How many conductors does it take to open a concert season? All three members of the orchestra’s Artistic Leadership Team conduct Daníel Bjarnason's piece, which was inspired by the words of Yuri Gagarin admiring the beauty of the Earth through the window of his space capsule: “Let us preserve this beauty, not destroy it!” The same message is present in Composer-in-residence Samy Moussa’s overture, that is receiving its first performance in Europe.
Changing Light for soprano and violin by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) is based on texts from a Jewish prayer book translated into English by Rabbi Jules Harlow. It follows the idea of a dialogue in which the intimate nature and fragile sound world mirror the fragility of our uncertain existence. Saariaho composed it for a project called Compassion Through Music launched by Israeli-US violinist and pedagogue Edna Michell and violinist Yehudi Menuhin comprising works all on the theme of compassion commissioned from many eminent composers. The text also incorporates many salient features of Saariaho’s music: light, darkness, the firmament, stars and sea. As she wrote her contribution, she was thinking of the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York, and it was premiered on the first anniversary of the atrocity by soprano Deborah van Renterghem and violinist Edna Michell.
Daníel Bjarnason (b. 1979) is an award-winning Icelandic composer of mainly chamber, solo and orchestral works already familiar to HKO audiences. He wrote From Space I Saw Earth as a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which stipulated that it had to involve the Orchestra’s three most recent Music Directors: Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel. Bjarnason met the challenge by dividing the orchestra into three groups, each with its own conductor. He had in mind the moment the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts first saw the earth from outer space. Gagarin, for example was particularly struck by its beauty and fragility. Visually, the set-up may seem complicated, but as Bjarnason puts it: “This is really one piece of music which is running on parallel timelines that are constantly diverting coming together and diverting again. Similar to the idea of the same event taking place in parallel universes – the same, but different.”
Samy Moussa (b. 1984) is the HPO’s Composer-in-Residence for the 2024/2025 season. Winner of many music awards, he is Canadian but now lives in Berlin. Adgilis Deda is a hymn for orchestra and its Georgian title loosely translates as “mother place”. “It’s the concept of protection,” he says. “It’s a place where you feel protected, and I thought that was a beautiful idea for the piece.” Why a Georgian title? Unable to concentrate on work, Moussa had travelled to the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, and there soon found inspiration for this piece commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Asked whether it has political implications – in view of the hostility between Georgia and Russia – he replied: “I never work based on contemporary events or politics. I’m very distanced from these things. My role as an artist is not to change society or send a political message. My job is to bring some beauty to the world, and people can take it or leave it. I have no more ambition than that.”
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) spent more than 20 years labouring over his first symphony, in C minor. Hailed while still young first by Schumann and soon others as Beethoven’s successor, he felt weighed down by the expectations levelled at him and rejected this first attempt (in D minor) of 1855 but used the material for his first piano concerto. “You can’t have any idea what it’s like always to hear such a giant [Beethoven] marching behind you!” he told his well-meaning friends when they asked him how the symphony was coming along. The symphony in C minor subsequently given the number one was, however, finally completed two decades later and premiered in 1876. It was a great success, and somewhat to Brahms’s vexation, it was soon being described as “Beethoven’s Tenth”. The hymn-like theme in the finale called to mind the Ode to Joy hymn in Beethoven’s ninth. “Any ass can see that,” was Brahms’s comment. While the symphony as a whole is indebted to Beethoven, the voice that speaks in it is very much that of Brahms.
Christian Holmqvist
“Aphrodite Patoulidou’s elegance as both singer and actress put her in a class above,” wrote the LA Times. Born in Greece and a celebrated soprano, she received invitations from leading orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic after being one of the first artists to take part in Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists Initiative in 2018. She is an artist at home in genres ranging from folk and classical to opera, and has been the lead singer on tour with the heavy metal band Igorrr. For her virtuosic performance of Britten’s Les Illuminations she created paintings inspired by the work’s ten movements, and for a performance of Sibelius’s Luonnotar, she exhibited a painting of that name at the concert hall. She enjoys doing special projects inspired by her passion for dark romantic themes, incorporating visual elements to generate dialogue between various genres, sometimes drawing on photography, painting, and her own poetry. Patoulidou studied folk singing, the piano and guitar, and may be heard colouring her performance with a nyckelharpa (keyed violin). She was also co-creator of the soundtrack of the video game Titan Quest 2.
Pekka Kuusisto (b. 1976) is one of Finland’s most renowned musicians. At the commencement of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2024/25 concert season, Kuusisto began his second year as Principal Guest Conductor. Additionally, as Co-Artistic director, he is a member of the Artistic Leadership Team responsible for planning the programme. As he states, 'We offer both long perspectives and flashes of inspiration, both safety and fun.' In the HPO’s concerts, Pekka Kuusisto will perform as a soloist, conductor, and also as a player-director at the front of the orchestra with his violin.
Pekka Kuusisto’s career as a solo artist took off in 1995 when he won the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition at the age of 19. Since then, he has toured concert halls around the world. Kuusisto’s repertoire spans classical music to modern experiments. He improvises and composes, readily intertwining music with other art forms, aiming to make concerts more accessible and engaging for the audience.
In addition to Helsinki, he frequents Oslo (Norwegian Chamber Orchestra), Bremen (Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie), and San Francisco (San Francisco Symphony).
Composer-conductor Samy Moussa (born 1984 in Canada) is Composer in Residence for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2024–2025 season. Moussa is one of the leading composers of today, and his works have been featured by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the DSO Berlin, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Wiener Philharmoniker, among others. In the 2024–2025 season, his works are programmed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Staatskapelle Berlin.
Alongside composing, Samy Moussa has taken up conducting. His repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary music, and he has conducted orchestras such as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the RSO Wien, the Staatskapelle Halle, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Now based in Berlin, Moussa has also served as Artist in Residence at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation. Born in Finland in 1956, he began his career as a violinist. Today, he is renowned as an artist of exceptional versatility and breadth.
Saraste has previously held principal conductorships at the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he appears with major orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Coaching and mentoring young musicians is of great importance to Saraste. He is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists.
| Violin 1 Jan Söderblom Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä Jukka Merjanen Eija Hartikainen Kati Kuusava Helmi Kuusi Elina Lehto Jani Lehtonen Kari Olamaa Petri Päivärinne Kalinka Pirinen Harry Rayner Angeles Salas Salas Elina Viitasaari Jyrki Lasonpalo Violin 2 Kamran Omarli Teija Kivinen Teppo Ali-Mattila Eva Ballaz Heini Eklund Dhyani Gylling Anna-Maria Huohvanainen Liam Mansfield Siiri Rasta Krista Rosenberg Virpi Taskila Otto Antikainen Sirkku Helin Anna Tanskanen Viola Atte Kilpeläinen Torsten Tiebout Lotta Poijärvi Petteri Poijärvi Aulikki Haahti-Turunen Tuomas Huttunen Kaarina Ikonen Tiila Kangas Carmen Moggach Mariette Reefman Markus Sallinen Hajnalka Standi-Pulakka Cello Tuomas Ylinen Beata Antikainen Jaakko Rajamäki Jaani Helander Mathias Hortling Veli-Matti Iljin Ilmo Saaristo Saara Särkimäki Johannes Välja Tommi Wesslund Bass Tuomo Matero Paul Aksman Eero Ignatius Venla Lahti Tomi Laitamäki Adrian Rigopulos Miranda Erlich Sami Koivukangas | Flute Niamh Mc Kenna Päivi Korhonen Jenny Villanen Janette Leván Oboe Hannu Perttilä Jussi Jaatinen Paula Malmivaara Nils Rõõmussaar Clarinet Soo-Young Lee Osmo Linkola Heikki Nikula Laure Paris Bassoon Markus Tuukkanen Mikko-Pekka Svala Noora Van Dok Sarah Tako Horn Jonathan Nikkinen Ville Hiilivirta Mika Paajanen Miska Miettunen Joonas Seppelin Jaakko Välimäki Trumpet Pasi Pirinen Thomas Bugnot Michael Olsen Mika Tuomisalo Pedro Dantas Trombone Valtteri Malmivirta Anu Fagerström Joni Taskinen Tuba Ilkka Marttila Timpani Tomi Wikström Percussion Xavi Castelló Aràndiga Mikael Sandström Pasi Suomalainen Harp Anni Kuusimäki Minnaleena Jankko Keyboard Mirka Viitala |
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