Double bass

Janne Saksala

When a local youth orchestra was one double-bass short, his teacher asked Janne Saksala, who already played the piano and electric bass, if he wanted to take a crack at the instrument. He said yes immediately and with great enthusiasm. In 1981 he began double-bass studies with Jiri Paevianen at the music scholl of his native Helsinki, continuin form 1986 with Klaus Stoll at the Berlin Hochschule der Künste.

Other major influences include Duncan McTier, Frantisek Posta and Ilan Gronich. In 1991 he was a prizewinner at the ARD Interntaional Music Competition in Munich. Two year later, Saksala became a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker, where he has since 2008 been engaged as first principle solo double bassist. 

A passionate chamber musician, hi performing partners have included, amongst others, Olli Mustonen, Isabelle Faust, Guy Braunstein, Igor Levit, Leif Ove Andsnes, Jan Vogler and Tabia Zimmermann. 

Saksala plays regularly with the Stradivari soloists o the Berliner Philharmoniker and is a founding member of the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group and the Oriol Ensemble.

In addition to performing, he is an equally passionate teacher. He holds an annual masterclass at the Carl Flesch Academy in Baden-Baden, has been a visiting professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, and has been guest lecturer at several universities in America, Europe and Asia. Recently, Saksala has also been interested in composition. In 2017 he wrote his first piece «Rituaali for Cello and Double Bass».