ABOUT AND ENSEMBLE

The name AND-ensemble comes from a typical Finnish saying about the Swedish speaking Finns. As we are such a small minority in the country, only about 5% of the population, the saying is that the Swedish speaking Finns are like ”ducks in a pond”. The Swedish meaning for ”and” is duck – so we are ”the DUCK-ensemble”, if translated to English :)

Founded in 2008, AND-ensemble is a Swedish speaking Finnish chamber music group. The core group is formed by Annemarie Åström – violin, Tomas Nuñez-Garcés – cello and Annika Palm – piano. But the combination varies according to the repertoire, anything from duo to sextets. So far the guest musicians played with the ensemble have been Paula Nykänen – violin, Tina Brännkärr – viola, Anna Aminoff – flute, Charlotta Sevón – mezzosoprano, Torsten Thiebout – viola and Christoffer Sundqvist – clarinet.

Musicians that have expressed interest in performing with us are violinist Jan Söderblom, cellist Tomas Djupsjöbacka and soprano Hedvig Paulig. We are excited to work with many talented Swedish speaking Finnish musicians in the future and to collaborate with composers such as highly acclaimed Sebastian Fagerlund.

The main idea is to perform music by Finnish-Swedish composers in every concert and that the other pieces form a unit under a chosen theme. Thus far the themes include Visite la France (Gyllenberg Hall, Helsinki), Music inspired by water (Passionskirche, Berlin), Long live the trio!, In South America (Aino Ackté Summer concerts, Helsinki), Romantic times (The City Museum, Vaasa and the Town Hall, Kokkola) and Meeting Schumann (Rock Church, Helsinki) – which was featured widely on Finnish news, especially the composition by Sebastian Fagerlund. ANDensemble has also done several recordings for the YLE Vega Radio Channel.

Other themes that the ensemble proposes are Czech Music, Exploring dances, Fantasies, Music for children and ‘The Year 1917’.

The ensemble has received many scholarships from the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland in order to arrange concerts.