Teosto Prize -winning composer couple brings collaborative works and world premieres to the Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu Festival
The Solace, Flame and Song -concerts (Lohtu, liekki ja laulu) by Sanna Ahvenjärvi and Tapio Lappalainen feature works by each composer individually as well as their joint compositions. In addition, two works co-composed by the duo will receive their world premieres at the Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu Festival on Sunday, 18 October 2026.
The music of Sanna Ahvenjärvi and Tapio Lappalainen, recipients of the 2023 Teosto Prize, will be prominently featured at this year’s Uuden Musiikin Lokakuu Festival. Their works will be performed in four concerts from 16 to 18 October 2026.
The Lohtu, liekki ja laulu concerts feature mezzo-soprano Virpi Räisänen, who specialises in contemporary music, pianists Laura Heikkilä and Johanna Tilus, and Duo Lappalainen, comprising siblings Emilia Lappalainen (viola and violin) and Joonatan Lappalainen (percussion). Live electronics will be performed by composer Tapio Lappalainen.
The concerts take place on Friday, 16 October, at 6 pm at Haapajärvi Parish Centre, and on Saturday, 17 October, at 4 pm in Tulindberg Hall at Oulu Music Centre.
The works create a multilayered soundscape in which acoustic timbres and live electronics explore questions of life and death, human vulnerability and strength, and the energy that vibrates beneath the surface of everyday life. The lyrics for Ahvenjärvi’s vocal works are based on poems by Jenni Kinnunen.
A Rare Birthday Gift for Lappalainen: Two World Premieres on His Birthday
On Sunday, 18 October, the festival will present the world premieres of two works co-composed by Ahvenjärvi and Lappalainen.
The first is LIFE! – The Carousel of Life & Death, performed by Helsinki-based electroacoustic ensemble defunensemble. The work will receive its world premiere at 3 pm in the 25-channel Sound Dome at the Linnanmaa campus of Oulu University of Applied Sciences, as part of the Omnisphere Experience concert. The recorded component of the new work was created using the SuperCollider programming environment.
In July 2026, Lappalainen took part in an online SuperCollider summer course organised by the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University. The course was taught by Professor Bruno Ruviaro.
Work on the SuperCollider code for the piece began as Lappalainen’s course project. After the summer course, he continued studying SuperCollider privately with Ruviaro. The final SuperCollider code was written by Bruno Ruviaro, based on the artistic ideas and visions of Ahvenjärvi and Lappalainen.
The second world premiere is Aikamme elegioita (Elegies of Our Time), a choral work commissioned by Naiskuoro Välke, with text by Anna Elina Isoaro. The work will be performed in the Nyt syntyy laulu (Now a Song Is Born) concert on Sunday, 18 October, at 6 pm in Tulindberg Hall at Oulu Music Centre.
“We have sought to create space in our collaborative works for the elements that each of us considers essential to our own aesthetic,” Ahvenjärvi and Lappalainen explain, describing their compositional process.
Ahvenjärvi’s music emphasises emotional catharsis, solace and an almost therapeutic quality. Alongside his career as a composer, Lappalainen has worked as a music technologist across various fields of music technology. He makes particularly innovative use of live electronics in his compositions.
The Lohtu, liekki ja laulu concerts continue the series of composer concerts launched by Ahvenjärvi and Lappalainen in Berlin in December 2025. The concerts and world premieres form part of the official Oulu2026 cultural programme. Their next composer concert is planned to take place in New York in the summer of 2027.
LINKS:
https://www.lokakuu.fi/ohjelma/lohtu-liekki-ja-laulu
https://www.lokakuu.fi/ohjelma/lohtu-liekki-ja-laulu-oulu
https://www.lokakuu.fi/ohjelma/omnisphere-experience
https://www.lokakuu.fi/ohjelma/nyt-syntyy-laulu
https://www.wsoy.fi/tekija/anna-elina-isoaro-2/
www.faceebook.com/SannaAhvenjarviComposer
www.facebook.com/TapioLappalainenComposer
https://www.fmq.fi/articles/on-my-music-and-beyond-composing-music-as-a-family
https://www.instagram.com/duolappalainen/
