13 MAY WEDNESDAY SERIES 13

13 MAY WEDNESDAY SERIES 13 Helsinki Music Centre at 19 Pertti Pekkanen, conductor Béla Bartók: Rhapsody No. 1 for violin and orchestra Emma Mali, violin 10 min Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1, mts 2 & 3 Ossi Tanner, piano 5 min Launy Gröndahl: Trombone Concerto, mt 2 Roosa Lampela, trombone 5 min Dmitri Kabalevsky: Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 49, mt 1 Milla Holm, cello 6 min W. A. Mozart: Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen 4 min (from the opera The Magic Flute) Giacomo Puccini: Questo Amor, Vergogna Mia (from the opera Edgar) Tomi Punkeri, baritone 3 min INTERVAL 20 min 1

Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, mt 1 Otto Antikainen, violin 13 min François Borne: Carmen-Fantasia for flute and orchestra 12 min Saara Lehtinen, flute Jean Sibelius: Cantique & Devotion, Op. 77 Abel Puustinen, violin 9 min Francis Poulenc: Piano Concerto No. 2, mts 2 & 3 Juho Lepistö, piano Mariola Aniolek, piano 11 min Interval at about 20.00. The concert will end at about 21.30. Broadcast live on Yle Radio 1 and online at yle.fi/rso. 2

PERTTI PEKKANEN Pertti Pekkanen first became known to the public at large in 1973, on stepping in at short notice for a colleague who was indisposed, to conduct a concert by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. His highly-acclaimed debut soon led to an invitation from the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra to be its Artistic Director as of 1975. In 1987 1988 he as Acting Professor of orchestral conducting at the Sibelius Academy. He has also conducted the Lappeenranta and Vaasa City Orchestras and the Kuopio Symphony. Pertti Pekkanen made his debut as an opera conductor in Turku in 1978. Since 1984 he has conducted such productions as Bizet s Carmen and Tchaikovsky s Eugene Onegin at the Finnish National Opera. He has also conducted at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and Tampere Opera. His numerous recordings include a disc of Einar Englund s first symphony with the Turku Philharmonic; this was the first Finnish recording to reach Gramophone s top ten charts. Outside the Nordic countries he has made guest conducting appearances in Japan, Poland, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Russia, in the last of these conducting the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. EMMA MALI Emma Mali (b. 1996) was five when her mother began giving her violin lessons. Her teachers at the West Helsinki Music Institute were Ulla Pulkki, Riitta Poutanen and Jari Valo. In 2013 she entered the violin class of Pekka Kauppinen at the junior Sibelius Academy. She has gained orchestral experience in the ranks of the Vivo Symphony Orchestra, the Jean Sibelius Orchestra, the Helsinki Sinfonietta and other ensembles and while still at the Music Institute played in the Colore Quartet she had formed with three of her friends. Her greatest models and sources of inspiration have, she says, been the violinists in the Meta4 Quartet. OSSI TANNER Ossi Tanner (b. 1997) is a pupil of Junio Kimanen at the West Helsinki Music Institute. In 2013 he was chosen for the national Youth Piano Academy Finland. He has attended masterclasses with Konstantin Bogino, Tuija Hakkila, Juhani Lagerspetz, Matti Raekallio, Henri Sigfridsson, Antti Siirala, Erik T. Tawaststjerna and others, and in January 2015 won first prize in the Leevi Madetoja Piano Competition. Last year he reached the semi-finals and was awarded a special prize in the Jyväskylä Piano Competition. He has also received prizes in piano and chamber music competitions both in Finland and abroad. Ossi has performed at the Kauniainen, Kuhmo Chamber Music and Mänttä Music Festivals and been the soloist with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Sibelius High-school. On leaving school this spring, he intends to apply for the Sibelius Academy. 3

ROOSA LAMPELA Roosa Lampela (b. 1994) was seven when she began taking tenor-horn lessons at the Länsi-Pohja Music Institute. After two years, her mother reckoned it was time for her to switch to the right instrument. Her big sisters were already playing the French horn and trumpet, so her only real alternative was the trombone. The daughter of dairy farmers, Roosa was already dreaming at an early age of one day being a professional musician, because playing the trombone seemed easier and more fun than working on a farm. At the age of 18, she got accepted for the Tampere Conservatory, to study with Kari Koivisto, and on leaving school entered the Sibelius Academy, where she is now in her second year as a pupil of the FRSO s principal trombonist Darre Acosta. Roosa Lampela has taken masterclasses with Fabrice Millischer, Mischel Becque, Jonas Bylund, Joseph Alessi, James Markey and others and already has experience as a Young Soloist with the Tampere Philharmonic and a Brass Academy soloist at Lieksa Brass Week. MILLA HOLM Milla Holm (b. 2000) entered the cello class of Taru Aarnio at the East Helsinki Music Institute when she was six and in 2012 transferred to the junior Sibelius Academy a pupil of Hannu Kiiski. Her teacher at the moment is Professor Marko Ylönen. She has attended a number of masterclasses in Finland and a few abroad, and her teachers have included Alexander Gebert, Csaba Szilvay, Allar Kaasik, Martti Rousi, Jukka Rautasalo, Markus Hohti, Roi Ruottinen, David Geringas and Ivan Monighetti. In 2011 Milla was declared the winner of the international Young Music competition held in Tallinn and in 2013 she won second prize in the international David Popper Cello Competition in Hungary. She has been the soloist with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic and on many occasions with the Helsinki Strings, including a performance in Italy. In 2012 she received an invitation from Estonia to appear at the David Oistrakh Festival, where she was the soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra. TOMI PUNKERI Baritone Tomi Punkeri (b. 1991) entered the Oulu University of Applied Sciences to study church music, majoring in voice, in 2011 and has studied with Markku Liukkonen. He sang the part of the Narrator in the oratorio 12 hetkeä by Seppo Paakkunainen in 2013, Vanhala in the opera The Unknown Soldier by Tauno Pylkkänen in 2014 and Cantatas IV VI from Bach s Christmas Oratorio in Oulu Cathedral in 2015. He has also attended a number of masterclasses with Soile Isokoski, Gabriele Micheli and others. 4

OTTO ANTIKAINEN Otto Antikainen (b. 1999) started learning the violin when he was five, with Hannele Lehto at the Käpylä Music Institute, and is now a pupil of Réka Szilvay in the junior Sibelius Academy. In 2013 he also began at the Violin Academy, where his teachers are Elina Vähälä, Janne Malmivaara and Ilya Grubert. In 2012 Otto was an under-14 finalist in the Jyväskylä Violin Competition. He has been the soloist with an orchestra at a youth music festival in Kuopio, with the orchestra of the Sibelius Academy conducting class, and with the Castor&Pollux Orchestra. His masterclass teachers have included Hagai Shaham, Elina Vähälä, Mi-kyung Lee, Seppo Tukiainen, Paavo Pohjola and Laura Vikman, and in chamber music Marko Ylönen, Paavo Pohjola and Martti Rautio. He has received study grants from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Pro Musica Foundation and the Finnish Music Foundation and he plays the Eero Haahti violin owned by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. SAARA LEHTINEN Saara Lehtinen (b. 1997) is studying the flute with Seppo Planman at the Tampere Music Academy. In autumn 2014 she was the winner of the national Gluck Flute Competition, having previously won first prize for a wind instrument in the Kaunas Sonorum competition in autumn 2013, and second prize for solo flute and first prize for chamber music in the competition for young musicians in Treviso, Italy in spring 2013. She has also reaped success in the Melartin and Majaoja competitions. Saara has twice been the soloist with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, in young soloist concerts in 2010 and 2014. She has attended courses with Camilla Hoitenga, Mikael Helasvuo, Paul Edmund-Davies and others and is a keen chamber and orchestral musician. She does a variety of sports in her free time. ABEL PUUSTINEN Abel Puustinen (b. 1996) has been playing the violin since he was four. His teachers at the East Helsinki Music Institute were Géza Szilvay and Lauri Untamala. In 2012 he was accepted for the junior Sibelius Academy and last autumn moved up to the senior Academy, where his teacher is Laura Vikman. He has also been studying at the Violin Academy operating since 2009, where his teachers there have included Janne Malmivaara, Elina Vähälä and Ilya Grubert, and in masterclasses with such teachers as Hagai Shaham and Mikyung Lee. A keen chamber musician, he receives instruction with his regular string quartet from Professor Marko Ylönen and others. Abel is also an active orchestral musician. From 2007 to 2012 he played in the Helsinki Junior Strings, as leader for the last three years. His solo experience includes appearances with, for example, the Helsinki Philharmonic and 5

the gala orchestra of the Pro Musica Foundation. MARIOLA ANIOLEK Mariola Aniolek (b. 1995) began her piano studies in Forssa, with Maria Bogányi at the SW-Häme Music Institute. She has been a pupil of Tuija Hakkila since 2012, first in the junior Sibelius Academy, and she is now in her first year at the senior Academy. Her teachers in masterclasses in Finland and abroad have included Juhani Lagerspetz, Eero Heinonen, Seppo Salovius, Mats Widlund, Dominique Merlet and Alberto Nosè. A laureate in the Leevi Madetoja Piano Competition in 2012 and the Satakunta Piano Competition in 2009 and 2012, Mariola has had engagements both in Finland and in Poland, where she has performed chamber music and given solo recitals. JUHO LEPISTÖ Juho Lepistö (b. 1995) studied at the Liminka Region Music Institute 2004 2014, with Eeva Havulehto, Hannu Hirvelä and others. In autumn 2014 he entered the Sibelius Academy to study with Tuija Hakkila and Ilmo Ranta. He was a finalist in the Leevi Madetoja Piano Competition in 2009 and 2012 and a semi-finalist in the Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Competition in 2014. At this year s Helmi Vesa Piano Competition he took one of the main prizes, the special Sibelius prize and the challenge trophy. Juho has also furthered his studies in masterclasses with Olli Mustonen, Paavali Jumppanen, Alberto Nosè and Theodor Paraschivesco. THE FINNISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mission is to produce and promote Finnish musical culture and its Chief Conductor as of autumn 2013 is Hannu Lintu. The FRSO has two Honorary Conductors: Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. The Radio Orchestra of ten players founded in 1927 grew to symphony orchestra strength in the 1960s. Hannu Lintu was preceded as Chief Conductor by Toivo Haapanen, Nils-Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and most recently Sakari Oramo. In addition to the great Classical- Romantic masterpieces, the latest contemporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of Yle commissions. Another of the orchestra s tasks is to record all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. During the 2014/2015 season it will premiere four Finnish works commissioned by 6

Yle. The programme will also include colourful orchestral poems by Richard Strauss, symphonies by Shostakovich and Haydn s great The Creation. The orchestra s distinguished guests will include conductors Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa- Pekka Salonen, soprano Karita Mattila, violist Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Olli Mustonen. The FRSO has recorded works by Ligeti, Eötvös, Nielsen, Hakola, Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis. Its discs have reaped some prestigious distinctions, such as the BBC Music Magazine Award and the Académie Charles Cros Award. The disc of the Sibelius and Lindberg violin concertos was Gramophone magazine s Editor s Choice in February 2014. The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of the world. One of the many highlights of the 2013/2014 season was a criticallyacclaimed concert conducted by Hannu Lintu at the Vienna Musikverein during a tour of Central Europe. During the 2014/2015 season the orchestra, under the baton of Hannu Lintu, will appear in Stockholm and tour Finland. It will also visit the EBU Festival in Bucharest with Joshua Weilerstein as its conductor. The home channel of the FRSO is Yle Radio 1, which broadcasts all its concerts, usually live, both in Finland and abroad. Its concerts can also be heard and watched with excellent live stream quality on the FRSO website (yle.fi/rso), and the majority of them are televised live on the Yle Teema channel. 7