Winter of new music

Finland's contemporary music scene flourishes also in the wintertime. Big orchestras like Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will have several new Finnish works in the season's programme, beginning with a celebration of Paavo Heininen's 75th birthday and two new works on 11 January. The Finnish orchestras will also premiere works by Eero Hämeeniemi, Kimmo Hakola, Lauri Kilpiö, Leif Segerstam, Veli-Matti Puumala, Aulis Sallinen and many more during the next months.

The two Helsinki based concert series for new music, Klang and Tulkinnanvaraista, will also continue to bring new works to the audiences. For example, Avanti! will premiere works by Olli Koskelin, Sebastian Fagerlund and Kirmo Lintinen (Finnish premiere) on 14 January as part of Klang.

There will be also several composition concerts. Aki Yli-Salomäki's profile concert takes place on 15 January in Helsinki, and it will include three world premieres. Juho Laitinen's composition concert is part of the Kallio New Music Days, on 25 January. Lotta Wennäkoski is the composer guest of Kaustinen Chamber Music Week in the end of January, and several of her works will be presented in a concert on 31 January.

Musica nova Helsinki festival (8-16 February) will also present several new works. Focusing mainly on music from the East, the festival programme will also include premieres by Finnish composers Antti Auvinen, Harri Vuori and Timothy Page.