Chamber Music & Solo
“What fascinates me about chamber music is the intense connection and closeness between musicians and the audience, and within the ensemble.”
Fun and fundamentally important music
To Meri, playing chamber music is one of the best aspects of being a professional musician. This explains why she thrives in a chamber orchestra, an intrinsically different environment from a large symphony orchestra.
Meri sees playing chamber music together as both fun and fundamentally important to an orchestra. She greatly enjoys the way Tapiola Sinfonietta’s concert seasons feature a wide variety of large and small ensembles and chamber music works. The orchestra’s recent chamber music series, Chamber Music in Manor Houses, showcased chamber music to the audience in the intimate venues for which it was originally composed.
Meri has had the opportunity to perform chamber music with world-class guest artists, such as Alexander Melnikov, Ana Chumachenko, Ralf Gothoni and Olli Mustonen. She is the founder of the Englund Quartet, which also comprises Annemarie Åström, Lotta Poijärvi, and Riitta Pesola.
Significant solo moments
During her career, Meri Englund has also regularly appeared as a soloist. The occasions that hold the most personal significance to her include Tapiola Sinfonietta’s visit to Radio France when she played Aarre Merikanto’s “Schott” Concerto for violin, clarinet and horn with Harri Mäki and Tero Toivonen. Another cherished memory is performing her grandfather Einar Englund’s violin concerto with Tapiola Sinfonietta, conducted by Mario Vengazo, and the Sibelius violin concerto conducted by Leif Segerstam.
What’s more, Meri Englund has played as a soloist at the Lahti Symphony Orchestra Mozart festival and with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, the Vaasa City Orchestra, and the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra.
Photos by Tapiola Sinfonietta and Tammisaari Church