Erkki Veltheim is a violinist, violist, composer and improviser. He is a member of contemporary music ensemble ELISION, improvisers' ensemble Australian Art Orchestra and country punk band Roadkill Rodeo. He is a regular performer with Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and has also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), musikFabrik (Cologne) and Australian indigenous singer-songwriters' collective Black Arm Band. He has collaborated with many Australian composers, improvisers and performers including Brett Dean, John Rodgers, Jon Rose, Anthony Pateras and Meow Meow (Melissa Madden Gray).
Erkki's compositions have been performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian String Quartet and Twitch Ensemble, and have featured at events such as the Melbourne International Festival for the Arts and the Melbourne Museum Virtuosic Visions series. He has written and performed two experimental music theatre works with John Rodgers for the Queensland Performing Arts Trust, and his mixed media installations have been exhibited in Australia, Finland and Spain. He has also composed string quartet arrangements for Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
Erkki is currently studying a Masters investigating the connections between music and ritual.
Image © 2008 Atmosphere Photography