One of the leading finnish string players, Martti Rousi begun his studies in his home town
Turku in 1968 and studied with Timo Hanhinen and Seppo Kimanen and later with Arto
Noras at the Sibelius- Academy. Already in 1982 he won the first prize at Turku cello
competition, after which he played with all major finnish orchestras. In 1985 he got a
Fulbright – scholarship to study with Janos Starker at the Indiana University winning the
annual cello concerto competition there. He also had lessons with William Pleeth, Valter
Deshpalj and Natalia Gutman.
In 1986 Rousi won the silver medal at the prestigious Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow.
Since that he has been performing with leading Scandinavian and European orchestras
like Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo Radio symphonies,,CBSO in Binrmingham,, Polish and
Hungarian national symphonies, Copenhagen philharmonic, Statsphilharmonie Rheinland-
Pfaltz, Shanghai and Johannesburg philharmonic with conductors like Esa- Pekka
Salonen, Okko Kamu, Osmo Vänskä, Sakari Oramo, Olli Mustonen Leif Segerstam, Valeri
Gergiev, Emmanuel Krivine, Bernhart Klee, Joseph Swensen and Muhai Tang. .He is
often soloist with chamber orchestras including Moscow, Münich, Ostrobotnia, Tallinn and
Toulouse chamber orchestas
On the side of his solo career, Rousi is regularly playing on major chamber music festivals
both in Europe and USA. During 1990s he played in piano trio with violinist Leonidas
Kavakos and pianist Peter Nagy. In recitals he appears with Olli Mustonen, Kathryn Stott,
Laura Mikkola and Juhani Lagerspetz. Since 1993 Rousi is the artistic director of Turku
music festival, and in 1995 he became professor at the Sibelius – Academy in Helsinki. In
2010 he is the artistic director of SIBAFEST in .Helsinki. His recordings include several
solo and chamber recordings for ONDINE and FINLANDIA labels. He plays cellos by Carlo
Giuseppe Testore from 1698 and J-B Lefevre from 1760. |
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