Petri Keskitalo worked at HKO for more than 20 years, from autumn 2000.
Helsinki tuba player of the city orchestra Petri Central House is dead, says HKO on their website.
“Petri was our sympathetic and humorous colleague, whose versatile musicianship we were able to enjoy not only in the ranks of the symphony orchestra but also in various small ensembles. He was also an active arranger and composer”, it is written on the pages.
Petri Keskitalo was born on July 8, 1972 in Janakkala and was 50 years old when he died. He started as a playing student at the Military Music School in 1988 and studied to become a tuba teacher at the Lahti Conservatory. He worked in Hämeenlinna in the Panssaristoitkunta until in 2000 he was chosen as the tuba voice director of the Helsinki City Orchestra.
Regulars tuba covers are not found in all orchestras, and due to their relative rarity, they are also sought after by tuba players. Keskitalo also referred to this In an interview with HS in 2001 when talking about his own successful job search for the Helsinki City Orchestra: “It must have been 10 years since the last tuba recital organized in Finland.”
Tuba players who enjoy low frequencies are rarely in the foreground in orchestral concerts, but the tuba is an essential part of a full-scale symphony orchestra whose presence is noticeable. That’s what HS’s critic wrote, for example Jukka Isopuro After the Helsinki City Orchestra played Sergei Prokofjevin of the fifth symphony in December 2019:
“HKO always added more strength, depth and width to new climbs. The lyrical folds took on a fragile, reminiscing character, and the busy episodes took on an angry rhythmicity. The HKO’s low section was particularly well-done, with Petri Keskitalo as its strongman crowning melodies rising from the depths with his tuba.”
Read more: The merciless competition of the great tuba