The Finnish Big Band Association and UMO are organising Esko Linnavalli Big Band Composition Competition now for the seventh time. The final round of the competition is held at Savoy Theatre on the 31th of May.

The aim of the competition is to promote Finnish big band music and bring forth some of its new craftsmen and -women. The preliminary jury decides the ten compositions that are heard on the final round, and UMO plays them in this final concert that is broadcast in radio by the Finnish broadcasting company YLE. In the concert, the jury chooses the three prizewinners. The audience gets to choose its own favourite as well.

The competition pays homage to UMO’s late founding father, conductor Esko Linnavalli (1941–1991), the artistic director of the orchestra in 1975–1991. Thanks to Linnavalli, UMO developed into an internationally distinguished jazz orchestra and a steady pillar of the Finnish music scene.

The Finnish Big Band Association and UMO organized the first Esko Linnavalli Big Band Composition Competition in 2005. The competition has grown ever more popular, and the event has brought many fledgling Finnish composer talents to the knowledge of the public and big bands.

The conductor of the concert is Antti Rissanen.

Click and see the Teemu Takanen’s winning composition 2013 Here Waiting For You: