10.2. at 20:00 Music Centre Musica nova Helsinki

Anna-Maria Helsing conductor Kyeong Ham oboe Ismo Eskelinen guitar Lotta Emanuelsson presenter

Iannis Xenakis: 1 Voile

Maija Hynninen: Incandescence – Concerto for Oboe, fp 1. Cherry Red 2. White Bright – Interlude 1 3. Deep Orange – Interlude 2 4. White Dazzling – Interlude 3 5. Clear Cherry Red

Lisa Streich: Augenlider

Roope Mäenpää: Jamais vu, fp (Yle commission) Iannis Xenakis: Voile A modernist who followed a path of his This could also be said of Voile (1995), a own, Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) com- tightly-packed mini-sculpture the French posed on the borderline between art title of which means both a sail and a veil. and science, drawing on probability mod- Scored for twenty strings, it hoists its els and scientific theories. He also wrote message like a pointed sail, at the same computer-aided music and experiment- time veiling and unveiling. The sliding ed with algorithms. His music is, however, strings, knots of notes, ornaments and far from dry; rather, it is dynamic and bril- surfaces create three-dimensional shapes liantly executed. His keen affinity with ar- that afford glimpses of an archaic, ge- chitecture gave many of his works a feel- ometric melody. ing of space, of elevation. Lisa Streich: Augenlider Lisa Streich is a Swedish composer born slicers in the orchestra, too, and the or- in 1985 who subtly examines reality, ob- chestra alternates string-like with bell-like servation and physicality. A complex idea sounds. The piece picked out by the gui- 2 is often manifest in a carefully-designed tar finger on the keyboard could be Liszt’s choice of instruments. Quiet noises in- La Campanella. vade the twilight zones of perception and The mind sets sail as it listens to illusion. Augenlider (Eyelids, 2015) for pre- Augenlider, focusing on the moment of pared guitar and orchestra is a good ex- touch, which seems to stretch to hallu- ample here. cinatory proportions. The solo cadenza is The piece could be imagined as a gui- anything but conventional. Out of the or- tar concerto, but Streich says it is basical- chestra rises a sputtering wave that en- ly a work for piano. The guitarist is the gulfs the guitar. The listener strains to finger that touches the orchestra-piano catch what the guitar is playing, and does keys. The guitar is prepared with two hair to some extent succeed, just as light finds clips, and attached to the sound box is its way through closed eyelids. The im- an egg slicer, an archaic culinary mini-lyre pression left by the cadenza will depend that supplements the guitar strings with on the listener. ghostly timbres. There are three egg Maija Hynninen: Incandescence

Various levels of reality overlap in the mu- Maija Hynninen is a Finnish composer. sic of Maija Hynninen (b. 1977) to reveal She studied at the in flashes of something elusive. She could be Helsinki and at IRCAM in Paris and is now said to represent a sort of philosophy of working at the University of California for sound revealing various cultural and so- an artistic doctorate on the subject of cial trends. computer-aided orchestration. She has also studied programming and graphic terly feats at the instrument’s limits. The design and combines acoustic and elec- title alludes to the light that is generated tro-acoustic music with features of sound as an object heats up. The movements are art and installation. named after the colour of the light pro- “Style, for me, is a symbiosis in which duced at a certain temperature. It plays ideas seeking to find a place in the work with continuity and intersection, develop- as a whole mingle and thereby create the ment and contrast. A few allusions also form and overall sound,” she says. “I like strayed in. surprises, and a pinch of humour may eas- “I often have a poem or text on my desk ily slip into my music. Composing is for me as I compose. In the case of Incandescence, an interweaving of intuition and craft. I it was the novel The Waves by Virginia leave a lot of room for solutions that pres- Woolf. ent themselves on a whim. This gives the “Incandescence is dedicated to Eeva- music a sort of roughness that is easy for Kaisa Rönkä and Kyeong Ham. It was the listener to catch on to. composed with a grant from the Madetoja “Incandescence – Concerto for Oboe Foundation and the Arts Promotion (2016–2017) is a visionary work in five Centre (Taike).” movements in which the oboe does mas-

Roope Mäenpää: Jamais vu 3 Roope Mäenpää (b. 1990) makes his in place, the actual writing is intense. The symphony orchestra debut at this con- relationship with the listener is important: cert. The process of composing Jamais vu as a composer, he moulds the listening was unusual, even though he was obli- experience at each particular moment. Of ged to reduce the size of his orchestra to Jamais vu he says: some extent due to the Covid restrictions. “The intense writing stage in spring He got to see the symphony orchestra 2020 coincided with a time of uncer- from two angles, because while working tainty and upheaval. The basic idea of a on the Yle commission, he was also put- line as an element with both direction ting the finishing touches to a concerto and magnitude, like a vector, mixed with for kantele called Käsiin for the Tampere a boom that, like a paper nick, trounced Philharmonic Orchestra. everything that resembled everyday life. Roope Mäenpää studied composition At some stage, the intended semantics at the Tampere Conservatory and gra- shattered, as they did that spring, into a duated in 2016. He is himself a string mosaic the causal relations of which may player, and his works have, he says, always be impossible to restore. been instrument-oriented. In this pie- “Jamais vu is a space formed by limit and ce he sought a new perspective on the breathing, direction and touch.” orchestra, as an entity that is more than Programme notes by Antti Häyrynen the sum of its parts. He often begins translated (abridged) by Susan Sinisalo with a structure. Once the framework is ANNA-MARIA HELSING Anna-Maria Helsing is a frequent guest countries she has conducted in Estonia, with the leading Nordic orchestras and Germany (Jena, Braunschweig, Bochum), opera houses in particular. Chief Conductor and England, where she has appeared of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra 2010– with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester 2013, she has been Principal Guest and the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra Music of Today series at London’s Royal since spring 2020, in which year she began Festival Hall. as Artistic Director of the RUSK Festival Anna-Maria Helsing says she feel a spe- held in the Finnish city of Pietarsaari/ cial affinity with contemporary music, and Jakobstad. she has conducted a number of premie- After studying the violin at home in res. She made her Finnish National Opera Finland and in Poland, she spent the pe- debut with Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater riod 2004–2007 in the Sibelius Academy’s in 2008 and has also conducted opera conducting class. Chosen to take part in at, among others, Tampere Opera, the the International Conductor’s Academy of Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Danish and the Allianz Cultural Foundation, she stu- Swedish Royal Operas, Gothenburg Opera died with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo and the Folkoperan in Stockholm. Dudamel and others. Outside the Nordic 4 KYEONG HAM Kyeong Ham (b. 1993) is co-principal oboe rous prizes, among them the first, audien- in the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, ce and special Heinz Holliger prize at the having previously played the oboe in the Muri International Oboe Competition in Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra Switzerland. In 2017, he was the winner of 2016–2018 and the Hanover State Opera the ARD International Music Competition and the cor anglais in the Konzerthaus in Munich. Orchestra Berlin. Outside Finland, Kyeong Ham has ap- Beginning his oboe studies in his na- peared in Germany, Russia, South Korea tive Seoul, South Korean Kyeong Ham and other countries and guested as prin- relocated to Germany when he was cipal oboe in many top orchestras. He is a 15 to pursue his studies with Nicholas founding member of the Veits Woodwind Daniel at the Staatliche Hochschule für Quintet and with it released a disc of Musik Trossingen, later with Dominik music by Ravel, Françaix, Taffanel and Wollenweber at the Hochschule für Musik Ibert. His recent debut solo disc TAWO Hanns Eisler Berlin, and from 2013 to with pianist Yeoleum Son is of works by 2015 with Jonathan Kelly at the Herbert Skalkottas, Hindemith, Doráti, Norman, von Karajan Academy. He has won nume- Salonen and Haas. ISMO ESKELINEN Victory in the Tammisaari International discs with them. He is a regular guest at Guitar Competition at the age of only 17 in the Naantali and Moritzburg festivals and 1989 launched Ismo Eskelinen on a career has performed at the Dresden, Büsingen that that has made him one of Finland’s and other festivals. His repertoire ranges most highly-acclaimed instrumentalists from the 16th century to the present day, internationally. Having studied at the and he has collaborated with many con- Sibelius Academy and in Basel, he has ap- temporary composers: Tiensuu, Vasks, peared at many of the prestigious concert Brouwer, Francesconi, Lachenmann and venues, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, others, including many premieres. The the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the first of his two Bach CDs won an Emma Royal Festival Hall in London and the Award in 2014, and he has so far released Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. Recent a dozen or so discs. engagements have included appearances Ismo Eskelinen has been Artistic Director with the BBC Symphony, the NWD and of the Sonkajärvi Soi festival (1992), and major Finnish orchestras.An active cham- since 2017 of the Riihimäki Summer ber musician, Eskelinen has partnered vio- Concerts. Since 2017 he has also been in linists Pekka Kuusisto and Karen Gomyo, charge of guitar teaching at the Sibelius cellist Jan Vogler and others, and released Academy. The Finnish Radio Symphony 5 Orchestra The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra cord all Finnish orchestral music for the (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Yle archive. Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission The FRSO has recorded works is to produce and promote Finnish musical by Mahler, Bartók, Sibelius, Hakola, culture and its Chief Conductor as of au- Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, tumn 2013 has been Hannu Lintu. Kokkonen and others. It has twice won The Radio Orchestra of ten players a Gramophone Award: for its disc of founded in 1927 grew to symphony or- Lindberg’s Clarinet Concerto in 2006 chestra proportions in the 1960s. Its Chief and of Bartók Violin Concertos in 2018. Conductors have been Toivo Haapanen, Other distinctions have included BBC Nils-Eric Fougstedt, , Music Magazine, Académie Charles Cros Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka and MIDEM Classical awards. Its disc of Saraste and , and taking tone poems and songs by Sibelius won over from Hannu Lintu in 2021 will be an International Classical Music Award Nicholas Collon. (ICMA) in 2018, and it has been the re- In addition to the great Classical- cipient of a Finnish EMMA award in 2016 Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- and 2019. temporary music is a major item in the The FRSO concerts are broadcast live repertoire of the FRSO, which each year on the Yle Areena and Radio 1 channels premieres a number of Yle commissions. and are recorded and shown later on Yle Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to re- Teema and TV 1.