Swedish-born cittern maestro Ale Carr is one of the leading string players of Nordic folk music. He has travelled the world performing on stages as diverse as the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Roskilde Festival and the studio of legendary Japanese anime director Hayao Miyazaki. In 2009, Ale Carr founded the trio Dreamers’ Circus together with Danish virtuosos Nikolaj Busk and Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, which, in recent years, has pioneered new Nordic folk music internationally.

Ale Carr’s roots lie in Skåne in southern Sweden, where he grew up in a family of folk musicians. His early exposure to live folk music and folk dance still influences his performances and the way he interacts musically with colleagues and friends. With a desire to develop traditional music further, Ale Carr began to compose new music and broaden his artistic spectrum. In addition to his ongoing work as a member of the Dreamers’ Circus, he has worked in various projects and collaborations with the Finnish star violinist Pekka Kuusisto as well as with symphony orchestras, big bands, choirs and chamber music ensembles such as the Danish String Quartet. Ale Carr has also been honoured with a number of Danish music awards, including the Composer of the Year Award and the Artist of the Year Award in Denmark.

Violinist, conductor and composer Pekka Kuusisto is widely recognised for his artistic freedom and fresh approach to the repertoire. He is Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Co-Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also an artistic partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and has been an ›Artistic Best Friend‹ of the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen since 2017. Last season, Kuusisto made his debut as a violinist with the Berliner Philharmoniker and as conductor with the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. This season he has performed with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, among others.

In addition to being an enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music who regularly premieres new works himself, Pekka Kuusisto is a gifted improviser, collaborating with people from across the artistic spectrum. Unfettered by conventional genre boundaries, his recent projects have included collaborations with composer and pianist Hauschka and percussionist Samuli Kosminen, Dutch neurologist Erik Scherder, electronic music pioneer Brian Crabtree and many more. In 2022, Kuusisto will release his first album as a conductor together with violinist Vilde Frang and the Deutsche Kammer­philharmonie Bremen.