Photo: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Pekka Kuusisto has a new travelling companion.
The Finnish violinist is on his first global tour with his new "second hand" 1695 Stradivarius.
"It's a long Strad," he tells RNZ Concert host Bryan Crump.
"It's kind of funny, because the violin I used to play was about two centimetres shorter... not much in regular everyday life, but on a violin it's quite disastrous."
Not that anyone can tell, listening to Kuusisto playing his 'longer Strad' in the studio.
Kuusisto is on his first tour of New Zealand, here to perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, as well as conduct the orchestra in Louise Farrenc's Third Symphony.
Violinist Pekka Kuusisto rehearses with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Photo: Phoebe Tuxford/NZSO
But while he's steeped in the classical music tradition - his father was a composer, his mother a music teacher, and his older brother also played violin - Kuusisto is more than happy to drop a bit of Finnish folk music into the on-air conversation.
Kuusisto also tapped into his folk sensibilities when writing music for a television adaptation of the Moomins, the classic Nordic children's books by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson.
In that sense he's also following in his father's footsteps, who collaborated with Jansson to write a Moomin opera in 1976, the year Pekka Kuusisto was born.
It was quite a colourful collaboration.
"She would keep the meetings focussed by only serving anchovies and vodka."
A conversation with Kuusisto - and a musical performance too - is full of wit and humour.
Fate itself has not been so kind; Kuusisto lost his brother and mother to cancer within a few months of each other.
When his brother fell ill, Kuusisto's mother dedicated herself to his care, and did not act on the warning signs she herself might have the disease.
These days, he keeps his own immediate family close. His partner and seven-year-old daughter are touring with him.
And he keeps giving back. At the end of his RNZ Concert interview he accompanies himself on that 'long Strad' as he sings a delightful Finnish folksong about repairing shoes.
Audiences at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre and Christchurch's Town Hall will hopefully get similar treats at the end of his performances this week.
The Wellington concert on Thursday 9 October at 6.30pm will also be broadcast live by RNZ Concert.
