Much has been written about Gabriel Kahane and Pekka Kuusisto, both multi-instrumentalists and composers in their own right. Described by The New Yorker as one of America’s “finest songwriters”, Kahane has been commissioned to write works for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among others. Kuusisto, meanwhile, has been dubbed Finland’s “David Bowie of the Fiddle” by The Times, and “a unicorn” by Kahane himself. 

Gabriel Kahane and Pekka Kuusisto. Photo © Sam Gehrke

Armed with his ‘Scotta’ – a Golden Period Stradivarius violin – Kuusisto is no stranger to Australian audiences, having served as ACO Collective’s Artistic Director between 2016 and 2019.

The pair’s first musical encounter was in March 2016 when, as Artistic Director, Kuusisto invited Kahane to play at the Meidän Festivaali (Our Festival) on the shores of Lake Tuusula where Sibelius once lived. 

During that visit, Kahane says, they also performed some of his songs with a chamber orchestra in Ostrobothnia. “My primary memory, in addition to being completely floored by the expansiveness of Pekka’s musicianship, was of a deep musical chemistry,” he...