Friday 17 July 2015

Summer 2015

”So what are you doing this summer?” I get this question quite frequently, so I decided to write about what’s happening this summer in my life!

May
2-9.5 visiting Würzburg
Visited my friend Janne Valkeajoki in Würzburg for discussing and working on his commissioned piece Groove, which will be premiered in Sysmän Suvisoitto 2015.

10.5 Concert in Lund with Ton Generation. Composition class of Malmö made a concert, and I gave my piano solo piece Piano Delirium it’s Swedish premiere. 
(More about the concert: click here)

20.5 Concert in Malmö Academy of Music, and the pianist Linn Bertland gave my piano solo suite Characters its world premiere.

21.5-26.5 in Finland:

21.5 arrived at 14:45 in Finland, got picked up so I managed to go home and in the evening I went to the Finish Cultural Foundation Annual Celebration in Siuntio
22.5 piano lesson in Helsinki with Risto-Matti Marin
25.5 Played the Finnish premiere of my piano piece  "Characters" at 6 PM. in the Korvat Auki concert at the Aino Ackté Hall
26.5 Flight to Stockholm at 16 o'clock.

26-30.5 Stockholm
27-28.5 Rehearsals with the Swedish Wind Ensemble
29.5 Concert with Swedish Wind Ensemble, premiere of my wind orchestra piece Paradiso, conducted by Michael Bartosch. (More about the concert: click here)
30.5 Travelling by train back to Malmö

June
31.5-17.6 in Malmö
4.6 Playing the second movement of Hummel’s Piano concerto and my piece Characters at the Horn class concert in Malmö Academy of Music
5.6 The Spring Party of Malmö Academy of Music
7.6 To hospital due to acute infection, I however felt fine after I got antibiotics
8.6 deadline for first songs of the opera “Schnitzler’s Dreams” (composing all night and morning)
9-12.6 Cleaning out the flat and moving most of my stuff (to a friend’s attick) although I took six bags with me.
12.6. Moving out
12-15.6 composing Sirens for brass ensemble, premiere at Blekinge International Brass Academy
17.6 By train to Stockholm, and by ferry back to Finland, with 6 bags and a total of 91 kg!

17-21.6 in Helsinki
Composing night and day my part of the collaborative opera Schnitzler’s Dreams for Fredrikstad, Norway.

21.6 flight to Copenhagen, stayed the night at a friend in Malmö
22-28.6 Karlskrona, BlekingeInternational Brass Academy
Composer in residence the whole week, rehearsals 24-26.6
26.6 Premiere of my new piece Sirens for brass ensemble
28-30.6 Staying at my friends place in Malmö while composing the opera
29.6 meeting with composer JonatanSersam and Martin Dahlin-Volsing and planning the contemporary music festival Conncet 2015 taking place 13-22.11.2015 in Malmö.
30.6 Flight back to Helsinki

July
30.6-23.7 Finland
Composing opera, deadline 3.7
2.7-8.7 Sysmän Suvisoitto
3.7 Sent off 70% of my part of the opera, the other 30% must still wait…
4.7 Premiere of my flute & accordion piece by Janne Valkeajoki and Jacintha Damström

8-13.7 composing my string orchestra piece (premiere 22.8) at my parents summer house.
13-20.7   I will then compose the last 30% (15min) of my part for the opera Schnitzler’sDreams
 
23.7 Flight to Stuttgart, Germany
24.7-7.8 International SummerAcademy of Music, Ochsenhausen
24-31.7 composing a piano trio

August
1-7.8 composing a commissioned melodrama (composition to be continued later) at Ochsenhausen
8-13.8 small vacation in Germany
14.8 travelling to Fredriksstad, Norway

14-21.8 Fredrikstad, Norway
Rehearsals for the installation opera Schnitzler’s Dreams
17.8-19.8 quick stop in Helsinki for a conference 18.8 for a theatre project I am involved in, back to Norway on the morning of 19.8.
20.8 premiere of the installation opera Schnitzler’s Dreams in Fredrikstad. (More performances 21-23.8, but no time to stay…)
21.8 Flight to Finland

21.8 more or less permanently in Finland
21-23.8 in Tampere at the TampeRinging festival, many premieres of my pieces, please feel welcome to listen!
20.8 at 21 o’clock Groove at the restaurant bar Telakka, Tampere
21.8 at 19 o’clock The Dorfman Trio at Ylioppilas teatteri, Tampere
22.8 at 12 o’clock Expressionen at Pietiläsali, Metso Library, Tampere
             19 o’clock the premiere of my string orchestra piece Infirmus!
23.8 at 19 o’clock Under Stjärnhimmelen, premiere of the organ version

But if everything goes according to plan then I will be quite happy with the outcome: composed Sirens (7 min.), a string orchestra piece Infirmus (7 min.), a piano trio, part of a melodrama and a 45 min. part of a chamber opera Schnitzler’s Dreams. All of the previously named pieces (minus the melodrama), Groove, Characters and the organ version of Under Stjärnhimmelen have their premiere this summer and also older pieces like The Dorfman Trio, Sydänlaulu and Expressionen will be played again in concerts! So quite a summer!

Sunday 12 July 2015

Music for String Orchestra

Saturday 11th of July. Sitting at my parents summer cottage and composing my new piece for string orchestra. It will be premiered by the Caprico Orchestra, conducted by Elisar Riddelin, on the 22nd of August at the contemporary music festival TampeRinging 2015. I have written about 5:30 minutes so far, and now trying to come up with something nice to end the whole piece, which I plan to be about 7 minutes. The whole piece is very much inspired by the Polish composers Witold Lutowslawski and Krzysztof Penderecki, so I will share below some of the music I have been listening to lately.
Lutoslawski’s String Quartet


Lutoslawski’s Third Symphony (one of my all time favorites, also used in the film Shutter Island)








All time classic (in contemporary music): Penderecki Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima



And today’s new discovery (suggested by YouTube! Actually I must say I'm quite impressed  by YouTube for finding this for me):
The Finnish composer Sampo Haapamäki’s accordion concerto Velinikka