Informations
Facts
Born in Helsinki, Finland
Member since 19.02.1986
Biography
At the age of 13, Esko Laine started to play the double bass, taking lessons from Jussi Javas at the Hyvinkää Conservatory. He was just 18 when he joined the Helsinki National Opera Orchestra and appeared as a soloist with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Further studies followed from 1982 to 1985 with Günter Klaus at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule, with Franco Petracchi at the Geneva Conservatoire, and at the Menuhin Academy in Gstaad.
As a double bass player with the Berliner Philharmoniker, he took on the responsibilities of section principal from 1999 to 2001 and again from 2008. Esko Laine has played the world premieres of several orchestral concertos and chamber works for double bass that were composed for him. Much sought-after for his master classes and his work with renowned youth orchestras, Laine has been an instructor in the Philharmonic’s Karajan Academy and at Berlin’s Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule since the year 2000. In 2002 he joined the Philharmonic Octet, and in 2008 he joined the ensemble Bolero Berlin. He also plays with and Tango Finlandés.
Ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker
