (1833—1897):
String Quintet No. 1 in F, Op. 88 (1882)
- Atte Kilpeläinen
- Students of the music courses
25.7.
Paul Hindemith (1895—1963):
Rasendes Zeitmass. Wild. Tonschönheit ist Nebensache from Sonata No. 2, Op. 25 No. 1 for viola (1922)
Tomas Djupsjöbacka
22.7.
Ernő Dohnányi (1877—1960):
Marcia: Allegro from Serenade in C, Op. 10 for string trio (1902)
22.7.
Gabriela Ortiz (1964):
La Calaca from Altar de Muertos for string quartet (1997)