Birmingham Conservatoire
![[Stella Hartikainen]](images/2004/hartikainen240.jpg)
Stella Hartikainen was born in Finland in 1982. She began playing the violin at the age of four at the Central Helsinki Music School. In 1990 she was accepted to the West Helsinki Music Institute and studied there under Riitta Poutanen, Alexander Vinnitski and Larissa Lev. Stella won the concerto competition and received other awards from the West Helsinki Music Institute. Stella also studied piano under Collin Hansen. She graduated in 1999 with distinction on the violin and in 2001 on piano with commendation. In 2000 and 2001 she was awarded the World Youth Symphony Orchestra Scholarship and this enabled her to attend Interochen Arts Festival in the United States of America in summers 2000 and 2001.
In September 2001 Stella entered Birmingham Conservatoire with an entrance scholarship where she was taught by Professor Jacqueline Ross. In 2002 she was awarded a place in the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra participating in a tour in Asia. In 2003 Stella was awarded first place in the Chandos Symphony Orchestra Young Musician Competition. She was awarded a concerto performance with the Chandos Symphony Orchestra and a recital. In June 2003 the Nero String Quartet, in which Stella is the leader, was awarded first prize in the Sylvia Cleaver Chamber music Prize at Birmingham Conservatoire. In June/July Stella participated in the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in the United States of America. Stella has participated in several masterclasses including the following: Miriam Fried, Endre Wolf, Howard Davis, Javier Pinell, Evgenyi Sporov, Mikhail Gotsdiner and Vera Vaidman. Stella has received awards from several trusts including John Barbirolli Memorial Trust and Paulon Saatio (Finland).