User:Kaspersu/sandbox/Kari Turunen

Kari Antero Turunen, DMus, is a Finnish choral conductor, ensemble singer, artistic director, and classical music lecturer and scholar.

Early life
Turunen was born on 5 September 1962 in Joensuu in Eastern Finland. In his youth, he lived with his family in Australia for some time.

Turunen used to play the double bass.

Education and academic career
Turunen attented the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, studying choral conducting with professor. He received his diploma in choral conducting in 1998, and was graduated from the programme in orchestral and choral conducting as Master of Music in 2000. As part of his degree, Turunen wrote a thesis analyzing the oratorio Jephtha by George Frideric Handel. Turunen also attended the University of Helsinki.

Around this time, Turunen also studied with or took part in master classes with musicians such as Stefan Sköld,, Eric Ericson, Oren Brown, and the Hilliard Ensemble.

Turunen later returned to academia, receiving his Doctor of Music degree in 2014 at the Sibelius Academy's DocMus Doctoral School, by then part of the University of the Arts Helsinki, with a dissertation on performance practice and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, titled Performing Palestrina: From historical evidence to twenty-first century performance. As further part of his doctoral degree, Turunen formed and directed the Ensemble Petraloysio, an all-male ensemble comprising vocalists, an organist, and at times various other instrumentalists, performing sacred works by Palestrina.

Professional career
In 1990, Turunen was hired as executive director of The Finnish Amateur Musicians' Association Sulasol (Suomen Laulajain ja Soittajain Liitto). He stepped down in 1996.

Also in 1990, early in his career as a choral conductor, Turunen was appointed artistic director of the Chamber Choir EOL (Eteläsuomalaisen Osakunnan Laulajat), a mixed voice choir affiliated with the University of Helsinki student nation Eteläsuomalainen osakunta. He would direct the choir for twelve years, stepping down in 2002.

Turunen was one of the founding members of Lumen Valo in 1993, a small mixed voice vocal ensemble focusing on early music, and has been one of the ensemble's tenors ever since. The ensemble came to be a prominent one on the Finnish early music scene.

In 1998, Turunen was appointed artistic director of the Academic Female Voice Choir Lyran (Akademiska Damkören Lyran), the only female voice choir affiliated with the University of Helsinki, succeeding Johanna Almark-Mannila née Almark. He directed the choir for eleven years, stepping down in 2009, having been appointed artistic director of the Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki (Akademiska Sångföreningen) a year earlier. He was succeeded by Jutta Seppinen.

Between 2001 and 2011, Turunen taught choral conducting at the Pirkanmaa University of Applied Sciences (Pirkanmaan ammattikorkeakoulu) in Tampere, later fusioned with the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu). A year after the beginning of his tenure, in 2002, Turunen was appointed artistic director of the Tampere-based mixed voice chamber choir Näsin Ääni, later known as Kamarikuoro Näsi. No longer working as a lecturer in Tampere, he stepped down in 2012.

Turunen succeeded Henrik Wikström as artistic director of Finland's oldest extant choir, the Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki (Akademiska Sångföreningen), one of two male voice choirs affiliated with the University of Helsinki, in 2008.

In 2011, Turunen not only formed the Ensemble Petraloysio as part of his doctoral studies, but was also appointed artistic director of the mixed voice Kampin Laulu Chamber Choir and the Chorus Cantorum Finlandiæ (Suomen kanttorikuoro), a choir comprising Finnish church musicians, originially performing male voice sacred music only, but later including female voices and performing mixed voice sacred music.

In 2013, the mixed voice choir Spira Ensemble was formed in Helsinki, appointing Turunen its first artistic director.

Turunen is artistic director of the annual Aurore Renaissance Music Festival in Helsinki, which was arranged for the first time in 2014.

Turunen is a part-time teacher at the DocMus Doctoral School at the Sibelius Academy's Faculty of Classical Music.

Besides other employments, Turunen has been a prolific writer and journalist in the field of music.

Trusts
Turunen was appointed chairman of the The Finnish Choral Directors' Association FCDA (Suomen kuoronjohtajayhdistys) in 1997, and is still incumbent.

Accolades
In Marktoberdorf in 2003, conducting the Academic Female Voice Choir Lyran, Turunen received the award for the best conducting performance interpreting a contemporary choral work.

Turunen was named choral conductor of the year by the Finnish Choral Directors’ Association in 2008.

Personal life
Turunen is married and lives with his family in Kerava outside Helsinki. He plays cricket and enjoys English literature.

Turunen's native language is Finnish, but he is also fluent in Swedish, several of his choirs belonging to Finland's Swedish-language minority, in addition to being fluent in English.