Artturi Rönkä’s award-winning quartet will perform in September in Tampere, Tallinn, Kajaani and Helsinki, among other cities.
AR Quartet (formerly known as Artturi Rönkä Quartet) is a Helsinki-based group, formed by four talented young jazz musicians. The members Artturi Rönkä, Sampo Kasurinen, Eero Seppä and Jonatan Sarikoski count on a mixture of melody and dynamism, which shows in the perfect balance of feeling and energy with which they interpret the leading man Rönkä’s original compositions. The group was acknowledged with the Rising Star nomination in the inaugural We Jazz 2013 happening, and Rönkä himself was selected as the Pori Jazz Artist of the Year earlier in the same year. In 2012 AR Quartet represented Finland in the Young Nordic Jazz Comets competition in Copenhagen, and they came second in the Jazz Hoeilaart contest in Belgium. The 23-year-old maestro Rönkä has gained success in several international piano and composition competitions, including the Esko Linnavalli Competition in 2011 and in Sweden in the Jazzverk big band composition competition the year before.
JazzHUG brought out AR Quartet’s eagerly-awaited debut in March 2014, and the album was much praised by critics upon its release. Now AR Quartet will spend the first two weeks of September by touring Finland, playing eight concerts all over the country. The tour, co-produced by the production company JazzHUG and the Finnish Jazz Federation, will take the young stars to Tampere, Kuopio and Turku, among other cities. The tour includes one gig at the popular jazz venue of Tallinn, Philly Joe’s Jazz Club, also. If there is someone who still needs convincing, these eight concerts will show AR Quartet’s strengths: delivering Rönkä’s ambitious compositions with a chamberesque nimbleness and a stunning musical co-operation.
“The untitled debut album sounds mature in every way, especially when taking into account that the musicians were all born as late as 1990. AR Quartet stands out by virtue of their unified sound – a quality which derives first and foremost from Rönkä’s modernistic and melodic compositions, bearing even some traits of classical music.”
– Harri Uusitorppa, Helsingin Sanomat.
Watch AR Quartet perform the piece "GSM Tango":
AR QUARTET
Sampo Kasurinen, soprano and tenor saxophone / Artturi Rönkä, piano /
Eero Seppä, bass / Jonatan Sarikoski, drums
AR QUARTET LIVE / 2014
Wed 3 Sep Tampere, AMC Club, Telakka
Thu 4 Sep Kajaani, Koutasali, Kaukametsän kulttuurikeskus (Kaukametsä Culture Centre)
Fri 5 Sep Kuopio, Jazzklubi, Musiikkikeskus (Jazz Club, Music Centre)
Sat 6 Sep Tallinna, Philly Joe's Jazz Club
Wed 10 Sep Turku, Sibelius-museo (Sibelius Museum)
Thu 11 Sep Helsinki, Malmisali, Malmitalo
Fri 12 Sep Savonlinna, Wanha Kasino
Sat 13 Sep Oulu, Pikisali, Kaupunginteatteri (City Theatre)