News
Katri is given the Outstanding Contribution to Undergraduate Education Award Katrimusic on youtube Katrimusic on instagram Mestiza Music, the documentary airing nationally on your PBS stations June 2016-January 2017! Katrimusic on twitter E3Q video "Lonesome Luke" released on facebook Aug.29.2013 Chamber Music at Kerrytown Concert House with Stephen Miahky, Christina McGann and Jingwen Tu. Wed Oct.9, 2013 8pm Recital at the Kerrytown Concert House, July 20, 2013 at 8pm with Maria Sampen. a new video from Drew DeFour, featuring Kin Curran "Don't Be Afraid to Sing the Songs You Love" Leevi Madetoja on the Fennica Gehrman site - this is a good bio of my hometown hero! Katri on facebook May Erlewine's album "Golden" won the "Jammie" of the year, and the "best Americana album of the year" in Grand Rapids, MI. GO May! And yes, Golden is epic. |
Blessed summerI count myself very lucky to have the opportunities that I have - I love my children and my family, I love my students and I certainly love playing the cello. Frequently the three are at odds and we find ourselves looking for a better balance in our work/life/music. The way things seem to play out these days, I do more performing in the summer and more teaching during the school year and that's just fine by me. This summer I am especially lucky to have several wonderful projects - and get to play with many great friends and musicians: the Muses at the Cranbrook Collections, Brave New Works at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival and the True North Quartet at Michigan's UP, as well as my new friend Danielle Belen at her Center Stage Strings festival. I am also coaching some chamber music here and there, which of course is always fun. The big news of the week is that the University of Michigan College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts is recognizing my work with a big teaching prize. It's especially wonderful to have the arts recognized at our very large college - we are the "A" in LSA! It does do my soul much good to hear from students and colleagues: I am truly blessed to be working in such an environment and constantly learning from my colleagues and my students. As to resurrection of an ensemble.... the Muse Ensemble is making a come back! We have a couple of concerts in the books already and promo pictures in the can. I can't believe I get to play with Kyoko and Eva again, I have really missed them. Our current repertoire will include the towering Goldberg Variations by Bach; having taken that journey once I can't wait to do it again! And then, the newest endeavor: A few years ago, I played a Sibelius recital with Ruusamari Teppo, a Texas-based Finnish pianist extraordinaire and a direct descendent of the man himself: it was an instant kinship and we're probably related, cousins in 8 generations. I know it sounds like a joke, but it's not. We have formed a trio with the Finnish violinist Päivikki Nykter celebrating Finland's 100th birthday! The trio is named the Järnefelt Piano Trio, after Ruusamari and my common ancestors. We performed at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills, MI, on December the 6th, on the 100th Independence Day of our country: an incredibly moving experience. We are performing soon again in Detroit, at the 2019 Finnfest. This year I also I made some recordings and started my own youtube channel (thanks to pianist Tuomas Juutilainen for impromptu video shoot at the end of winter term, when we were both going nuts with schedules; Brad Phillips for asking me to play on a track with Jeff Daniels, Brian Vander Ark, May Erlewine, the Brad Phillips Roots Music Strings etc; and Andrew Bishop for writing beautiful music for an audible podcast and then asking me to play). So far my channel only has two little Finnish pieces for cello and piano, but more video is definitely in the works. Mestiza Music, our PBS documentary, is finished playing on PBS stations nationwide. It is a 60-minute telling of our journey in cultural collaboration and merging of two musical ensembles, Andean pan pipe trio and western classical string quartet, through music of composer Gabriela Lena Frank. The film was broadcast nationally starting in June 2016. WFYI Indianapolis has created a webpage for the documentary and you can still see the documentary on youtube through that page. We are also on facebook |