UMO will be joined by singer Emma Salokoski on a six-concert Christmas tour in Southern Finland. In addition to the Helsinki metropolitan area, the tour will encompass Porvoo and Tampere. 

Curated by Salokoski herself, the concert programme comprises both Christmas classics and her own, perhaps lesser-known favourites. It will also feature a couple of brand new Christmas pieces from Finns composer-pianist Seppo Kantonen and drummer and the singer’s spouse Olavi Louhivuori. Many of the numbers to be heard have been clothed in new colourful but subtle arrangements, well-suited to the solemn church milieu, by conductor Mikko Hassinen.  

Singer-songwriter Emma Salokoski’s impressive career comprises a range of different musical projects across the field of Finnish music. She has performed with some of the foremost of Finnish musicians, fronted symphony orchestras and appeared on the main stages of various Finnish rock festivals. Her solo debut, Kiellettyjä asioita (engl. “Forbidden Things”), came out in 2015. In addition to her solo career, she has been a major presence in such acclaimed Finnish groups as Quintessence, Q-Continuum, Don Johnson Big Band and Ilmiliekki Quartet; performed with Finnish music sensations saxophonist Jukka Perko, chamber orchestra Avanti and rapper Paleface; and released a collaborative album with Finnish singer-actress Maria Ylipää. She was awarded with the Emma Music Prize for Best Female Artist in 2006. 

– It’s surely not a coincidence that Christmas has inspired music-writers so much: in the dark of the winter, music is the best spiritual pick-me-up. Christmas is the perfect time to return to evergreen festive songs whose magic never fades. On the other hand, it offers a great opportunity to create completely new music and start completely new traditions, too. Indeed, the title of the concert ‘Living Christmas’ refers to the eternal change that our lives are exposed to. I think that at Christmas it’s important to stop to think what the year has brought along and taken with it, Salokoski describes.