Rummukainen has since appeared as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquestra Filarmônica de Bogotá, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, among others. She has collaborated with conductors such as Nicholas Collon, Dima Slobodeniouk, Leif Segerstam, Jonathon Heyward, and Jorma Panula.
 

A major highlight of the 2024/2025 season was her debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival, performing Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Salonen himself. Her performance received widespread critical acclaim:

“In an instant, one is captivated by the richly seasoned beauties in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto. This is also because Senja Rummukainen understands how to make her instrument sing as expressively as a human voice.”

 Die Presse

“Senja Rummukainen proved to be a true virtuoso of the instrument, giving us moments of great beauty. She managed to convey that mix of ‘cosmic’ unease that Salonen introduces in his composition, but also the concentrated calm of some passages… The audience, moved by her performance, gave her a huge ovation when she took a solo bow.”

Platea Magazine

Credit: Eeva Suutari

Upcoming highlights in the 2025/2026 season include a tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and performances with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. A new cello concerto by Mannakgotla, commissioned specially for Rummukainen by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, will receive its world premiere. In the chamber music sphere, she will appear in special projects with Tarmo Peltokoski at Konzerthaus Dortmund and the Dresden Musikfestspiele.
 

As a chamber musician, Rummukainen is one of Finland’s most sought-after collaborators. She has been a cornerstone of major festivals such as Kuhmo Chamber Music, Turku Music Festival, and Oulu Music Festival, and served as artistic director of the Helsinki Chamber Summer Festival from 2017 to 2021 alongside Johannes Piirto, Kasmir Uusitupa, Tami Pohjola, and Riina Piirilä. She has shared the stage with musicians such as Janine Jansen, Ilya Gringolts, and Augustin Hadelich, and gives masterclasses for example at Cellofest Helsinki and Porvoo Cello Academy, where she was also a jury member in 2021.
 

Her artistic formation has been shaped by some of Europe’s leading institutions and pedagogues. She studied at the Sibelius Academy under Prof. Marko Ylönen, earning her Bachelor of Music in 2017. She also studied at the Folkwang Universität der Künste with Prof. Young-Chang Cho, spent an exchange year with Prof. Truls Mørk at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and continued her advanced studies in Berlin with Prof. Jens Peter Maintz at the Universität der Künste, completing her Master of Music (2017–2021) and continuing with a Konzertexamen thereafter.
 

Rummukainen describes her artistic goal as capturing the timbre that first drew her to the cello at the age of six — something “as smooth and sweet as a human voice.” Whether performing the intimate duets of Robert Schumann, the raw power of Shostakovich, or contemporary works such as Salonen’s concerto, her playing is marked by a rare depth and immediacy that speaks directly to the emotional core of the listener.
 

The emotional integrity was on full display during her much-anticipated BBC Proms debut in 2024 - a milestone performance that confirmed her place among the most captivating cellists of her generation. “She delivered Elgar’s ‘nobilemente’ melody in the final movement with such poignant beauty that it was almost painful,” wrote Susan Elkin, echoing the sentiments of an audience profoundly moved by her interpretation. 
 

She currently performs on a David Tecchler cello from 1707, generously on loan from the Finnish Cultural Foundation.