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Home , Conrad Tao, Helsinki Music Centre, Spiral (Norman), Yle

27.1. at 20:00 Music Centre We welcome Conrad Tao

Sakari Oramo conductor Conrad Tao Lotta Emanuelsson presenter

Andrew Norman: Suspend, a fantasy for piano and 1

Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra 1. Allegro non troppo 2. Molto adagio 3. Allegro assai Conrad Tao – “shaping the future of classical music”

“Excess. I find it to be for me like the four, and performed Mozart’s A-major pia- most vividly human aspect of musical no at the age of eight. He was performance,” says pianist Conrad Tao (b. nine when the family moved to New York, 1994). And “excess” really is a good word where he nowadays lives. Beginning his to describe his superb technique, his pro- piano studies in Chicago, he continued at found interpretations and his emphasis on the , New York, and atten- the human aspect in general. ded Yale for composition. Tao has a wide repertoire ranging from Tao has had a manager ever since Bach to the music of today. He has also he was twelve. As a youngster, he also won recognition as a composer, and one learnt the , and several times in who, he says, views his keyboard perfor- 2008/2009 played both the E-minor vio- mances through the eyes of a composer. lin concerto and the first His many talents and his ability to cross by Mendelssohn at one and the same con- traditional borders have indeed made him cert, but he soon gave up the violin. a notable influencer and a model for ot- Despite having all the hallmarks of a hers. Music is, for him, not something iso- wunderkind, Tao has gone on to beco- 2 lated from the rest of the world, and his me a sovereign mature master. But one choice of repertoire may sometimes sug- of the good things about his early fame gest deliberate statements. is, he says, that he did not need to travel The New York Magazine once described the gruelling composition circuit in order him as “the kind of musician who is sha- to get established. ping the future of classical music”. Now 26 years old, Tao has won many of music’s most prestigious prizes and From wunderkind to mature artist awards. Improvisation is another major element of his work as an artist. Just re- The son of Chinese parents, Conrad cently, he has also appeared on stage as a Tao had not even reached his second bir- pianist in the experimental chamber ope- thday when he began picking out famili- ra the loser (2016) by – further ar nursery-rhyme tunes on the keyboard. proof of his constant desire to branch out He first appeared in public when he was into new fields. : Suspend, a fantasy for piano and orchestra

Winner of numerous accolades, Andrew “frei aber froh” (free but happy), which Norman (b. 1979) is a leading contempo- was Brahms’s own musical motto and his rary composer at home in the USA. While reply to Joachim. his Play and for orchestra could be Suspend is quite minimalistic: there is described as symphonies that exploit the plenty of room between the notes for logic of digital technology without being feelings and presentiments. The title does a mere reflection of the times, Suspend of course have several meanings, one of (2014) for piano and orchestra looks back which is a hiatus in time. The solo piano to the German Romantics. burrows into Brahms’s mindscape. As in Norman was, he says, inspired by music of the Romantic era, the soloist is Brahms the man, and as the basis for his the subject of the work. The orchestra be- fantasy took two three-note motifs asso- comes a giant editing tool that focuses on ciated with him: F-A-E and F-A-F. The for- and intensifies the Romantic textures is- mer alludes to the words “frei aber ein- suing from the keyboard. The piece builds sam” (free but lonely) spoken by Brahms’s up to a spiral of feeling that confuses the friend Joseph Joachim, and the latter to meaning of time and place. At the end, it 3 sinks back into serene meditation.

Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra

The Divertimento for String Orchestra Percussion and Celesta. In summer 1939, is one of the less serious works by Béla Sacher placed a new order and invited Bartók (1881–1945) – a free take on the Bartók for a visit, but requested that the music of the Classical period designed piece would this time be easier to play, for light entertainment. It is also a good Europe stood on the brink of war, and demonstration of Bartók’s regard for Bartók felt he, too, had reached a turning Neoclassicism at the height of his renown. point. He arrived at Sacher’s home in the The work is one of Classical clarity com- Alps in August, was there able to forget bined with the spirit of a Baroque concer- the political situation and immersed him- to grosso – dialogue between the solo self in composition. The Divertimento took strings and the full orchestra. It was com- him only about two weeks to write. It co- posed at the invitation of the Swiss con- vers a range of emotions but is neverthe- ductor Paul Sacher, director of the Basel less optimistic and consciously turns its Chamber Orchestra, who had previous- back on the oppressive outside events. ly commissioned the Music for Strings, It is not, however, pure escapism and is designed with detailed precision in crisp, end, the Divertimento unleashes the wild layered textures evocative of Classical and energy of the folk music so dear to its Baroque music. composer. The middle movement is typical Bartók Programme notes by Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen “night music”, but on the whole tran- translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo quil despite its darker moments. At the One of the most celebrated Finnish Symphony Orchestra before turning more conductors in the world today, Sakari to conducting, though he has sometimes Oramo has been Chief Conductor and still made appearances as a violinist. He Artistic Advisor of the Royal studied conducting with Jorma Panula at Philharmonic Orchestra since 2008 and the and at the begin- Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony ning of this year began a five-year term Orchestra since 2013. For ten years begin- as the Academy’s Professor of orchestral ning in 1998 he was Music Director of the conducting. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo has guest conduct- and he was made Honorary Conductor of ed many of the world’s top 4 the Finnish Symphony Orchestra – the Vienna, Berlin and New York after serving as its Chief Conductor from Philharmonics, the Chicago, San Francisco 2003 to 2012. He was also Artistic Director and Paris Orchestras, the Amsterdam of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra Orchestra and many ot- 2013–2019 and for many years conductor hers. He has released a large number of of West Coast Kokkola Opera. discs and conducted not only items in the Oramo began his career as a violinist staple repertoire but also premieres and and was leader of the Avanti! Chamber works that are seldom heard. In 2015, the Orchestra (of which he was one of Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him the founders) and the Finnish Radio its “Conductor of the Year” title. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra The FRSO has recorded works (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish by Mahler, Bartók, Sibelius, Hakola, Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, is to produce and promote Finnish musical Kokkonen and others. It has twice won culture and its Chief Conductor as of au- a Gramophone Award: for its disc of tumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. Lindberg’s Concerto in 2006 The Radio Orchestra of ten players and of Bartók Violin in 2018. founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Other distinctions have included BBC chestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief Music Magazine, Académie Charles Cros Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, and MIDEM Classical awards. Its disc of Nils-Eric Fougstedt, , tone poems and songs by Sibelius won Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka an International Classical Music Award Saraste and Sakari Oramo, and taking (ICMA) in 2018, and it has been the re- over from Hannu Lintu in 2021 will be cipient of a Finnish EMMA award in 2016 Nicholas Collon. and 2019. In addition to the great Classical- The FRSO concerts are broadcast live Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- on the Yle Areena and Radio 1 channels 5 temporary music is a major item in the and are recorded and shown later on Yle repertoire of the FRSO, which each year Teema and TV 1. premieres a number of Yle commissions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- cord all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive.