Koistinen Kantele

Koistinen Kantele Ltd. is a manufacturer of kanteles, traditional plucked string instruments of the dulcimer and zither family native to Finland. Located in Rääkkylä, North Karelia, Finland, its current CEO is Hannu Koistinen, and it is a family business. Officially founded in 2000, its history dates back to 1957, when Otto Koistinen built his first kanteles.

The company makes both acoustic and electric kanteles, and introduced the kantele as a modern instrument and developed high-level kantele amplifying equipment.

The company's history dates back to 1957, when Otto Koistinen made his first kanteles. Otto’s daughter Ritva Koistinen started to play kantele at an early age and demonstrated a high level of musical talent, motivating Otto to build higher quality instruments. Later, Ritva Koistinen became the first traditional playing lecturer in Finland at the Joensuu Music Institute, and in 1987, she founded the solo kantele department at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Soon after its establishment, the company became the biggest manufacturer of kanteles and has remained at the top since then.

Son of Otto Koistinen and the brother to Ritva Koistinen, Hannu Koistinen (born 1966) is a developer and designer of many kantele models in the Koistinen Kantele collection. Koistinen's innovations have expanded the image of the kantele, making it suitable for a wider variety of musical styles.

In 1990-1993, Hannu Koistinen developed the first modern 38-string Concert Kantele model. Based on Paul Salminen’s models, the instruments included new lever positions, a fully opening damper, and new string measurements, and which set a new standard of the kantele as a professional instrument.

The breakthrough was sped up by a double-blind concert kantele test in 1993. The concert was held at a musical instrument building school in Ikaalinen where two of the instruments placed first and second in a group of seven builders and eight kanteles. This further cemented the brand of new kantele models.

Besides Ritva Koistinen, among the many artists playing the Koistinen concert series are Timo Väänänen, Eva Alkula, Eija Kankaanranta, and Senni Eskelinen. Several patents were accepted and instruments featured more innovations like stronger string tension to allow a wider range of dynamics as well as bigger acoustic volume. In 1995, a 39-string was added to the series.

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