Anssi Karttunen is a Finnish cellist born on September 30, 1960, in Helsinki. He studied at the Sibelius Academy with Erkki Rautio and later in London and the Netherlands with masters such as Jacqueline du Pré and Tibor de Machula. Karttunen is a prominent advocate for contemporary music and has premiered over 240 works, including compositions by Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg. He served as the artistic director of the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra from 1994 to 1998 and was the principal cellist of the London Sinfonietta between 1999 and 2005. His discography features the 1994 album Ludwig van Beethoven: Complete Works for Cello and Fortepiano Vol. 1. In 2019, he co-founded the group Sons of Chipotle with John Paul Jones. Karttunen was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal in 2020. He currently resides in Paris, where he teaches at the École normale de musique de Paris and performs on a cello made by Francesco Ruggeri.
