He is the son of the renowned kantele builder Otto Koistinen and the brother of Ritva Koistinen, a kantele artist and the founder of classical kantele education at Sibelius Academy.
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Among the kantele artists who have played Koistinen’s instruments are Timo Väänänen, Ritva Koistinen, Eva Alkula, Eija Kankaanranta, Senni Eskelinen, Olga Shishkina and others.
She began studies on her instrument, the kantele, at the age of seven and later earned a diploma in performance from the Georg Ots Conservatory in her native Tallinn, and a Master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where she studied under Ritva Koistinen, Finland’s premier kantele pedagogue.
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Designed in collaboration with master kantele craftsman Otto Koistinen of Rääkkylä, Finland, the instrument is set to become the concert standard for the chromatic kantele.
The name consists of the base word kantele (a Finnish zither-like instrument) and the feminising morpheme -tar and can be roughly interpreted as "goddess of the kantele" or "zither-daughter", a kind of muse.
The same year, Ritva Koistinen became the second kantele artist after Ulla Katajavuori to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York.
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Olga Shishkina is the first foreigner who graduated as a Master of Music in Finnish kantele from Sibelius Academy.
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Hedi Viisma on sales is the first chromatic kantele player studying for a Doctorate of Music at Sibelius Academy.
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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.
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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.
Kantele qualified for the 2005 BDO World Darts Championship, beating Tony O'Shea in the first round before losing in the second round to Simon Whitlock.
The song, "My Kantele", is a traditional Finnish song from the 1840 collection Kanteletar and is also sung by Loituma.
Sinikka Langeland (born 13 January 1961 in Grue, Norway) is a Norwegian traditional folk singer and musician (kantele), known for combining traditional music with elements of jazz.
In 2005, Washington's governor, Christine Gregoire, awarded Saari the Governor's Heritage Award for his work popularizing and teaching the kantele.