Three concertos:

UMO & Veli Kujala: Thum Bop – concerto for accordion and big band, composer Veli Kujala

UMO & Jarmo Julkunen: Crazy Legs Saloon – concerto for big band and banjo, composer Sami Klemola

UMO & Kari Ikonen: Twelve Fn Kies – concerto for big band and Moog-synthesizer, composer Antti Auvinen  

UMO and three soloists visit Tampere Biennale in April and introduce three newish compositions, which all have been premiered in 2017.

Twelve Fn Kies by Antti Auvinen for big band and Moog synthesizer. Kari Ikonen plays the analog synthesizer that is in a central role to all the twelve movements. The essence of space is a key element in the composition, and the composer has justly left plenty of spatial freedom for the soloist and the orchestra. In this sense, the music is created partly impromptu in the course of the performance. Nowadays, everything is more ore less digital, but not in this particular piece of music.

Crazy Legs Saloon, the piece for big band and a banjo was commissioned from composer Sami Klemola for the banjo soloist Jarmo Julkunen and UMO. In this concert, banjo is not merely a minor character but a great protagonist. The audience has the privilege to hear what happens when a contemporary composer spices the rhythms of the banjo with electronic effects. In the brand new piece of music, absurd rhythmic is combined with a completely original sonic universe. Nevertheless, the music is energetic and easily accessible, a perfect midday treat.

Thum Bop is a concerto for accordion and big band by Veli Kujala, Kujala being the soloist himself. According to the composer, he was inspired by the parody sci-fi movie of Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And like the guidebook of the movie, the piece is a kind of standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom.

The conductor of the concert is mr. Kirmo Lintinen.

Check the video: UMO & Kari Ikonen: Twelve Fn Kies

Among other things, pianist-composer Kari Ikonen (b. 1973) is the leader of groups Karikko and Kari Ikonen Trio. When the Finnish Jazz Federation awarded Ikonen with the revered Yrjö prize in 2013, the jury praised his musical merits but also the characteristics of his charming personality. Besides playing and composing, Ikonen teaches in Sibelius Academy. He has also made compositions for UMO.

Antti Auvinen (b. 1974) is a composer of contemporary music, and the merits of his bold musical style have been noted in the Finnish and the international music scenes alike. In 2016 Auvinen’s chamber opera Autuus was awarded with Teosto prize. As a composer, he is fascinated by the tones and rhythms of music, and he often uses fresh combinations of musical instruments and employs indigenous instruments of various cultures.

Banjoist, versatile musician, composer Jarmo Julkunen was born in 1973. In addition to his projects in classical and chamber music, he has collaborated widely with jazz musicians and poets, and he also has a history in theatre music. Fittingly, Julkunen says that interdisciplinary art projects are close to his heart.

Guitarist-composer Sami Klemola’s (b. 1973) versatile list of works includes, for example, chamber music, orchestral music, opera and sound installations. Klemola also works as a teacher in Sibelius Academy and as the artistic director of Tampere Biennale.

Veli Kujala (b. 1976) has been awarded in many international competitions of accordion playing and composition. He received his PhD in Music in Sibelius Academy on 2010. As a composer, Kujala finished second in the London Accordion Festival’s competition for composers in 2001 and won the audience award of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra competition for composers in 2003. In addition to various Finnish festivals, his music has been performed in New York, Tokyo, Paris and Berlin. Kujala has performed as a soloist with Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Dutch ensemble Insomnio. He is also an active performer in jazz and other styles of improvised music, and some of his more notable ensembles have been Kalle Kalima K-18, Pekka Pohjola Acoustic Band and Gourmet. In 2016, Alba Records published the band’s first recording consisting solely of Kujala’s own compositions, called Hyperorganism.