Panu Pärssinen

Double bass, principal

Life often seems like a logical path staked out by the choices we make. It is far more difficult to perceive the chance occurrences where a tiny change in what happened would have made the rest of our life very different.

The main reason for my career can be traced back to my grandmother’s childhood in Karelia. She and her sister had a kind of sibling rivalry going on, as you do. As they each started a family, the measure of this competitiveness – which was never acknowledged out loud – was first the number of children they each had and then the artistic talents of those children. They handed down a tradition of singing that led to the emergence of several musicians in both branches of the family. It was just as well, because hardly any of us could have made a living playing Karelian skittles.

The next significant chance occurrence came when my teacher in sixth grade asked whether anyone had long enough fingers to start learning the double bass at the music institute. I was the only one to put up my hand, and subsequently my lacklustre piano playing faded into the background.

My double bass teacher Jukka Räikkönen taught me that playing bass is fun. He propelled me into attending music camps and later encouraged me to apply to the Sibelius Academy. I never made a conscious choice to pursue a career in music: all other plans just dissolved. I was accepted in the audition for the Espoo City Orchestra at the age of 20, and I have never looked back.

So what I have to thank for my career are my grandmother’s sisterly competitiveness; my music teacher Pirjo-Liisa Hiltula; and Jukka Räikkönen, who deserves special thanks for the chocolate he always gave me at the end of the lesson.