Finnish cellist Marko Ylönen (b. 1966) was a finalist at the Turku Cello Competition when he was only fifteen. In 1990 he won second prize at the Nordic Cello Competition in Turku and sixth prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Mos cow. In 1996 he won the Concert Artists Guild Com petition in New York. Marko Ylönen has appeared widely as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. He has been principal cellist of the Tapiola Sinfonietta, principal solo cellist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and a member of the New Helsinki Quartet; since 2000 he has been a senior teacher of cello and chamber music at the Sibelius Academy. He studied at the Sibelius Academy and at the Basel Academy of Music. Marko Ylönen was also artistic director of the Korsholm Festival in the summer of 2003. He has premièred several works by Finnish composers.