Satu Vänskä

Photo by Mick Bruzzese.

Finnish-Australian violinist Satu Vänskä was appointed assistant leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) in 2004. She took her first violin lessons at three years of age, before attending the Kuhmo Violin School at eleven; in 1998, she was named ‘Young Soloist of the Year’ by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. As well as performing with the ACO, Satu has played with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Tuusulanjärvi Festival and Festivo Aschau. In 2012, she performed a recital at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Utzon Music Series; a year earlier, she became the custodian of Australia’s first—and only—Stradivarius violin, on loan from the ACO’s Instrument Fund.