Jaakko Kuusisto

Jaakko Ilkka Kuusisto (17 January 1974 – 23 February 2022) was a Finnish violinist, composer, and conductor. Kuusisto studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, majoring in violin, as well as at Indiana University under Miriam Fried. Career As a violinist, Kuusisto has appeared in 30 recordings, of which at least 17 credited as a primary artist, performing works from composers such as Sibelius, Prokofiev, Kalevi Aho and Armas Järnefelt; as a conductor, he has recorded a dozen times. After an early career as violinist, Kuusisto increasingly turned his attention to composing and conducting. He composed approximately 40 works in total, including several operas, film scores and stage music, 15 pieces of chamber music, and numerous other compositions, as well as various orchestrations and arrangements. Before these, he served as the concertmaster of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for many years, where he was personally invited by the orchestra’s chief conductor Osmo Vänskä. Personal life Jaakko Kuusisto came from a musical family: his father was opera composer Ilkka Kuusisto, his brother musician Pekka Kuusisto, and his grandfather composer and choirmaster Taneli Kuusisto. Outside music