Duo Vitare

DUO VITARE
Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen, cello
Kimmo Rahunen, guitar


Duo Vitare is one of the few regularly performing cello guitar duos in the world. Two talented young musician formed this unique duo in 2005 in Weimar, Germany. Polish-born cellist Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen and Finnish guitarist Kimmo Rahunen display in their playing rich mixture of two different cultures and personalities.  The Duo is searching, arranging, performing and commissioning new pieces all the time and broadening the possibilities of this combination. They have performed in important halls and music festivals around the Europe and are living currently in Finland.


Polish cellist Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen started playing cello at the age of 7 in ‘Fryderyk Chopin’ Music School in Bytom. When she was 19 she moved to Germany to continue her studies in Weimar with professor Brunhard Böhme. She graduated  from the Hochschule für Musik ‘Franz Liszt’ in 2005 with the highest grades. Kotulska-Rahunen has also studied in Turku Music Academy with Doz. Erkki Lahesmaa and in International Zürich Masterclasses with prof. Eberhard Finke.

Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen has performed solo and chamber music recitals all over the Europe. Her career started when she débuted, at the age of 18, with the Polish Youth Symphony Orchestra playing the Saint-Saens's Cello Concerto. In the same year she won the 3rd price at National J.S. Bach Competition in Zielona Góra, Poland.


In 2000-2004 Kotulska-Rahunen was a member of the Aurora String Quartet (Weimar). The Quartet performed in important music centers in Central Europe and recorded the CD ‘Zwischen Macht und Freiheit- Neue Musik in DDR’ – String Quartets by Friedrich Goldmann and Günter Kochan. Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen also performed the contemporary music with the Ensemble für Neue Musik ‘via nova’ in 2001-2004. The Ensemble appeared in the 50th Anniversary Concert of German Composers Association (DKV) in Berlin, among others. Despite her young age, Kotulska-Rahunen has worked in several different orchestras in Europe, as principal cellist in Pori Sinfonietta (Finland) and Opole Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), among others

Agnieszka Kotulska-Rahunen has received twice the scolarship from the Internationale Meisterkurse für Musik and also grants from the Arts Council of Finland, Arts Council of  Satakunta, Central Finland Cultural Foundation and LUSES-Foundation. At the moment Kotulska-Rahunen plays a modern cello built  by Jaakko Mäkelä loaned to her by Finnish Cultural Foundation.


Finnish guitarist Kimmo Rahunen started playing guitar at the age of 9 at the Savonlinna Music school. In 1996-2000 he studied as a student of Timo Korhonen and Ismo Eskelinen at Turku Music Academy. He continued his studies in Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Jukka Savijoki. In 2004 he finished his guitar diploma with the highest grades and received the Master's Degree. Rahunen has also studied in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Franz Liszt” Weimar with prof. Thomas Müller-Pering and prof. Monika Rost. He participated also in masterclasses at ”Accademia Musicale Chigiana” Siena, Italy, with the legendary prof. Oscar Ghiglia.

Kimmo Rahunen won the 6th Nordic Jyväskylä Guitar Competition in 2005. In the final round he performed as a soloist with Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä and has since played also with Pori Sinfonietta, Savonlinna Orchestra and Imatra Orchestra.


Rahunen has performed solo and chamber music recitals all over the Europe. In the recent years he has also performed regularly contemporary Finnish music. His co-operation with the composers has led to premieres of works by Pertti Jalava, Maria Kallionpää, Juha Leinonen, Tomi Räisänen and Rijndert van Woudenberg among others.

In autumn 2006 Kimmo Rahunen was chosen, as a first classical guitarist ever in Finland, to work as a Regional artist (Artist-in-residence) in the Arts Council of Satakunta. During 2006-2008 Rahunen worked as an artist and producer in several multi-arts projects. His latest project as an artist and producer was mixed-art project called Musicam video, which was a part of the official program during the European Capital of Culture year 2011 in Turku.