Sonja Vertainen is a versatile accordion- and bandoneon player, who is not limited by genres, ensembles or countries. Even though Vertainen is known as a versatile musician she feels a special interest in contemporary music. As a result, she has premiered several original pieces, one of them being the premiere performance of Aulis Sallinen’s double concerto. She has also premiered pieces from Kimmo Hakola, Cecilia Damström, Veli Kujala and Tze Yeung Ho. Besides new Finnish music, she enjoys performing in the tango- and entertainment orchestra Guardia Nueva, where she regularly gets to play the music of one of her idols, Astor Piazzolla with her second instrument bandoneon.
Vertainen graduated with a Master´s of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy in 2022 having studied with Matti Rantanen and Veli Kujala. She is an active musician performing as a soloist and chamber musician in Finland and abroad. She has gained inspiration both from various master classes (with professors such as Hugo Noth, Andreas Borregaard, Claudio Jacomucci, Mie Miki) as well as from her year as an exchange student at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg where she was a student of the well-renowned accordion player Stefan Hussong. Inthe Autumn 2023 Vertainen continued her studies, this time at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, Theatern und Medien with professorAndreas Borregaard. Her career as a musician has been supported by various foundations such as The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Pro Musica Foundation, Central Ostrobothnia Foundation, Sortavala Foundation and The Sibelius Academy-foundation.
