Nordic Music Days takes ten Finnish works to Iceland

The yearly festival of Nordic Music Days takes place this autumn in Reykjavík, Iceland (6 – 9 October). The local ensembles and musicians, including Iceland Symphony Orchestra and many others, will present an impressive amount of Nordic contemporary works from electro-acoustic music to large scale orchestral concerts and choral compositions. Some Finnish musicians have been invited too, including violinist Minna Pensola and accordionist Janne Rättyä. Most concerts will take place in the new Icelandic National Concert Hall "Harpa".

Ten Finnish works will be heard during the festival. On the opening day, Finnish kantele player Eva Alkula will play Harri Suilamo's Wasure-Gai with Japanese koto player Tomoya Nakai. The following concerts will feature Crystallizations by Uljas Pulkkis, Obsession Park by Perttu Haapanen, and two electro-acoustic works, Kaija Saariaho's Vent Nocturne and Juha T. Koskinen's Basho Fragments.

8th of October will bring also a world premiere by an American born composer from Finland, Timothy Page. Cusp (2011) for chamber orchestra and jouhikko (Finnish bowed lyre) will be performed by Icelandic Caput Ensemble and Finnish jouhikko virtuoso Ilkka Heinonen. The programme for the day will also feature Juha Holma's choral work Sweet Afton, and Tomi Räisänen's Stheno.

Yet another Finnish world premiere will take place on 9 October, as Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra plays Jukka Koskinen's Transitus per punctum.

The Nordic Music Days is a co-Nordic festival dating back to 1888, being the oldest existing music collaboration in Northern Europe. Nowadays the festival is arranged every year in a different Nordic country. The festival for 2012 will be arranged in Stockholm, Sweden.

Merja Hottinen / Fimic
16 September, 2011