Rauma is another small town on the west coast, about 100 kilometres north of Turku. The Rauma Boys’ Band – and don’t let the name fool you, for there are girls in there, too – produces the future flautists, trombonists, clarinettists, and tuba players (and of course the French horns) that will populate Finland’s orchestras. Markus Maskuniitty remembers his first steps with his chosen instrument:

“When I joined the band, I didn’t really know any other wind instruments apart from the flute and the trumpet. Girls played the flute, and boys the trumpet; this rather narrowed down my choice. But other instruments are needed besides these two, and when the band’s conductor Pentti Jalonen spotted that I was left-handed, he figured that the French horn might suit me nicely.”

As if to confirm this hunch, the 9-year-old Markus put his lips to the mouthpiece, blew, and made a sound immediately. This was an excellent sign, as anyone who has tried will testify.

Markus also took his first real teacher from the Rauma Boys’ Band. She was Erja Joukamo-Ampuja, now a member of the horns in the Radio Symphony Orchestra, who had just left the band when Markus arrived. Then at a summer music camp, Markus met Antero Kasper, one of Holger Fransman’s pupils and colleagues in the Helsinki Philharmonic, and he began to take private lessons with Kasper in Helsinki.

“This was one very absent-minded young man,” recalls Antero Kasper as we soak up some summer sun on the deck of a lake steamer on the way from Lieksa to Koli. “Sometimes the notes would be left behind at home, other times it was the horn itself.”

“Nothing’s changed,” counters Markus with a grin. “Students today are just as bad – they’ve always left their notes somewhere else.”

M.Sc. or horn-player?

At 16, Markus was accepted by the Turku Conservatory and only then began to receive tuition on a regular basis, under Olavi Vikman. After he graduated from high school, Markus met Timo Ronkainen, leader of the horns with the Helsinki Philharmonic, at another music camp in Savonlinna, and he became Timo Ronkainen’s pupil, first at the Helsinki Conservatory and then at the Sibelius Academy when Ronkainen joined the staff there.

Even at that stage, Markus almost certainly had no idea of what he was going to be when he grew up. He also enrolled at the University of Technology, studying electrical engineering. He soon discovered that it was not quite his thing. He enjoyed working as a musician a great deal more, especially when invitations to perform began to come in at an increasing pace. He took off for Berlin to spend six months studying under the careful eye of Radovan Vlatkovich.

“Radovan was there for a couple of weeks out of each month, and the rest of the time I could concentrate solely on practising. It was a really good time.”

Before this, Markus had managed to secure his first orchestra chair with the newly founded Tapiola Sinfonietta and to spend a year with them. On his return from Berlin, he accepted an invitation to join the Radio Symphony Orchestra as section leader.

Yours sincerely, Claudio Abbado

The next thing that happened was that a solo horn seat opened up with the Berlin Philharmonic. Markus had had experience of this position with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and Claudio Abbado, who conducted both orchestras, remembered his face. So Markus received an invitation to an audition directly from Abbado, along with Tommi Viertonen from the Helsinki Philharmonic and his colleague Esa Tapani from the RSO.

Although Markus was quite happy with his job at the RSO, and in no way desperate to move abroad, he couldn’t resist the temptation to go and bench-test himself in the world’s toughest company. So he went to Berlin, and he played well: he was placed second in the audition.

The top spot went to Stefan Dohr, solo horn with the Berlin Radio Symphony. This meant that if and when Dohr switched orchestras, his seat in the Radio Symphony would become vacant. And so Dohr immediately asked Markus if he’d be interested in the solo horn position with Berlin’s No.2 orchestra. Markus accepted and played Strauss and Mozart for the committee members, which led to his three-and-a-half-year stint with the Berlin Radio Symphony before moving on to the Berlin Philharmonic.

Sauna and symphony

Markus describes the connection between symphonic music and German culture as being similar to the connection between Finns and the sauna. With the Berlin Philharmonic, there are eight French horns, providing double manning for most compositions, and their schedule is rigorous, with two three-hour rehearsal sessions daily and concerts three evenings a week.

Tradition and conservatism

Markus Maskuniitty highlights the balance in Finland’s musical training system, allowing musicians to explore their musicality without fear of making mistakes. He notes that Finnish orchestras are often willing to take on musicians who are not yet technically polished but show promise. This contrasts with Central European orchestras, which often prioritize polished technique over potential.

Markus emphasizes the need for musicians to remain open-minded and innovative to attract younger audiences and to ensure the vitality of concert life.

From Finnish Music Quarterly magazine 1/1998

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