Martti Rousi – Violoncello
Martti Rousi began studying the cello in his home town of Turku (Finland) in 1968 and was taught by Timo Hanhinen and Seppo Kimanen. He later moved to Helsinki and studied with Arto Noras at the Sibelius Academy. In 1982 he won the first prize at the Turku national cello competition, which enabled him to perform with leading Finnish orchestras and led to invitations to festivals like Kuhmo, Korsholm, and Naantali. During this time he took masterclasses with several teachers such as Valter Deshpalj, Natalia Gutman and William Pleeth. On receiving a Fulbright scholarship in 1985 he was accepted into the class of János Starker in Bloomington, winning the annual cello competition there.
In 1986, Rousi achieved international recognition by winning the silver medal at the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow. Since then, he has appeared as a soloist with leading Scandinavian and other European orchestras in Helsinki, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, London, Moscow and Budapest, with conductors like Esa-Pekka Salonen, Okko Kamu, Osmo Vänskä, Sakari Oramo, Leif Segerstam, Valeri Gergiev, Emmanuel Krivine, Bernhart Klee, and Joseph Swensen. He has played with many chamber orchestras including those from Moscow, Munich and Toulouse.
Chamber music has always been one of the focal points of Rousi’s musical activities. His recordings include several solo and chamber recordings for the ONDINE label. He regularly performs at major chamber festivals both in Europe and the USA and in 1992, was appointed artistic director of the Turku music festival.
In 1998, Rousi became a professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
Martti Rousi plays a Carlo Giuseppe Testore cello dating from 1698.