Pianist Antti Kujanpää (b. 1979) moved from his hometown Jyväskylä to the Helsinki metropolitan area in the late1990s to pursue his studies. In the beginning of the 21st century he was accepted into the jazz department of the prestigious Sibelius Academy, from where he graduated with a master’s degree in 2009.

During the first decade of the 21st century Kujanpää has risen into the league of first-class jazz pianists, which has kept him busy. He is known particularly from Kvalda, the winner of the Young Nordic Jazz Comets 2004 qualification round in Finland. This long-lived group has released three albums, the latest of which, Blindfold, came out in 2011.He has also done duo projects with Kvalda’s vocalist, Aili Ikonen.

Kujanpää is a member of many groups that the Finnish jazz scene has been buzzing much about in recent years, such as Big Blue, Auteur Jazz and folk-jazz singer Yona’s orchestra, Liikkuvat Pilvet. In addition to these, the Jyväskylä native’s piano can be heard in Rime and the Kvalda drummer Hanne Pulli’s band, Hanne Pulli Space Machine.

ed. Annamari Innanen 9.3.2014