Marko Ylönen

Marko Ylönen has performed in as many different roles as almost any other cellist from his generation: soloist, orchestral player and principal, string quartet member, freelance player in duos and trios, and teacher. He has also been a winner and prizewinner in major competitions and a prolific recording artist. Not surprisingly, Ylönen's repertory is broad, taking in a range of works by <a href="spotify:artist:3meioy7GWDwpwmjv2LPyAb">C.P.E. Bach</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2l4vGfFV7e46yO8lxfxR76">Boccherini</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2QOIawHpSlOwXDvSqQ9YJR">Vivaldi</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:656RXuyw7CE0dtjdPgjJV6">Haydn</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7y97mc3bZRFXzT2szRM4L4">Chopin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0Kekt6CKSo0m5mivKcoH51">Rachmaninov</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7jzR5qj8vFnSu5JHaXgFEr">Sibelius</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7dsugSamBB7enWE2IrlbFg">Piazzolla</a>, and especially contemporary Finnish composers like <a href="spotify:artist:3MXhtYDNuzQQmLfOKFgPiI">Einojuhani Rautavaara</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3lZU8Jcr5pZNmRaI0tAziF">Joonas Kokkonen</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3lcBmr9Xcm9YHd7HNivInM">Jouni Kaipainen</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2lYfWALsiEzeeHCsNQThTJ">Ralf Gothóni</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7KmdcfQ5slIF0H8Smd0Tyq">Olli Mustonen</a>, and many others. Ylönen has concertized throughout Europe, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. He has recorded for several labels, including <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ondine%22">Ondine</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Finlandia%22">Finlandia</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22BIS%22">BIS</a>.

Marko Ylönen was born in Rantasalmi, Finland, on June 11, 1966. He was a student of Csaba Szilvay at the East Helsinki Music Institute and of Heikki Rautasalo and <a href="spotify:artist:0mrn7eJEcqV7KPopqH5UYy">Erkki Rautio</a> at the Helsinki-based <a href="spotify:artist:7jzR5qj8vFnSu5JHaXgFEr">Sibelius</a> Academy. From 1985-1989 Ylönen had further studies in Basel, Switzerland, with cello virtuoso <a href="spotify:artist:6bzQf5UbyQgSJlwFBglsum">Heinrich Schiff</a>.

1990 was a breakthrough year for Ylönen: he captured second prize at the Turku Scandinavian Cello Competition and was a prizewinner at the Moscow-based <a href="spotify:artist:3MKCzCnpzw3TjUYs2v7vDA">Tchaikovsky</a> International Competition. That same year he began a season-long stint as principal cellist for the <a href="spotify:artist:1aCLiYz6Kl83key0zcgCxc">Tapiola Sinfonietta</a>.

Ylönen began teaching at the <a href="spotify:artist:7jzR5qj8vFnSu5JHaXgFEr">Sibelius</a> Academy in 1991 and from that year until 1993, he performed with the <a href="spotify:artist:5Lf1SAS15AisICBsyP1L0Z">Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra</a> as first solo cellist. Among Ylönen's first recordings was a 1994 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ondine%22">Ondine</a> CD of <a href="spotify:artist:3MXhtYDNuzQQmLfOKFgPiI">Rautavaara</a>'s Op. 41 Cello Concerto. From 1995-2001 Ylönen served as cellist with the New Helsinki Quartet. Meanwhile, he won the 1996 New York City-based Concert Artist Guild Competition.

Ylönen became a tenured teacher at the <a href="spotify:artist:7jzR5qj8vFnSu5JHaXgFEr">Sibelius</a> Academy in 2000 and would go on to become a professor there in 2009. In 2003, the busy Ylönen appeared with the <a href="spotify:artist:5Lf1SAS15AisICBsyP1L0Z">Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra</a> for the premiere of a work he had commissioned, <a href="spotify:artist:3lcBmr9Xcm9YHd7HNivInM">Jouni Kaipainen</a>'s Cello Concerto.

In 2004 Ylönen served as artistic director of the Korsholm Music Festival in Western Finland. Ylönen was soloist on the acclaimed 2006 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ondine%22">Ondine</a> CD of the cello concerto by <a href="spotify:artist:5pDXC7kLwFougTLVv2KFNJ">Peteris Vasks</a>, with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. Ylönen returned as artistic director of the 2008 Korsholm Music Festival, then again in 2010 and 2011. Among Ylönen's more successful recordings is his 2010 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alba%22">Alba</a> CD of sonatas by <a href="spotify:artist:7y97mc3bZRFXzT2szRM4L4">Chopin</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0Kekt6CKSo0m5mivKcoH51">Rachmaninov</a>, with pianist <a href="spotify:artist:2q7o3bRfNlZRPyLg2nfoyp">Arto Satukangas</a>.