The long-term collaborative history between UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Iro Haarla will see a continuation in Easter time when the big band and the pianist-harpist give a church tour around the Uusimaa region. In addition to the metropolitan area – Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa – the tour reaches to the cities of Porvoo and Askola. It also comprises an afternoon concert at the Helsinki Music Centre on the Holy Thursday.

Entitled Silent Music, the concert gives a cross-section of the compositions that UMO Helsinki has commissioned from Haarla over her career. Among others, the programme includes the piece Ante Lucem  – ennen päivän koittoa (2005; Eng.Before the Dawn), delving on the events of Easter and the passion of Christ; Kurkien taru (2006; Eng. The Tale of the Cranes) portraying the migration of the majestic birds; and Led by the Wind (2015) – a piece inspired by the might of the wind. The concert will also see the premiere of the composition for harp and big band, On the Edge of a World (2019), written specifically for the occasion. Many of Haarla’s works initially premiered by UMO have lived on in different arrangements in the repertories of her own ensembles and even on recordings. The Easter concert will be conducted by Mikko Hassinen – already a well-known face at UMO’s helm.

– With my music I aim at bringing some light to the listener, stirring deep feelings and promoting the ability to feel pleasure and pass it on. The main thought behind the concert is finding a quietness within oneself; following the deep sonic textures, the undulating flow of sound, towards the light. Playing with UMO Helsinki and conductor Mikko Hassinen is an exceptionally interesting chance for me to realise these ideas, Haarla says.

The concerts of Porvoo, Askola and Helsinki Music Centre are a part of the series AUF, launched in spring 2018, between Avanti!, UMO Helsinki and FiBO. The project explores new types of collaboration between orchestras and different concert-organising bodies.

Iro Haarla

• Pianist, harpist, composer and band-leader
• Performed, notated and arranged music by her late spouse Edward Vesala in 1979–1999
• Embarked on a solo career in the early 00s, with notable international success
• Her Finnish-Norwegian quintet has recorded three albums produced by Manfred Eicher on ECM Records, while her Finnish groups have released altogether five recordings on TUM Records
• Decorated with the Pori Jazz Ted Curson Prize in 2018; a Jazz Emma Prize in 2005 and 2011; and the Yrjö Jazz Prize in 2006
• Finds inspiration in natural phenomena, birds and different states of emotion