Kari Olamaa

I was born in Helsinki and have lived here my entire life. When I was studying I lived in the green and quiet district of Lauttasaari, which became my favourite place in the entire city.

I joined the orchestra in autumn 2016; my surprisingly successful audition was my first ever.

I have played the violin since before the age of three, so basically as long as I can remember. As a teenager I taught myself the electric guitar. The viola entered the picture in 2007, and around the same time I began to discover the world of period instruments. In the past two years I have also played around a lot with synthesizers and other electronic instruments. 

With the philharmonic orchestra I love to play the fresh and flowing classical music of Vienna, as well as music by the late Romantics, such as Mahler, Bruckner and Elgar, where the warmth, depth and scope of the orchestral sound really come into their own. Outside of the classical repertoire I also like to play and listen to heavy metal, progressive rock and synthesizer pop.

I like to spend my free time in the kitchen, playing board games and riding my bike, but my favourite hobby is also my biggest sin: endlessly exploring the finer points of just about anything.

I try to apply the same philosophy to my work than I do to my life on the whole: progress must never stop. A musician or any other person is never complete, and each day presents an opportunity to know, to understand and to be aware of more than you did yesterday.

In our 2017-18 season I am looking forward especially to Mahler’s 5th and Lachenmann’s Harmonica at the end of September, Bruckner’s 5th in March, and Webern-Elgar-Bártok right before the summer.