"America Meets Finland" Folk Music Concert

Eighteen year old Anttu Koistinen received one of the first electric Wing kantele instruments developed by his father, Hannu Koistinen, when he was only 8 years old, and quickly he found his own, quite unique way to play and perform on the instruments. Anttu has always played, while standing up, 15-string electric kanteles, which are provided with a strap. His relaxed style of playing brought new freedom to kantele-playing in general, and experimenting with them and developing new techniques and sounds increased his enthusiasm. Only 6 months after he had started playing, there was the first live TV performance on TV 1  Lauantaivekkari program. The style of playing and performing also developed because of the gigs. “The bigger the stage, the better,” Anttu was thinking, already at the age of 10.

Anttu played more and more gigs, both in Finland and abroad, at various kinds of events and, in 2004, a three-song single CD, “Pikkujättiläinen”  [The Small Giant] was published. In 2005 Anttu had his first performances in America, together with Senni Eskelinen, at the Grand Finn Fest in Marquette, and at the Finlandia Art & Music Festival in Poulsbo. In the same year, there was also a performance on TV with Trio Töykeät.  In 2006 there were two other TV performances and Anttu also received the honor of being selected as the first Pori Jazz Young Star artist. (The biggest jazz festival in the Nordic countries)  Important performances in 2007 were, among others, the opening ceremonies at “Suomi 90” in the Finlandia House and in St. Petersburg, at the Anitškov Palace.

During the year 2008, the KEHO band got its start, its members include Teemu Eerola (keyboards) Jesse Ojajärvi (drums), Rasmus Harinen (bass) and Anttu Koistinen. The following year (2009) KEHO was invited to the United States to perform as the lead number at the Scandinavian Hjemkomst festival.

As his newest project, Anttu is along on the “Sound of Koli” CD, published by Koistinen Kantele, it will be ready in summer 2011, and will be available at FinnFest 2011. Anttu is now 18 years old, in IB of the upper grades of senior secondary school (English-language International Baccalaureate) and will start his third year in August. 

Kriss Larson and the Gammaldans have been playing Scandinavian dance music in many countries since 1985, and playing for the Katirilli Finnish Folk Dancers of Southern California since 1987. Kriss has been to Finland three times with Katirilli, and one time with the Scandia dancers and has performed with Katirilli at the past four Finnfests.

Band members currently include: Mary Ann Sereth on bass or fiddle, Jim Garner on fiddle or mandolin, Aimee Aul on flute and Kriss on accordion.

Merja Soria, a native of Finland was the first Finlandia Foundation performer of the year in 1995.  She received a Masters Degree in Music at Sibelius Academy and has taught Finnish music at San Diego State University (1992-2006) and University of San Diego (1995-1998). In 2003 Ms. Soria was profiled in the Who’s Who in America. She has performed at the Los Angeles Music Center, Smithsonian Institute, Toronto Centre For the Arts, Peninsula Music Fair and many other music festivals in United States and Finland. Currently Ms. Soria teaches the young children of San Diego at her own music school Miss Merja’s Music Room.

Terhi Miikki-Broersma received a Masters of Music degree from Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland. She has been a church musician since she was 14, and after graduating in 1993 she worked for ten years as a musician in Lutheran Churches in Kotka, Finland, and Benalmádena, Spain.

Terhi now lives in Lynden, Washington, USA, where she is a homemaker and mother of two sons. She has directed various choruses and is currently the director of the Emmaus Lutheran Church Choir in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Chamber music has always been close to Terhi’s heart, either accompanying with piano, pipe organ or cembalo; she also plays bassoon. Accordion is her instrument when people want to dance and sing!

Terhi loves to organize music happenings and concerts. She started a music festival 12 years ago in Kotka Finland called Kymijoen Lohisoitto. And currently she is the executive director of the "Claire de Lune" Lynden Music Festival.

Finlandia Foundation National is proud to announce Wilho Saari, a distinguished kantele master from Naselle, Washington, as a 2011 Performer of the Year. He can trace the tradition of kantele playing back five generations in his family.

His great-great grandmother, Kreeta Haapasalo, is one of Finland’s notable kantele matriarchs, a kantele-heroine, as she is often called. 

Saari’s degree in music has helped him to develop outstanding skill in teaching himself to play kantele later in life. He is not only a recognized performer in demand, but also a well-respected and active teacher, who generously continues to share his kantele knowledge with numerous students around the country. Saari has received a Washington state Governor’s Heritage Award for his work popularizing and teaching kantele. In 2006, Saari was honored with a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship, the country’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts.  He is also a very productive composer of kantele music with over 2400 pieces written. 

In 2010, Dr. Arja Kastinen from Finland published 365 of Saari’s compositions in a collection called “Tune-a-Day.” Saari has recorded two CDs on the kantele. His latest CD called, “Vilhon Vintiltä” is mainly made-up of his own compositions.

The 2011 Performer of the Year term starts January 1, 2011 and runs the full calendar year. During that time, Wilho Saari is available to perform throughout the country in various chapter events with travel expenses covered by the grant of Finlandia Foundation National. Host organizations are responsible for local arrangements including performance fees, local travel and accommodations.