Complete works
Orchestra
Day Night Day (2024)
orchestra
7'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Day Night Day is an orchestral work about the northern light and ice that every winter invade the land but that reflect the early spring light in brilliant spectra. The work incorporates references to two Sámi melodies: a yoik of Láve Nigá Risten from the Teno region of Northern Finnish Lapland heralded by muted trumpets towards the beginning, and a variation of the old South Sámi lullaby Sjamma, sjamma hummed at the end by the woodwinds. The musical themes spring from the forthcoming opera Day of Night jointly commissioned by the Aalto Music Theatre Essen and the Finnish National Opera. The libretto of this opera based on the novel Halla Helle by the Sámi writer Niillas Holmberg is by Aleksi Barrière. The orchestral work Day Night Day was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Premiere: February 20-22, 2025
Philharmonia, Berlin, Germany
Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Marin Alsop
January 28–29, 2026, Finnish premiere
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Thomas Søndergård
April 2–4 and 8, 2026, US premiere
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA, US
Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. Andris Nelsons
April 10, 2026
Carnigie Hall, New York, NY, US
Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. Andris Nelsons
The Rapids of Life (2023)
orchestra
11'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Only few people ever experience the Ferguson reflex, and they are all women. But those who do are sure to remember its magical strength for ever. I described that enormous surge to my husband as the rapids of life I had to shoot – as a precipice over which I was pushed; and in the process I realised how little I knew about the strength of the human body. This physical command, also known as the foetal ejection reflex and performed without conscious thought, shot our son out of my womb and into our arms in the space of two minutes. The Rapids of Lifeis a work about that paramount moment, about a female’s instinctive birth-giving and a little child of nature who opens his eyes for the first time. The form of the work imitates the physiological delivery and its different stages, carried along by the ever-shifting waves.
While I was composing the piece, the news reached me of the death of Kaija Saariaho, a person who was very important to me. The composition began to reflect her as a person; a little flash of her cello concerto slipped into the cello solo at the beginning, and many of the instruments that meant a lot to her appeared to bear the flame of life along. The piece ends with birth and a great new beginning. This latter is reinforced by the reference in the low brass on the final stages of the score to the first bar of Sibelius’s fourth symphony.
The Rapids of Life was jointly commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Scottish, The Netherland Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestras and is dedicated to the memory of Kaija Saariaho.
Premiere: October 4, 2024
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Pekka Kuusisto
March 13, 2025, Swedish premiere
Gothenburg Concert House, Gothenburg, Sweden
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anja Bihlmaier
March 22, 2025, Netherlands premiere
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Alexandre Bloch
March 23, 2025
TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Alexandre Bloch
January 22–24, 2026, US premiere
Davies Symphony Halls, San Francisco, The United States
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
May 17, 2026, UK premiere
Glasgow City Halls, The United Kingdom
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Emilia Hoving
Polar Pearls (2023)
concerto for chamber orchestra
24'
I Become...
II Amethyst
III Freshwater Pearl Mussel
IV Sooty-wing Butterfly
V Snowy Owl
VI Globeflower
VII Halo Sky
VIII Earth
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
The Arctic regions have warmed much faster than the rest of the world as climate change advances. Many endangered Arctic species, such as the freshwater pearl mussel and the snowy owl, are now endangered. A poem by Nils-Aslak Valkeapää views his fellow Sámi –indigenous dwellers of the Arctic zone – as such an inseparable part of their environment that the border between Man and Nature ceases to exist. Eyes are turning more and more towards the indigenous peoples as the environmental destruction caused by climate change proceeds: we are, maybe instinctively, looking to them in our search for a new model as we realise that our lifestyle and overconsumption are destroying not only Nature but us, too.
The Concerto for Chamber Orchestra Polar Pearls is like a bracelet of little character movements – tributes to our unique Arctic Nature and its delicate balance. I have dedicated the concerto to John Storgårds and the Lapland Chamber Orchestra, giving the gems in its ranks each in turn a chance to shine.
"[...] when they come
they will find his land, us
and we are stones, plants, animals, fishes,
water, wind earth, sky [...]"
–Nils-Aslak Valkeapää (translated by Ralph Salisbury and Harald Gaski)
Premiere: June 1, 2023
Salla Church, Salla, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
June 2, 2023
Korundi Hall, Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
September 23, 2023
PianoEspoo Festival
Espoo Cultural Centre, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
February 13, 2024
Hyvinkään City Hall, Hyvinkää, Finland
Hyvinkään City Orchestra, cond. Tuomas Pirilä
May 4, 2024
Konserthaus, Klagenfurt, Austria
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
June 25, 2025
Art Factory, Porvoo, Finland
Avanti Summer Sounds Festival
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
September 4, 2025
Porin Church, Pori, Finland
Pori Sinfonietta, cond. Janne Nisonen
October 1, 2025
Paviljonki, Jyväskylä, Finland
Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Ville Matvejeff
October 1, 2025
Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Mosaics (2021)
orchestra
15'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Here in the Nordic Countries – Finland included – we are surrounded by the world’s most unpolluted nature, now changing fast as the climate grows warmer. The new weather conditions vary from place to place.
Mosaics, as its name suggests, is a mosaic-like piece made up of and inspired by that reality. It was composed as part of the major Nordic, a Fragile Hope project dealing with climate change by Swedish photographer and film maker Joakim Odelberg, but it can also stand alone as an independent orchestral work. The musical themes reflect the world of my first opera A Room of One’s Own. Mosaics was commissioned by the Gothenburg and Oulu Symphony Orchestras.
Premiere: February 21, 2024
Gothenburg Concert House, Gothenburg, Sweden
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, cond. Christian Karlsen
May 10, 2024, Finnish premiere
Madetoja Hall, Oulu, Finland
Oulu Symphony Orchestra, cond. Rumon Gamba
October 27, 2024, UK premiere
Royal Festival Hall, London, UK
London Philharmonia, cond. Emilia Hoving
December 6, 2024
Turku Concert Hall, Turku, Finland
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
December 11, 2025
Halle aux grains, Toulouse, France
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, cond. Roberto Forés Veses
The Ring of Fire and Love (2020)
orchestra
9'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
The Ring of Fire is a volcanic belt that surrounds the Pacific Ocean and in which most of the world’s earthquakes occur. It is also the term referring to the bright ring of sunlight around the moon at the height of a solar eclipse, when the moon covers only the central part of the sun. Yet, the same expression is also used to describe what a woman feels when, as she gives birth, the baby’s head passes through her pelvis. That moment is the most dangerous in the baby’s life, its little skull being subjected to enormous pressure, preparing it for life in a way unlike any other. The Ring of Fire and Love is a work for orchestra about this earth-shattering, creative, cataclysmic moment they travel through together. The work was commissioned by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Kymi Sinfonietta.
Orchestrations:
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2(2pic).2.2(bcl).2/2.2.0.0/perc/hp/str(min.7.6.5.4.3)
Premiere: March 18, 2021
Stockholm Concert House, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Sakari Oramo
September 8, 2021
Jyväskylä Theater, Jyväskylä, Finland
Jyväskylä Symphony, cond. Ville Matvejeff
September 9, 2021
Hankasalmi, Finland
Jyväskylä Symphony, cond. Ville Matvejeff
March 16, 2022
Stockholm Concert House, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
March 17, 2022
Stockholm Concert House, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
March 18, 2022
Gothenburg Concert House, Gothenburg, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
October 6, 2022
Madetoja Hall, Oulu, Finland
Oulu Symphony Orchestra, cond. Aliisa Neige Barriére
October 13, 2022
Nordic Music Days, Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsinki
October 13, 2022
Lappeenranta City Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
Lappeen Maria Church, Lappeenranta, Finland
October 13, 2022
Nordic Chamber Orchestra, cond. Emilia Hoving
Tonhallen, Sundsvall, Sweden
October 14, 2022
Nordic Chamber Orchestra, cond. Emilia Hoving
Själevad Church, Själevad, Sweden
October 27, 2022
Vaasa City Orchestra and Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djubsjöbacka
Vaasa City Hall, Vaasa, Finland
October 28, 2022
Vaasa City Orchestra and Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djubsjöbacka
Snellman Hall, Kokkola, Finland
December 8, 2022
Norrlandsoperan, Umeå, Sweden
Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, cond. Ville Matvejeff
January 18-19, 2023
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
The Finnish Radio Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Collon
February 21, 2023
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Emilia Hoving
BBC Maida Vale Studios, London, United Kingdom
March 16, 2023
Sibelius Hall, Lahti, Finland
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Dalia Stasevska
April 14-15, 2023
Orchestra Hall, Minnesota, USA
Minnesota Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
May 4-5, 2023
Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre, Espoo, Finland
Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Tarmo Peltokoski
October 19, 2023
Kotka Concert Hall, Kotka, Finland
Kymi Sinfonietta, cond. Olari Elts
November 8, 2023
Palais Montcalm, Quebec City, QC, Canada
Orchestre Symphonique De Québec, cond. Clemens Schuldt
June 28, 2024
Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Australia
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, cond. Dalia Stasevska
July 26, 2024
Aspen Music Festival
Klein Music Tent, Aspen, Colorado, USA
Aspen Chamber Symphony, cond. Dalia Stasevska
August 22, 2024
Turku Music Festival
Turku Concert House, Turku, Finland
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Aliisa Neige Barrière
October 4, 2024
Berwaldshallen, Stockholm, Sweden
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Jukka-Pekka Saraste
October 10, 2024
Carl Nielsen Salen, Odense Koncerthus, Odense, Denmark
Odense Symphony Orchestra, cond. Pierre Bleuse
October 23–25, 2024
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK
Aurora Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Collon
November 7, 2024
Helsinki Conservatory of Music, Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki Concordia, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
February 21–23, 2025
Touhill Performing Arts Center, St Louis, USA
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
October 2, 2025
Alandica, Mariehamn, Åland, Finland
Gävle Symphony Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
December 4, 2025
Huddersfield Town Hall, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
Opera North, cond. Chloe Rooke
April 23, 2026
Helsingborg Concert Hall, Helsingborg, Sweden
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, cond. Emilia Hoving
Songs of the Ice (2019)
orchestra
14'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Songs of the Ice is an orchestral work about ice. In the Arctic region, the ice breathes with the seasons, swelling in winter and shrinking in summer. Its age-old movement sings a song of its own: slowly surging, unrelenting and covering all beneath it. It tinkles and rumbles, squeaks and laments as our ever-warmer climate breaks Nature’s time-honoured laws, forcing the ice to give way. When I composed the piece, I was expecting our second child, due to be born in the heart of winter when the bitter cold strengthens the ice, making it powerful and solid again, and I was vividly reminded of the time after our first-born. Songs of the Ice also describes the emptiness and reclosing process that begins in a woman’s body when she parts company with the life inside her in giving birth. The work was commissioned by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and The Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Songs of the Ice and Midnight Sun Variations can be performed as a pair, in either order, or individually.
Orchestrations:
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2(pic:pic).1+ca.2(bcl).1+cbsn/2.2.0.0/timp.2perc/hp.pf(cel)/str
Premiere: October 2, 2020
Helsinki Music Centre, Finland
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Hannu Lintu
February 18, 2021
Concert Hall Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland
Iceland Symphony Orchestra, cond. Eva Ollikainen
February 23, 2022
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbour, USA
University of Michigan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, cond. Kenneth Kiesler
September 24, 2022
Southam Hall, Ottawa, Canada
National Arts Center Orchestra, cond. Alexander Shelley
March 3, 2023
Singletary Center for the Arts University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Nardolillo
March 9, 2023
Neuhaussaal, Regensburg, Germany
Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Tom Woods
March 13, 2023
Neuhaussaal, Regensburg, Germany
Regensburg Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Tom Woods
April 12, 2023
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Collon
November 23, 2025
Alte Oper, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Midnight Sun Variations (2019)
orchestra
11'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
This work for orchestra is a set of variations on the light when the sun never sets in the arctic summer night. For the northern sky above the Arctic Circle in summer reflects a rich spectrum of infinitely-nuanced hues that, as autumn draws near, become veiled in shadow until darkness slowly descends and the sun ceases to rise above the horizon. My son was born on the night when the summer’s last warm day gave way to a dawn shrouded in autumnal mist. Midnight Sun Variations is also about giving birth to new life, when the woman and the child within her part, restoring her former self as the light fades into winter. The work was commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic and The National Arts Centre Orchestra.
Midnight Sun Variations and Songs of the Ice can be performed as a pair, in either order, or individually.
Premiere: August 4, 2019
BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London
BBC Philharmonic, cond. John Storgårds
November 21, 2019
Manchester, UK
BBC Philharmonic, cond. John Storgårds
January 17, 2020 US premiere
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Houston, USA
Houston Symphony, cond. John Storgårds
January 18, 2020
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Houston, USA
Houston Symphony, cond. John Storgårds
January 19, 2020
Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, Houston, USA
Houston Symphony, cond. John Storgårds
February 6, 2020 Finnish premiere
Turku Concert Hall, Turku, Finland
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
February 7, 2020
Turku Concert Hall, Turku, Finland
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
February 21, 2020
Detroit, USA
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
February 22, 2020
Detroit, USA
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
February 23, 2020
Detroit, USA
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
October 15, 2021
Powell Hall, St. Louis, USA
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
October 16, 2021
Powell Hall, St. Louis, USA
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
November 16, 2021 German premiere
Stadthalle Hagen, Hagen, Germany
Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Joseph Trafton
December 6, 2021
Tampere Hall, main auditorium, Tampere, Finland
Tampere Philharmony, cond. Emilia Hoving
March 2, 2022
Madetoja Hall, Oulu, Finland
Oulu Symphony Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
May 18–19, 2022 Canadian premiere
Southam Hall, Ottawa, Canada
The National Arts Centre Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
May 19, 2022
Sibelius Hall, main auditorium, Lahti, Finland
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
May 20, 2022
Verkatehdas, Hämeenlinna, Finland
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
November 17-19, 2022
Atlanta Symphony Hall, Atlanta, USA
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
February 10, 2023
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Collon
October 5, 2023
Oslo Concert Hall, Oslo, Norway
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
December 15, 2023 Austrian country premiere
Musikverein Wien, Austria
Tonkünstler-Orchester, cond. John Storgårds
December 17, 2023
Musikverein Wien, Austria
Tonkünstler-Orchester, cond. John Storgårds
December 18, 2023
St.Pölten Festspielhaus, Großer Saal
Tonkünstler-Orchester, cond. John Storgårds
February 29 - March 2, 2024
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA, USA
Boston Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
May 15, 2024
BBC Philharmonic Studio, Salford, UK
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
August 30, 2024
St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich, UK
Triorca International Youth Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Daniel
October 10–11, 2024
Stadt Theater Gießen, Gießen, Germany
Philharmonisches Orchester Gießen, cond. Andreas Schuller
January 10–11, 2025
Nordic Soundscape Festival
Orchestra Hall, Minnesota, USA
Minnesota Orchestra, cond. Thomas Søndergård
September 24–25, 2025
Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jukka-Pekka Saraste
September 4, 2027
Sibelius Festival
Sibelius Hall, Lahti, Finland
Lahti Symphony Orchestra, cond. Hannu Lintu
Soloists and orchestra
The Seasons of Love (2023)
clarinet and string orchestra
19'
1. Young Love (Spring-winter*)
2. Sacrament (Spring-summer*)
3. Fruit (Autumn-summer*)
4. New Dimensions (Autumn-winter*)
5. Epilogue
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
A life-long intimate relationship is increasingly rare these days. Young love is solemnly sanctified, but if not before, many marriages stumble beneath the weight of the hectic family years. Those who survive the storms of early autumn have to regroup as the children fly the nest. The finiteness of life begins to dawn on people in the depths of winter. The Seasons of Love celebrates the power of love that changes with life’s seasons. I have dedicated it to the love of my life, Lauri Sallinen, my husband and the father of my children. The Seasons of Loveis at the same time a sort of portrait of him – at different stages in life, in the past and the future – as a clarinettist and person; just as he is, as I love him. There are also some echoes in the Quintet of my Polar Pearls concerto for chamber orchestra. The version for string orchestra was commissioned by the Kymi Sinfonietta.
*There are eight seasons in the Sámi annual round: spring, summer, autumn and winter, plus spring- winter, spring-summer, autumn-summer and autumn-winter, in between the two main seasons as their names indicate.
Premiere: May 15, 2024
Kotka Concert Hall, Kotka, Finland
Kymi Sinfonietta, cond. Ruut Kiiski
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 7, 2024
Silence Festival, Ojanperä Machine Hall, Kaukonen, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
October 2, 2025
Karelia Hall, Joensuu, Finland
Joensuu City Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Milky Ways (2022)
concerto for cor anglais and orchestra
20'
I The Infant Gaze
II Interplays
III At the Fountainhead of God
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
We all began life on milky ways. Milky, as the bronze-sheathed infant gaze halts and entices the Fountainhead of God to flow. The bubbling life force nourishes but is also the greatest of all forms of tenderness, closeness and primitive interaction. The skill we have practised in the secrecy of the womb lapses with the passing of the years, but the interplay it has generated never deserts us – it is the love that sustains us even after the final departure. Transporting us through the concerto is the hypnotic sound of the cor anglais that soars from Mother Earth to the celestial Milky Way; to the sweet, solid, loving cradle of life. The concerto was commissioned jointly by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BBC and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras and is dedicated to Nicholas Daniel, the oboist who hypnotised me with his playing.
Premiere: March 15-16, 2023
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Nicholas Collon
Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais
April 21-23, 2023
Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, USA
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, cond. Christian Macelaru
Russ de Luna, cor anglais
October 27, 2023, UK premiere
Barbican, London, The United Kingdom
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. David Afkham
Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais
April 17, 2025
Tampere Hall, Tampere, Finland
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Pekka Kuusisto
Nicholas Daniel, cor anglais
The Lustful Mother (2018)
song cycle for baritone, string orchestra/ string quartet and piano
version for mezzo-soprano, string quartet and piano
30'
I The Time of the Lustful Mother
II A Breath of Wind
III Night or Day
IV Still Shines Within Me
V Hallowed Be
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Naarasäiti (The Lustful Mother) is about becoming a mother, an experience in which sexuality combines in a natural way with the birth of a new life. The texts of the cycle are from the collections of poems Äitejä, tyttäriä (Árbeeadni, The Time of the Lustful Mother, 2013) and Kylmä kumppani (Galbma rádna, My Cold Companion, 1999) by two contemporary Sámi poets, Rauni Magga Lukkari and Rose-Marie Huuva. The poems’ primitive, matriarchal beat is present throughout in the music: a dark, earthy solo viola accompanies the baritone while the sizzling, sparkling strings erupt at times in powerful textures. The work was commissioned by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, the Hetta Music Festival and Rauma Festivo.
"And as I felt
the contractions the first time
I began to understand:
it is not me
not my mind
not the great love
that guides my life
My will is nothing
but a tiny girl
a mosquito’s step
a breath of wind
compared to the urgings
of my body”
–Rauni Magga Lukkari
English translation by Kaija Anttonen
Premiere: September 28, 2019
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
sol. Aarne Pelkonen, baritone
April 21, 2019
Hetta Music Festival, Finland
sol. Aarne Pelkonen, baritone
Kokkola Quartet
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
August 7, 2019
Rauma Festivo, Finland
sol. Aarne Pelkonen, baritone, Reetta Kataja and Siljamari Heikinheimo, violin, Riitta-Liisa Ristiluoma, viola, Samuli Peltonen, cello and Kirill Kozlovski, piano
November 2, 2021
Oulainen Music Week, Finland
sol. Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Kokkola Quartet
Johanna Tilus, piano
November 4, 2022
FRSO's Red Nose Day -concert, Finnish Television 1
sol. Aarne Pelkonen, baritone
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
March 10, 2023
Adelaide Festival, Australia
UKARIA Cultural Centre, Mount Barker Summit, Adelaide
Judith Dodsworth, mezzo-soprano
Australian String Quartet and Konstantin Shamray, piano, cond. Jeffrey Means
July 12, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Tuupala Primary School, Kuhmo, Finland
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Danel Quartet and Irina Zahharenkova, piano
November 22, 2025 (movements 4 and 5)
RUSK Festival
Schauman Hall, Pietarsaari, Finland
Aarne Pelkonen, baritone
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
Joye (2017)
orchestra
1'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
2222/2200/perc
Joye is a miniature or an orchestral fanfare, essentially bright throughout and aphoristically pithy. The title alludes to the ancient French word meaning “bliss” and “Fortune”, and my intention was to load the piece with all the elation and recklessness that flash through a person in a moment of intense happiness. The sombre, sturdy chord pillars at the beginning surge into a landscape in which first the clarinets, then the oboes and finally the trumpets lead the music to mighty ferment and a clarity that suffuses all. The work was commissioned by the Pori Sinfonietta.
Premiere: December 6, 2017
Promenade Hall, Pori, Finland
Pori Sinfonietta, cond. Janne Nisonen
April 26, 2018
Pori, Finland
Pori Sinfonietta, cond. Janne Nisonen
February 20, 2020
Carelia Concert Hall, Joensuu, Finland
Joensuu City Orchestra, cond. Eero Lehtimäki
December 8, 2020
Helsinki Music Centre, Finland
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Tarmo Peltokoski
December 10, 2020
Vaasa Church, Vaasa, Finland
Vaasa City Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
September 1-2, 2021
Kotka Concert Hall, Kotka, Finland
Kuusankoskitalo, Kouvola, Finland
Kymi Sinfonietta, cond. Olari Elts
August 26, 2022
Nolaskolan, Västernorrland, Sweden
Nordic Chamber Orchestra, cond. Tomas Djupsjöbacka
November 3, 2022
Stormen, Bodø, Norway
Norwegian National Youth Orchestra, cond. Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen
December 6, 2022
Tapiola Hall, Espoo, Finland
Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Jukka Rantamäki
March 8, 2023
Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, London, UK
RCM Wind Ensemble, cond. Marie Lloyd
October 12, 2023
Karelia Hall, Joensuu, Finland
Joensuun City Orchestra, cond. Maria Itkonen
October 18, 2023
BBC Maida Vale Studio 1, London, UK
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Kristian Sallinen
December 8, 2023
Laurentius Hall, Lohja, Finland
Lohja City Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
December 5, 2024
Madetoja Hall, Oulu, Finland
Oulu Symphony Orchestra, cond. Eero Lehtimäki
December 6, 2024
Carelia Hall, Joensuu, Finland
Joensuu City Orchestra, cond. Jukka Myllys
February 20, 2025
Hull City Hall, Hull, UK
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Kristian Sallinen
February 23, 2025
Waterside Theater, Aylesbury , UK
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Kristian Sallinen
Saivo (2016)
concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra
28'
I Image of you
II In the water
III In the ashes
IV Reflection
V Fissure
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
The saxophone concerto Saivo paints a musical portrait of a saxophonist of a new kind. The word ”saivo” originates from the ancient Sami beliefs meaning a two-bottomed lake, where under a lake dwells another lake and another world which is inhabited by otherworldly creatures – a world that is the exact mirror image of our world. The saxophone concerto builds sonorous timbral bridges between the effected soprano saxophone and the orchestra, and grows eventually into an illusion of another reality which is similar, yet in a peculiar way different than the world we know. The work was commissioned by Tapiola Sinfonietta and it is dedicated to the saxophonist Jukka Perko.
Premiere: November 17, 2017
Tapiolasali, Espoo, Finland
Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
February 1, 2018
Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
February 2, 2018
Inari, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
September 6, 2018
Kuopio, Finland
Kuopio City Orchestra, cond. Jaakko Kuusisto
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
October 31, 2019
Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
February 4, 2021
Turku Concert Hall, Turku, Finland
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Ari Rasilainen
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
March 25, 2021
Oulu Music Festival, Oulu, Finland
Oulu Symphony Orcestra, cond. Jaakko Kuusisto
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone and effects
May 17, 2025, German premiere
BaseCamp Hostel Bonn, Germany
Beethoven Orchester Bonn, cond. Dirk Kaftan
Asya Fateyeva, soprano saxophone
The Earth, Spring's Daughter (2014–2015)
song cycle for mezzosoprano and orchestra
c. 42'
I Prologue – The Earth, spring's daughter
II In these cold lands we migrate
III Our father's property is divided today
IV This late evening hour
V Not so straight
VI Come and I will show you secretly these paths
VII I inscribe these images – Epilogue
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Eanan, giđa nieida (in Engl. The Earth, Spring’s Daughter) is a mythical epos illustrating the core experiences of the North from the history to our times. The text is a vast collage of Sami poetry – the Sami people being the only indigenous people in the Europe. The strong mutual bond between the generations and the Sami culture’s cyclical perception of time are present also in the structure of the work: the music unfolds in layers and cycles, to be born again and again. The work was commissioned by three northernmost professional orchestras in Europe: Lapland Chamber Orchestra (FIN), Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra (SWE) and Arctic Philharmonic (NOR).
Premiere: September 1, 2016
Korundi House of Culture's Concert Hall, Rovaniemi
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
September 2, 2016
Inari, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
Swedish premiere: September 14, 2017
House of Culture, Luleå, Sweden
Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra, cond. Okko Kamu
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
September 15, 2017
Haparanda Church, Sweden
Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra, cond. Okko Kamu
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
September 16, 2017
Studio Acusticum, Piteå, Sweden
Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra, cond. Okko Kamu
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
December 4, 2017
Swedish Radio P2
Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra, cond. Okko Kamu
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
Norwegian premiere: September 13, 2018
Stormen Konserthus, Bodø, Norway
Arctic Philharmonic, cond. Tim Weiss
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano
October 18, 2018
NRK Radio P2, Norway
Arctic Philharmonic, cond. Tim Weiss
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo soprano
February 18, 2021
Kuopio Music Centre, Kuopio, Finland
Kuopio City Orchestra, cond. Jaakko Kuusisto
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
July 30, 2022
Ukko-Luosto open-air-stage, Sounds of Luosto -festival
Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, cond. Aku Sorensen
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
September 22, 2022
Southam Hall, Ottawa, Canada
National Arts Center Orchestra, cond. Alexander Shelley
Marion Newman, mezzo-soprano
February 1, 2024
Tapiola Hall, Espoo, Finland
Tapiola Sinfonietta, cond. Eva Ollikainen
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
August 2, 2024
Tammisaari Summer Concerts -festival
Tammisaari Church, Tammisaari, Finland
The Finnish Chamber Orchestra, cond. Jan Söderblom
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
April 10, 2025
Paviljonki, Jyväskylä, Finland
Jyväskylä Sinfonia, cond. Okko Kamu
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano
Liebklinge (2013)
soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra
16'
Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company
soprano saxophone + 1111/1000/perc, harp, strings (4-3-3-2-2)
Premiere: January 10, 2014
Korundi House of Culture's Concert Hall, Rovaniemi
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone
January 11, 2014
Korundi House of Culture's Concert Hall, Rovaniemi
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone
September 5, 2015
Young Nordic Music Festival, Helsinki
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, cond. Jaakko Kuusisto
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone
November 22, 2019
RUSK Festival, Pietarsaari, Finland
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. József Hárs
Jukka Perko, soprano saxophone
Liebklinge (2011)
soprano saxophone and orchestra
16'
Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company
soprano saxophone + 2222/2130/ 3 perc, folk harp, celesta, strings
Liebklinge is a work for an improvising soprano saxophone and orchestra. Virtually half of the soloist's role is to improvise, following the composer's guidelines. The saxophonist glides over a restless orchestra, and at time delves into the middle of it. The work was commissioned by the Sibelius Acedemy and is partly based on improvisations by legendary jazz saxophonist David Liebman and Liebman's pianist Richie Beirach, as well as a short composition by Liebman, who performed the premiere of Liebklinge. The chamber orchestra version of the piece was commissioned by the Lapland Chamber Orchestra.
Premiere: February 4, 2012
Helsinki Music Centre Concert Hall
David Liebman, soprano saxophone
Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, cond. Santtu Rouvali
Into the Woodland Silence (2010)
folk/jazz mezzo-soprano and big band
17'
The first line-up alternative: folk/jazzmezzosoprano +
a.sax./flute, clar./b.clar., t.sax./flute, t.sax./clar. and b.sax./flute
4 tpts, 3 tbns, 1 b.tbn, piano, double bass, drs/perc.
The second line-up alternative: folk/jazzmezzosoprano +
a.sax./flute/clar., clar., t.sax./flute/clar., t.sax., b.clar.
4 tpts, 3 tbns, 1 b.tbn, piano, double bass, drs/perc.
Into the Woodland Silence is about human growth and the vast, unanswered question of how to become oneself, an exploration that continues throughout our lives. The lyrics were compiled from poems by renowned Finnish poets Eeva-Liisa Manner and Sirkka Turkka. A key element for the birth of the piece was Tarkiainen's long and on-going collaboration with vocalist Aili Ikonen, to whom the work is dedicated. In the piece the jazz orchestra envelopes the singer who sings, speaks, buzzes, improvises and leads the listener through shifting musical landscapes. The work was commissioned by the Umo Jazz Orchestra. Distribution: Music Finland.
Premiere: March 18, 2010
Korjaamo Cultural Factory, Helsinki
Umo Jazz Orchestra, cond. Kari Heinilä
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
September 8, 2011
Haparanda, Sweden
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
September 9, 2011
Älvsby, Sweden
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
September 10, 2011
Nefertiti Jazz Club, Göteborg
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
September 11, 2011
Fasching Jazz Club, Stockholm
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
April 21, 2012
Tampere Biennale, Tampere, Finland
Umo Jazz Orchestra, cond. Kari Heinilä
Aili Ikonen, vocalist
March 20, 2015
Piteå, Sweden
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Mirja Mäkelä, vocalist
March 21, 2015
Luleå, Sweden
Norrbotten Big Band, cond. Outi Tarkiainen
Mirja Mäkelä, vocalist
Opera
A Room of One's Own (2020-2021)
opera in three acts
60'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Orchestration: 2 sopr, 2 mezzosopr, tenor, baritone, choir (SATB) and orchestra
A Room of One's Own is based on Virginia Woolf’s classic essay of the same name of 1928. The libretto is by the German opera director, dramaturge and librettist Francis Hüsers and the opera seeks to answer the question of why, from one century to another, women merely flit as shadows across the stage in the arts and history. The opera is set in 1920s England and has three main characters. Each called Mary, they are all intelligent, educated women whose seemingly light conversation leads them into ever deeper waters and who ultimately spread before the viewer’s eyes the whole gamut of human life, in all its grittiness, passions and realities.
I composed a specific musical profile for each of the characters, but the Marys are singularly interwoven, as if reflecting different aspects of the same person. Alternating as the main themes in the music are power, fate, hope and passion. The Prologue and Epilogue make references to the 17th-century Scottish ballad that originally gave Woolf, too, the idea for the cast of her essay. The ballad affords glimpses of a tragedy, infanticide, as told by Mary, former lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Scots and executed for bearing the King’s illegitimate child. Her fate is reflected from generation to generation, merely acquiring different manifestations. But hope lives on, undaunted.
Sung in English, the opera is in three Acts without an interval.
– Outi Tarkiainen
The first opera by Outi Tarkiainen, “A Room of One’s Own” was commissioned by the Theater Hagen and will be premiered there on May 14, 2022 in a production by director Magdalena Fuchsberger.
CAST
Mary Beton – soprano
Mary Seton – mezzo-soprano
Mary Carmichael, author – mezzo-soprano
Judith Shakespeare/ The Young Girl – soprano
The Young Man – tenor
The Professor – baritone
Premiere: May 14, 2022
Theater Hagen, Hagen, Germany
Mary Beton: Dorothea Brandt
Mary Seton: Maria Markina
Mary Carmichael: Evelyn Krahe
Judith Shakespeare/ The Young Girl: Marie-Pierre Roy
The Young Man: Anton Kuzenok
The Professor: Kenneth Mattice
Chor Theater Hagen
Extrachor Theater Hagen
Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen, cond. Joseph Trafton
Other performances:
May 26, 2022
June 5, 2022
June 8, 2022
September 18, 2022
October 2, 2022
October 14, 2022
Finnish premiere: July 26, 2023
Savonlinna Opera Festival, Savonlinna, Finland
Mary Beton: Dorothea Brandt
Mary Seton: Maria Markina
Mary Carmichael: Evelyn Krahe
Judith Shakespeare/ The Young Girl: Marie-Pierre Roy
The Young Man: Anton Kuzenok
The Professor: Kenneth Mattice
Chor Theater Hagen
Extrachor Theater Hagen
Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen, cond. Joseph Trafton
Other performances:
July 28, 2023
Chamber music
Lighthouse (2025)
for cello and organ
Sensory Flashbacks (2024)
The Clarinet Quintet No. 2
clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello and piano
19'
1. Volatility
2. Swell
3. Scent
4. Skin
5. Flashbacks
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Time is inescapably linear. Yet our senses make it heave, float, refract. Our senses measure time in different ways: a familiar scent takes us decades back in time, and a skill once learnt can be instantly recalled. Our body also remembers things which our mind has preferred to forget.
When we moved back up north, we went to live in the house my father had built and where I grew up. In a couple of weeks, my body felt decades younger, and I began moving about like I did as a teenager. Watching my children triggered kinaesthetic memories of how the house felt to a child. Much later, my father said he still woke up in his old house every morning. His body could not believe that he was actually somewhere else. Our sensory memories are volatile – they may transport us back to a time we have lost, to those who are dear to us. The Clarinet Quintet No. 2 was commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, OUR Festival and Ensemble Temporum.
Premiere: July 30, 2024
OUR Festival
Järvenpää Church, Järvenpää, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Elina Vähälä, violin, Riitta-Liisa Ristiluoma, viola,
Senja Rummukainen, cello and Johannes Piirto, piano
August 18, 2024 US premiere
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, USA
Todd Levy, clarinet, John Storgårds, violin,
Stephen Tenenbom, viola, Eric Kim, cello and Katia Skanavi, piano
August 18, 2024 US premiere
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, USA
Todd Levy, clarinet, John Storgårds, violin,
Stephen Tenenbom, viola, Eric Kim, cello and Katia Skanavi, piano
October 21, 2024 Norwegian premiere
Cafeteateret, Oslo, Norway
Ensemble Temporum
October 23, 2024 Danish premiere
Matziussalen, Birkerød, Denmark
Ensemble Temporum
October 30, 2024 UK premiere
CCA Theatre, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Ensemble Temporum
The Seasons Remembered (2024)
violin and piano
7'30''
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
I composed The Seasons Remembered for the XIII International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition and it is an offshoot of the opening movement Young Love (Spring-winter) of my Clarinet Quintet The Seasons of Love. The seasons were different in the north, where I lived as a child: the bitterly cold mid-winter weeks and the cool summers are deeply engraved on my body memory, and the new seasons brought by climate change feel unfamiliar. The Seasons Remembered is music of flowing emotions and memories, of flashbacks to the past and of torrents cascading into an unknown future.
Premiere: May 23–25, 2025
XIII International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
The Seasons of Love (2023)
clarinet and string quartet
19'
1. Young Love (Spring-winter*)
2. Sacrament (Spring-summer*)
3. Fruit (Autumn-summer*)
4. New Dimensions (Autumn-winter*)
5. Epilogue
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
A life-long intimate relationship is increasingly rare these days. Young love is solemnly sanctified, but if not before, many marriages stumble beneath the weight of the hectic family years. Those who survive the storms of early autumn have to regroup as the children fly the nest. The finiteness of life begins to dawn on people in the depths of winter. The Clarinet Quintet The Seasons of Love celebrates the power of love that changes with life’s seasons. I have dedicated it to the love of my life, Lauri Sallinen, my husband and the father of my children. The Seasons of Love is at the same time a sort of portrait of him – at different stages in life, in the past and the future – as a clarinettist and person; just as he is, as I love him. There are also some echoes in the Quintet of my Polar Pearls concerto for chamber orchestra. The Clarinet Quintet was commissioned by the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.
*There are eight seasons in the Sámi annual round: spring, summer, autumn and winter, plus spring- winter, spring-summer, autumn-summer and autumn-winter, in between the two main seasons as their names indicate.
Premiere: July 18, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Kuhmo Church, Kuhmo, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Meta4 String Quartet
September 1, 2023
Kaivos Festival
Theater Kiisu, Outokumpu, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Aino Szalai & Mariko Matsumoto, violin,
Mari Viluksela, viola and Sirja Nironen, cello
June 16, 2024
Soinillinen Festival
Soini Church, Soini, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Abel Puustinen and Hanna Parviainen, violin,
Taru Lehto, viola and Juuli Holma, cello
August 7, 2024
Rauma Festivo
House of Culture Poselli, Rauma, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Tami Pohjola and Siljamari Heikinheimo, violin,
Charlotta Westerback, viola and Senja Rummukainen, cello
The Downfall of Judith Shakespeare (2023)
mezzo-soprano, oboe, violin, violoncello and piano
10'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
The Downfall of Judith Shakespeare is based on a scene from my opera A Room of One’s Own(2020–2021). Judith is the opera’s most interesting character – supergifted, passionate and brilliant, just like her brother William Shakespeare. Yet although William did, according to a number of sources, have sisters, virtually nothing is known about their lives. Like almost all other women at that time, they have disappeared; they hover as empty shadows in a history that stars only men. A genius such as Judith could, in the present day and age, become just about anything – a head of state, a ground-breaking artist or a Nobel Prize winner. But things were different in the 16th century. In my work, the ghost of Judith tells her story, the fate envisaged for that imaginary sister by Virginia Woolf in her essay.
Premiere: July 17, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Kuhmo, Finland
Virpi Räisänen, mezzo-soprano, Blanca Gleisner, oboe, Matilda Kaul, violin
Tuomas Lehto, violoncello and Heini Kärkkäinen, piano
August 12, 2024
Turku Music Festival
Sibelius Museum, Turku, Finland
Christina Herresthal, mezzo-soprano and Glow Collective
Woodland Fanfares (2021)
clarinet, violoncello and piano
2'
Woodland Fanfares is a miniature that wrests the listener into the weightless fluctuation of dark, surging waves. The energy of the mounting swell finally condenses in a collective song and subsides as it yields to the light: like a tender glade in the wilderness, a tranquil odyssey in life or a warm breast on which to lay one’s head. The work was commissioned by the City of Kuhmo.
Premiere: July 18, 2022
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Kuhmo, Finland
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Lentua Hall
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet, Trey Lee, violoncello and Matilda Kärkkäinen, piano
March 27, 2024
London Sinfonietta, cond. Patrick Bailey
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, The United Kingdom
They Walked Side By Side (2018)
soprano/mezzosoprano and violin
7'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Soai vácciiga buohtalaga (They walked side-by-side) is a condensed version of the epilogue to my large-scale song cycle The Earth, Spring’s Daughter. The words are from the poem of the same name by the Sámi poet Rauni Magga Lukkari impressively describing the sometimes even supernatural communion that exists between mothers and daughters. At first, the music seems to flow of its own accord – as if it has always done so – and voice and violin walk side by side as equals throughout the piece. It may, in the space that forms around them, be possible to sense the tacit knowledge, mind space and most fragile inner voices of the foremothers.
Premiere: June 10, 2018
Silence Festival
Kittilä Church, Finland
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Pekka Kuusisto, violin
June 19, 2018
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Pekka Kuusisto, violin
May 29, 2019
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Pekka Kuusisto, violin
August 7, 2019
Rauma Festivo, Rauma, Finland
Hannakaisa Nyrönen, soprano and Reetta Kataja, violin
August 25, 2019
Helsinki Festival
Sellosali, Espoo
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Pekka Kuusisto, violin
February 2, 2020
NJORD Biennale, Copenhagen, Denmark
Koncertkirken, Copenhagen, Denmark
Maria Johansen, soprano and Anne Søe, violin
September 4, 2021
Nordic Music Days, Torshavn, Faroe Islands
Havnar Kirkja, Torshavn, Faroe Islands
Else Torp, soprano and Jón Festirstein, violin
November 1, 2021
Stockholm Konserthuset, The Grünewald Hall, Stockholm, Sweden
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Cecilia Zilliacus, violin
November 2, 2021
Oulainen Music Week
Merkurius Hall, Oulainen, Finland
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano and Reetta Kataja, violin
April 17, 2022
Hetta Music Days
Juhls Silvergallery, Koutokeino, Norway
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and violinist of Zagros Ensemble
July 10, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Tuupala Primary School, Kuhmo
Virpi Räisänen, mezzosoprano and Siljamari Heikinheimo, violin
There is more light in this room when you are here (2018)
saxophone quartet
11'
I At the bottom of darkness
II See how the light shines within me
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
There is more light in this room when you are here is a fervently optimistic mood piece embodying the core themes of my song cycle The Lustful Mother. The title refers to another person – maybe a lover, child or friend – whose existence makes life more meaningful. In the first movement, the music wanders through the twilight, and the solitary recitation of the tenor sax is framed by answering sighs from the soprano and alto. In the second movement, the full quartet joins in the same hopeful song, that, endlessly swaying and discreetly circling, fills the whole space with its light. The work was commissioned by the Arcis Saxophone Quartet, to which it is dedicated.
Premiere: April 23, 2020
Allerheiligen Hofkirche, Munich, Germany
Arcis Saxophone Quartet
April 3, 2025
Windhoek International Wind Festival
Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen, Saksa
Saxofonquartett der HdK Zürich
July 3, 2025
Time of Music Festival
Viitasaari Areena, Viitasaari, Finland
Saxtronauts (Anna-Sofia Anttonen, Nanna Ikonen, Nanako Lammi and Sikri Lehko, saxophones)
Siimes (2017)
wind quintet
13'
I In the Water
II Flash
III In the Ashes
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Siimes is my second wind quintet and is based on the saxophone concerto Saivo. The title of the work suggests an allegorical hiding place deep in the forest, from where one can easily observe the surrounding reality. The first movement flows and swirls like diving under water, at times changing direction and always bubbling merrily. The second movement’s ethereal shimmering culminates into the last movement’s mighty chord pillars that pile up on one another like an ash cloud. Siimes is dedicated to Auriga Wind Quintet’s flautist Heli Haapala, who commissioned the work with the support of the Sibelius Foundation.
Premiere: September 10, 2017
Rovaniemi, Finland
Auriga Wind Quintet
April 3, 2018
Saariselkä, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet
April 8, 2018
Culture House, Smørum, Denmark
Esbjerg Ensemble
April 11, 2018
Alvar Aalto Library, Vyborg, Russia
Esbjerg Ensemble
April 15, 2018
Tampere Biennale, Finland
Esbjerg Ensemble
April 18, 2018
Syddansk Musikkonservatorium, Esbjerg, Denmark
Esbjerg Ensemble
November 7, 2018
Culture House Orrela, Teuva, Finland
Pohjamaa Wind Quintet
November 8, 2018
Seinäjoki Hall, Seinäjoki, Finland
Pohjamaa Wind Quintet
April 4, 2019
Wind Music Days, Oulu, Finland
Helmikvintet
November 22, 2019
RUSK Festival, Pietarsaari, Finland
Janne Thomsen, flute, Christoffer Sundqvist, clarinet, TBA, oboe, TBA, bassoon and József Hárs, french horn
August 21, 2020
Laurentius Hall, Lohja, Finland
Lohja City Orchestra
September 16, 2021
Seinäjoki Hall, Seinäjoki, Finland
Seinäjoki City Orchestra
November 28, 2021 UK premiere
Purcell Room, London UK
London Philharmonic Orchestra
June 8, 2023
Naantali Music Festival
Naantali Church, Naantali, Finland
Niamh McKenna, flute, Takuya Takashima, oboe
Matthew Hunt, clarinet, Jaakko Luoma, bassoon and Tanja Nisonen, horn
January 9, 2024
Classical Hietsu Concert Series
Hietsun Paviljonki, Helsinki, Finland
Wind Quintet Arktinen Hysteria
April 1, 2025
Windhoek International Wind Festival
Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen, Germany
Alice Morzenti, flute, Nicholas Daniel, oboe, Chen Halevi, clarinette and students from the HfM Trossingen, Germany
Beaivi (2016)
flute, violoncello, guitar and piano
9'
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen.
Beaivi is inspired by the Sami poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää’s poem "When that time approaches", where the first encounter with light after the lengthy polar night is described with exceptional significance. The word beaivi comes from the northern Sami language meaning sun or day. The play of light – its dawn, a brief shimmering before darkening again – are characterized throughout the textures and timbres of the piece. Beaivi is dedicated to the Danish chamber music ensemble Lydenskab, who also commissioned the work.
"When that time approaches
I notice how frequently I ski
higher than necessary
and when I finally see
the peaks turn red
I am not ashamed to admit
that I go to a high place
in order to see the sun"
–Nils-Aslak Valkeapää
English translation by Ralph Salisbury
Premiere: February 2, 2017
Huset, Aalborg, Denmark
Ensemble Lydenskab
Karolina Leedo, flute, Sofia Lind Pedersen, cello,
Thea Vesti, guitar and Maria Eshpal, piano
October 29, 2017
Rønnebksholm, Denmark
Enseble Lydenskab
Karolina Leedo, flute, Sofia Lind Pedersen, cello,
Thea Vesti, guitar and Eskild Winding, piano
April 3, 2018 Swedish premiere
Klubb Krinolin, Malmö, Sweden
Enseble Lydenskab
Karolina Leedo, flute, Sofia Lind Pedersen, cello,
Thea Vesti, guitar and Eskild Winding, piano
November 22, 2019 UK premiere
Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, York, UK
The Chimera Ensemble
November 22, 2020 Finnish premiere
Keltinmäki Church, Jyväskylä, Finland
Hanna Juutilainen, flute, Harri Topi, cello,
Tuomas Niininen, piano ja Markku Laakso, guitar
November 29, 2020
Kuopio Parish Church, Kuopio, Finland
Hanna Juutilainen, flute, Harri Topi, cello,
Tuomas Niininen, piano ja Markku Laakso, guitar
December 19, 2021
YLE Christmas Concert, Kallio Church, Helsinki, Finland
Uusinta Ensemble
Obsession II (2013)
flute and piano
4'
The work is based on Charles Baudelaire's poem Obsession from the anthology Flowers of Evil. Obsession II was composed as a parallel to a song for soprano and piano with the same title. In the instrumental version the original poem is present only implicitly, but certain words and syllables can be heard also on the surface of the music. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: March 12, 2013
Helsinki Music Centre
Malla Vivolin, flute and Emil Holmström, piano
Debut Concert: September 27, 2014
AutumnFest, Tallinn, Estonia
Uusinta Ensemble
Malla Vivolin, flute and Emil Holmström, piano
September 10, 2017
Kaivos Festival, Outokumpu, Finland
Kaisa Kortelainen, flute and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
February 14, 2023
Rovaniemi Chamber Music Festival
Korundin Concert Hall, Rovaniemi, Finland
Heli Haapala, flute and Laura Heikkilä, piano
July 6, 2024
Sinettä Chamber Music Festival
Sinetän Chapel, Sinettä, Finland
Heli Haapala, flute and Kaisa-Mari Pulkkanen, piano
April 2, 2025
Windhoek International Wind Festival
Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen, Germany
Alice Morzenti, flute and nn, piano
Trois poèmes (2013)
string quartet
10'
I Vision
II Désir
III Dépendance
Trois poèmes is a visually evocative trilogy loaded with transiently vivid moments, and is partly based on my Baudelaire song cycle. The delicate and sensual hues of the two first movements release in a tumultuous appassionato in the third movement. The work was commissioned by the Kamus Quartet with the support of Madetoja Foundation. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: August 1, 2013
Our Festival, Tuusula
The Kamus Quartet
June 6, 2015
Silence Festival, Finland
The Kaamos Quartet
August 17, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
Quartuor Arod
June 23, 2016
University of Music and Performing Arts Wien, Austria
Pauline Kempf Quartet
February 11, 2017
Musica Nova Festival, Helsinki, Finland
The Kamus Quartet
February 22, 2017
Ajassa soi, Finnish Radio Yle 1
The Kamus Quartet
August 9, 2017
Aikamme Musiikkia, Finnish Radio Yle 1
The Kamus Quartet
September 20, 2017
Uudet levyt, Finnish Radio Yle 1
The Kamus Quartet
August 6, 2019
Rauma Festivo, Rauma, Finland
Siljamari Heikinheimo and Reetta Kataja, violin, Riitta-Liisa Ristiluoma, viola and Samuli Peltonen, cello
May 8, 2020
Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
September 24, 2020
Culture House Korundi Concert Hall, Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
February 20, 2021
Snellman Hall, Kokkola, Finland
Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchesta Concert Season
Tempera Quartet
January 12, 2023
Sibelius Academy Concert Series
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Kamus String Quartet
July 10, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Kuhmo, Finland
Kamus String Quartet
June 15, 2024
Naantali Music Festival
Rymättylä Church, Rymättylä, Finland
Meta4 String Quartet
June 16, 2024
Lauttasaari Music Festival
Central Library Oodi, Maijansali Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Meta4 String Quartet
December 5, 2024
Korundi Concert Hall, Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra
The Baudelaire songs (2009–2013)
soprano and piano
15'
I The Albatross
II The Abyss
III Obsession
The song cycle uses poems by Charles Baudelaire from the anthology Flowers of Evil, and is about the solitude of a visionary human being and the inner necessity of making one's way, whether those visions be grandiose or nightmarish. While composing the two first songs of the cycle I lived in London, so I chose R. J. Dent's recent English translations of Baudelaire's poems for the lyrics. The songs were commissioned by the lied-duo Heikkinen & Tilus with the support of Teosto. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: September 21, 2009
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
February 6, 2010
Ears Open Society concert, Helsinki, Ostrobotnia Ball Room, Helsinki
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
May 20, 2010
Sibelius Academy Chamber Music Hall, Helsinki
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
August 22, 2011
Young Nordic Music Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Sanni Antikainen, piano
September 5, 2011
Aino Ackté Chamber Music Festival, Helsinki
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
November 16, 2012
Sodankylä, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 17, 2012
Rovaniemi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 18, 2012
Muonio, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 18, 2012
Levi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
April 26, 2013
Nurmes, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
April 27, 2013
Ilomantsi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
April 28, 2013
Joensuu, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Johanna Tilus, piano
August 14, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano and Paul Beynet, piano
December 8, 2017
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Emil Holmström, piano
August 10, 2019
Rauma Festivo, Rauma, Finland
Kaisa Ranta, soprano and Kirill Kozlovski, piano
June 11, 2024
Main Foyer, Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Joel Papinoja, piano
Into the Woodland Silence (2012)
soprano, clarinet, violoncello and piano
14'
Into the Woodland Silence is about human growth and the vast, unanswered question of how to become oneself, an exploration that continues throughout our lives. The lyrics were compiled from poems by renowned Finnish poets Eeva-Liisa Manner and Sirkka Turkka. Into the Woodland Silence was originally scored for jazz orchestra and folk/jazz mezzo-soprano, but this quartet version gives the work new life as chamber music, and perhaps even better portrays the intimate nature of the music. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: August 28, 2012
Young Nordic Music Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
Aili Ikonen, vocalist, Grímur Helgason, clarinet and Tinna Thorsteinsdóttir, piano
November 16, 2012
Sodankylä, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet,
Juho Laitinen, violoncello and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 17, 2012
Rovaniemi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet,
Juho Laitinen, violoncello and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 18, 2012
Muonio, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet,
Juho Laitinen, violoncello and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
November 18, 2012
Levi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet,
Juho Laitinen, violoncello and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
New Year's Concert: January 1, 2013
Kuhmo, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
January 3, 2013
Suomussalmi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet and Väinö Jalkanen, piano
April 26, 2013
Nurmes, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Markus Hohti, violoncello and Johanna Tilus, piano
April 27, 2013
Ilomantsi, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Markus Hohti, violoncello and Johanna Tilus, piano
April 28, 2013
Joensuu, Finland
Sanna Heikkinen, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Markus Hohti, violoncello and Johanna Tilus, piano
September 26, 2015
Nordic Music Days Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ensemble Scenatet
October 9, 2016
New Music October –festival, Oulu, Finland
Uusinta Ensemble, sol. Meeri Pulakka, soprano
September 23, 2017
White Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Sibelius Academy students, sol. Anna-Maija Oka, mezzo soprano
November 12, 2017
Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Sibelius Academy students, sol. Anna-Maija Oka, mezzo soprano
April 18, 2018
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Markus Hohti, violoncello and Emil Holmström, piano
June 9, 2018 at 12 pm
Särestöniemi Museum, Kittilä, Finland
Curious Chamber Players, cond. Rei Munakata
Aleksi Barrière, director
sol. Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Viivi Roiha, aerial acrobatics
June 9, 2018 at 15 pm
Särestöniemi Museum, Kittilä, Finland
Curious Chamber Players, cond. Rei Munakata
Aleksi Barrière, director
sol. Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano and Viivi Roiha, aerial acrobatics
June 19, 2018
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Curious Chamber Players, cond. Rei Munakata
Aleksi Barrière, director
sol. Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano
October 2, 2018
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Markus Hohti, violoncello and Emil Holmström, piano
August 10, 2019
Rauma Festivo, Rauma, Finland
Kaisa Ranta, soprano, Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
Samuli Peltonen, violoncello and Kirill Kozlovski, piano
August 12, 2022
Kamarikesä –festival, Helsinki, Finland
House of Nobility, Helsinki
Aili Ikonen, voice, Laure Paris, clarinet
Lauri Kankkunen, violoncello and Tatu Eskelinen, piano
8.6.2023
Naantali Music Festival
Naantali Church, Naantali, Finland
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano, Matthew Hunt, clarinet
Amalie Stalheim, violoncello and Joonas Pohjonen, piano
The Way There... (Is Sand Or Some Other Sounding Substance) (2009)
wind quintet
11'
I Allegro furioso – Adagio
II Largamente
III Con moto
IV Allegro – Adagio – Allegro
The Way There... (Is Sand Or Some Other Sounding Substance) consists of four miniature movements, each of which features a different instrument in the leading role. The whirring scenes of the first and last movements are framing the lyrical second and the undulating third movement. The title of the work has its origins in Finnish poet Sirkka Turkka's melancholy yet hopeful poem Tämä surumieli (This sorrowing mind) from the anthology Vaikka on kesä (1983). The Way There... is dedicated to the wind quintet Pasaati, who also commissioned the piece. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: December 22, 2009
Mission Church, Helsinki
The Pasaati Wind Quintet
February 7, 2010
Lauttasaari Church, Helsinki
The Meteora Wind Quintet
February 10, 2010
Turku, Finland
The Meteora Wind Quintet
February 14, 2010
Rauma, Finland
The Meteora Wind Quintet
September 15, 2010
Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet
September 16, 2010
Muonio, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet
May 25, 2011
Inaugural Concert of Korundi House of Culture
Rovaniemi, Finland
Lapland Chamber Orchestra Wind Quintet
June 14, 2013
Kallio-Kuninkala Chamber Music Festival, Järvenpää, Finland
Zagros Ensemble
February 9, 2014
Vaasa, Finland
Vaasa City Orchestra Wind Quintet
February 28, 2016
Helsinki Music Centre Organo Hall, Finland
The Helmikvintet Wind Quintet
February 8, 2017
Jyväskylä City Hall, Finland
Jyväskylä Sinfonietta Wind Quintet
October 21, 2017
Colori Wind Quintet
Porvoo Church, Finland
October 24, 2017
Colori Wind Quintet
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland
November 18, 2017
Studion Konsert & Kongress, Linköping, Sweden
Crusellkvintetten, Östgötamusiken
August 23, 2020
Helsinki Festival
Yle Teema (TV broadcast without live audience)
The Helmikvintet Wind Quintet
November 4, 2021
Esbjerg Ensemble
Cafe Orsted, Esbjerg, Denmark
April 2, 2025
Windhoek International Wind Festival
Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen, Germany
Students from the HfM Trossingen, Germany
Solo works
Tenderness (2022)
piano
5'
Tenderness is a study in sound. Though imperceptible, immaterial and ephemeral, tenderness provides sustenance for all humankind. We all need tenderness – yet many never receive it. Alternating in the work are different jingling and gossamer textures that gradually converge into timbral clouds before finally dispersing in a down-to-earth hymn. I wrote the piece for the Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition 2022, with our smallest baby boy in my lap.
Premieres: October 20, 2022
The Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition
Hyelee Kang, piano
Hao Wei Lin, piano
Ke Ma, piano
Jonathan Mak, piano
David Munk-Nielsen, piano
Misora Ozaki, piano
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki, Finland
October 21, 2022
The Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition
Yuewen Yu, piano
Aleksei Zaitsev, piano
Michelle Candotti, piano
Kevin Chow, piano
Bogdan Dugalić, piano
Théotime Gillot, piano
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki, Finland
June 9-10, 2023
Silence Festival
Sports Hall, Kaukonen
Anna Kuvaja, piano
September 24, 2023
Taidekoti Kirpilä, Helsinki, Finland
Anna Kuvaja, piano
April 11, 2024
Tampere Biennale
Small Auditorium, Tampere Hall
Henri Sigfridsson, piano
Without a Trace (2020)
piano
14'
Without a Trace is a solo work that looks at the nature still totally undefiled. Some peoples have succeeded in living from one millennium to another leaving hardly a trace on their environment, and they still possess the wisdom brought by a symbiotic relationship with nature. My work was inspired by the painting Immortal Prints (1978) by US artist Richard Pousette-Dart and the poem the head scatters from the collection Girddán, Seivvodan (1999) by Sámi poet Nils-Aslak Valkeapää with which I associated it in my mind. In my piece, quiet, listening episodes give way to a swiftly-flowing stream gliding steadfastly through time. Without a Trace is dedicated to pianist Paavali Jumppanen and was commissioned by the US modern art museum The Phillips Collection.
Premiere: April 18, 2021
The Phillips Collection, Washington DC, United States of America
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
January 8, 2023
Särestö Chamber Music Concert Series
Korundi Concert Hall, Rovaniemi
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
January 12, 2023
Sibelius-Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
January 19, 2023
Melartin Concert Hall, Savonlinna, Finland
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
March 12, 2023 Australian premiere
Adelaide Festival, Australia
UKARIA Cultural Centre, Mount Barker Summit, Adelaide
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
May 28, 2023
Recital, University of West Australia, Perth, Australia
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
April 6, 2024
Fromm Players Concert at Harvard University
Harvard University, John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, Cambridge MA, USA
Paavali Jumppanen, piano
The Lustful Mother's Heart (2020)
viola
6'
The Lustful Mother’s Heart is a solo work that plumbs the depths of one of the most fundamental human instincts – the tie between a mother and her new-born child that, as day follows day, becomes less part of its mother’s body. The work develops themes from my song cycle The Lustful Mother in which long solo viola passages strike to the very heart of down-to-earth, natural womanhood. The Lustful Mother’s Heart was born at a very special moment in my life when my second child was spending his first weeks in this world. The viola song kept company with us night and day, dark and deep-rooted, at times broadening out into a hymn, weaving into our fate as through a dream. The Lustful Mother’s Heart is dedicated to violist Ellen Nisbeth, who also commissioned it.
Premiere: February 14, 2020
Konserthuset Stockholm, Sweden
Ellen Nisbeth, viola
April 14, 2020
Klubb Krinolin, Malmö, Sweden
Ellen Nisbeth, viola
November 20, 2021
Arctic Chamber Music Festival
Mine No. 3, Longeyarbyen, Norway
Ellen Nisbeth, viola
May 22, 2022
Brighton Festival
Brighton, United Kingdom
Riot Ensemble (Helene Clement, viola)
December 17, 2023
EBU Christmas Day – Konzert aus Helsinki
Kallio Church, Helsinki, Finland
Antti Tikkanen, viola
...et elles entonnèrent un chant (2015)
accordion
5'
…et elles entonnèrent un chant (in English ...and they began to sing) is a deeply contemplative yet hopeful vision of Sami poet Rauni Magga Lukkari’s poem ”They walked side by side, mother and daughter” from the anthology "The Time of the Lustful Mother" (2013). The poem illustrates in a magical way the strength of the northern women as well as the strong mutual bond between the generations. In the heart of the multi-layered music lies as a cantus firmus a well-known hymn in Scandinavia, ”Summer Hymn”, that also the protagonists of the poem join to sing. The piece was commissioned by the Festival de Musique d’Uzerche with the support of Teosto and is dedicated to the accordionist Vincent Lhermet.
Publisher:Modus musiikki
Premiere: August 14, 2015
Festival du Musique d'Uzerche, France
Vincent Lhermet, accordion
August 15, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
Meet the composer: Outi Tarkiainen
Vincent Lhermet, accordion
January 11, 2016
Paris, France
Vincent Lhermet, accordion
March 8, 2016
Conservatory of Paris, France
Vincent Lhermet, accordion
August 25, 2016
Rovaniemi, Finland
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
October 1, 2016
Langenfeld, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
October 8, 2016
New Music October –festival, Oulu, Finland
Veli Kujala, accordion
October 23, 2016
Essen, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
December 20, 2016
Folkwang Universitet der Künste, Essen-Werden, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
August 25, 2017
Taipalsaari Church, Finland
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
September 10, 2017
Kaivos Festival, Outokumpu, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
September 24, 2017
Akkordeonherbst, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
October 20, 2017
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Veli Kujala, accordion
October 25, 2017
Kuopio City Hall, Kuopio, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
October 26, 2017
Hannikainen Hall, Nurmes, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
July 27, 2019
Altmark Festspiele, Arendsee, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
July 28, 2019
Altmark Festspiele, Arendsee, Germany
Heidi Luosujärvi, accordion
September 16, 2019
Ämmänsaari Parish Hall, Suomussalmi, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
September 17, 2019
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Kuhmo, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
September 18, 2019
Aatos, Sotkamo, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
September 19, 2019
Kouta Concert Hall, Kajaani, Finland
Henrik Sandås, accordion
May 23, 2024
Recital Concert Series of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra
Korundi Concert Hall, Rovaniemi, Finland
Niko Kumpuvaara, accordion
July 19, 2025
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival
Kuhmo Church, Kuhmo, Finland
Veli Kujala, accordion
Sans paroles (2012)
clarinet
8'
The solo clarinet work Sans paroles is a song without words. The piece consists of long gliding phrases interspersed with playful and sometimes jarring rhythms. The piece is dedicated to the clarinetist Lauri Sallinen. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: December 5, 2011
KLANG Concert Series, Helsinki Music Centre
Mikko Raasakka, clarinet
Debut Concert: May 8, 2012
Helsinki Music Centre
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 16, 2012
Sodankylä, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 17, 2012
Rovaniemi, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 18, 2012
Muonio, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 18, 2012
Levi, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
April 26, 2013
Nurmes, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
April 27, 2013
Ilomantsi, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
April 28, 2013
Joensuu, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 15, 2013
Ingria, Russia
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 17, 2013
White Nights of Carelia Festival, Petrozavodsk, Russia
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 19, 2013
St.Petersburg, Russia
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 6, 2015
Silence Festival, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
August 15, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
David Campbell, clarinet
November 10, 2015
City University London, London, United Kingdom
David Campbell, clarinet
January 11, 2016
Cité International des Arts, Paris, France
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
August 26, 2016
Kaivos-festival, Outokumpu, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
September 26, 2016
NCCA, Moscow, Russia
Moskow Ensemble contemporary music
Oleg Tantsov, clarinet
November 19, 2016
Lux Musicae Festival, Siuntio, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
June 7, 2017
Silence Festival, Kaukonen, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
July 18, 2017
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
August 30, 2017
Helsinki Festival, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
August 31, 2017
Helsinki Festival, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
March 28, 2018
Tampere Biennale, Tampere, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
July 31, 2018
Crusell Week, Uusikaupunki, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
January 3, 2019
Kuhmo Winter, Kuhmo, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 13, 2019
Ivalo Church, Ivalo, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 14, 2019
Inari Church, Inari, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 26, 2019
Sodankylä Church, Sodankylä, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
December 1, 2019
Utsjoki Church, Utsjoki, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
July 27, 2020
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival – streamed event
Kuhmo Church, Kuhmo, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
September 14, 2021
Concert of Seinäjoki City Orchestra
Hugo Hall, Seinäjoki, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
October 15, 2021
The Finnish Soloists' Association
Temppeliaukio Church, Helsinki, Finland
Lauri Sallinen, clarinet
November 1, 2024
Tokyo Symposium
Tokyo Concerts Lab, Tokyo, Japan
Kyusang Jeong, clarinet
April 1, 2025
Windhoek International Wind Festival
Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik, Trossingen, Germany
Danielle Ben Kennaz, clarinet
May 2, 2025
Stift Music Festival, Amsterdam, Holland
Danielle Ben Kennaz, clarinet
Thy Words, Submerged In Stone (2011)
violoncello
8'
Sanasi, kiveen uponneet (in Engl. Thy Words, Submerged In Stone) is a vivid, energetic, but also deeply contemplative solo work. The piece plays with the traditional instrumental opportunities of cello, from time to time offering the performer a virtuosic challenge. The contemplative polyphonic sections alternate with flashy scherzo passages. The title of the piece refers to the joy that arises from trust between humans beings. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: May 2, 2011
Sibelius Academy Concert Hall, Helsinki
Sami Mäkelä, violoncello
November 16, 2012
Sodankylä, Finland
Juho Laitinen, violoncello
November 17, 2012
Rovaniemi, Finland
Juho Laitinen, violoncello
November 18, 2012
Muonio, Finland
Juho Laitinen, violoncello
November 18, 2012
Levi, Finland
Juho Laitinen, violoncello
April 26, 2013
Nurmes, Finland
Markus Hohti, violoncello
April 27, 2013
Ilomantsi, Finland
Markus Hohti, violoncello
April 28, 2013
Joensuu, Finland
Markus Hohti, violoncello
August 15, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
Ivan Karizna, violoncello
October 8, 2016
New Music October –festival, Oulu, Finland
Riina Salminen, violoncello
April 9, 2017
Chamber Music Concert, Oulu Sinfonia, Oulu, Finland
Riina Salminen, violoncello
July 5, 2017
Time of Music Festival, Viitasaari, Finland
Markus Hohti, violoncello
July 25, 2017
Our Festival, Järvenpää, Finland
Ulla Lampela, violoncello
October 26, 2018
Finnish Radio, Yle 1
Markus Hohti, violoncello
November 19, 2019
RUSK Festival, Pietarsaari, Finland
Senja Rummukainen, violoncello
August 7, 2024
Rauma Festivo, Rauma, Finland
Senja Rummukainen, violoncello
Until the Stone Splits (2008)
violin
5'
Kunnes kivi halkeaa (in Engl. Until the Stone Splits) is a kind of modern threnody. The piece is a musical portrait of Finnish poet Sirkka Turkka's poem "Kipu ei kasva mitään" from the anthology Vaikka on kesä (1983). In the poem the narrator laments her longing for her deceased mother. The piece is dedicated to the violinist Saana Uksila. Publisher: Uusinta Publishing Company.
Premiere: November 29, 2008
Sibelius Academy Chamber Music Hall, Helsinki
Saana Uksila, violin
November 30, 2008
Cygnaeus Gallery, Helsinki
Saana Uksila, violin
February 7, 2014
Hannover, Germany
Linnea Hurttia, violin
August 15, 2015
Festival de Musique Classique d'Uzerche, France
Fuki Fujie, violin
February 19, 2016
University of Fine Arts & Music, Nagoya, Japan
Linnea Hurttia, violin
February 20, 2016
Tokyo, Japan
Linnea Hurttia, violin
April 16, 2016
Tampere Biennale, Finland
Maria Puusaari, violin
June 11, 2016
Silence Festival, Finland
Minna Pensola, violin
March 2, 2017
The National Library of Finland, Helsinki
Siljamari Heikinheimo, violin
May 13, 2017
Club Vakiopaine, Jyväskylä, Finland
Maria Puusaari, violin
November 23, 2019
RUSK Festival, Pietarsaari, Finland
Fredrik Paulsson, violin
August 1, 2020
Our Festival, Tuusula, Finland
Terhi Paldanius, violin
November 4, 2022
FRSO's Red Nose Day -concert, Finnish Television 1
Maria Puusaari, violin
Kati Outinen, actor
February 19, 2023
Kuhmo Winter
Kuhmo Arts Centre, Lentua Hall, Kuhmo, Finland
Minna Pensola, violin
May 4, 2023
Kuhmo Chamber Music, spring concert
Balder Hall, Helsinki, Finland
Minna Pensola, violin
August 2, 2024
Sounds of Luosto Festival
Porttikosken lava, Sodankylä, Finland
Tuulia Hero, violin
March 23, 2025
Oulu Music Festival
City Hall, Oulu, Finland
Siljamari Heikinheimo, violin