Program

Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977), the leading name in Icelandic art music today, is currently the Composer-in-Residence of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. She has attained fame with her highly original style, incorporating philosophical titles, existential topics and a musical idiom featuring impactful masses of sound and effects. Her orchestral sound is broad and rich, making listeners feel small by comparison.

Commissioned by the Gothenburg and Iceland Symphony Orchestras, AIŌN is Thorvaldsdottir’s most extensive work to date, a 40-minute journey into the dimensions of time. It outlines a conceptual space through which we can move completely freely — at once forward and back while viewing it from all aspects at once.

“This metaphor is connected to a number of broader background ideas in relation to the work,” says Thorvaldsdottir, “how we relate to our lives, to the ecosystem and to our place in the broader scheme of things, and how at any given moment we are connected both to the past and to the future, not just of our own lives but across — and beyond — generations.”

The first movement, ‘Morphosis’, flows and spirals towards an unavoidable, unknown and intimidating moment in the future. ‘Transcension’ is deceptively static, as the process of change continues in the background, covertly and overtly in turn. ‘Entropia’ begins as a merger of the previous two movements but is eventually ground to dust by a devastating mass of sound with the energy of a piledriver. 

A voyevod, i.e. a local government chief, comes home. His wife is nowhere to be seen. He goes out into the garden, and to his great shock he sees his wife with another man. He orders his servant to shoot the man, but the servant shoots the voyevod instead. The narrative is easy to follow in the music: passionate triplets represent jealousy, the grunts of the bass clarinet mirror the voyevod’s anxiety. The garden scene culminates in the gunshot, followed by a laconic conclusion.

Sauli Zinovjev (b. 1988) made his breakthrough with the orchestral work Batteria (2016). He has since written several orchestral works, besides solo concertos and chamber music works performed around the world. In autumn 2025, Sinfonia Lahti premiered the commissioned work Fade Out.

Zinovjev’s symphony now being premiered, Taste of Metal (2023–2025), is a joint commission by the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris. The composer writes:

“At its best, a piece of music contains everything. An entire life in a single moment. This notion shaped my approach to music even before I knew that the iconic Gustav Mahler had stated something very similar. The desire to create an entire universe is not just a philosophy; it is a power that drives my creativity with an almost compulsive intensity.

“My output to date culminates in my first symphony, Taste of Metal. Its inspiration arose from the sculptures of Markus Copper: tense, overpowering works that exude danger, raw energy and a profound awareness of the fragility of human life. Similarly, Taste of Metal is at once beautiful and cruel. The work has for movements: ‘low’, ‘flow’, ‘glow’ and ‘blow’, tracing an arc from movement deep in the earth to internal combustion and an explosive release. Here, metal is not just sound but also weight and the bitter tang of blood.”

Since 2020, Eva Ollikainen has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was Chief Conductor of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra. The 2025/26 season includes Ollikainen’s debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and NHK Symphony Orchestra. In March, she leads the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on their European tour. 

Curious about contemporary music, Eva Ollikainen has performed a wide range of repertoire with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and is well known for championing the music of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, with whom Ollikainen has a close artistic partnership. The world premiere of Thorvaldsdottir’s ARCHORA was given by Ollikainen in her BBC Proms debut in 2022 with the BBC Philharmonic.

Ollikainen is a former student of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula at the Sibelius Academy. She won the Jorma Panula Conducting Competition at the age of 21. Today, she teaches regularly at the Sibelius Academy.

Stockholm-born Daniel Lozakovich (b. 2001) has become one of today’s most sought-after violinists. Last autumn, he appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä on tour in Korea, followed by performances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, among others. 

This spring, Lozakovich will perform Tchaikovsky’s concerto also with Gulbenkian Orchestra under Hannu Lintu and with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Nathalie Stutzmann. He will tour Europe with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and his close collaborator Tarmo Peltokoski. 

As a highly sought-after recitalist, he has made appearances in historical venues such as Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Tonhalle Zürich, and more. 

Daniel Lozakovich has already achieved considerable acclaim on record, having been signed by Deutsche Grammophon at just 15 years old. His recording include the concerti of J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven. Daniel Lozakovich plays the “ex-Sancy” 1713 Stradivari.

The principle of putting on regular concerts given by an orchestra of top musicians has remained right up to the present day in the over 140 years since the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra was formed. It premiered most of the symphonic works by Jean Sibelius with the composer himself conducting, and continues its commitment to contemporary music by commissioning works by composers both Finnish and foreign. 

Now a band of 102 musicians, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra annually performs to a total audience of over 110,000 and has become an important constituent of its host city’s cultural capital. It also reaches people who for one reason or another cannot attend concerts at the Helsinki Music Centre, for in addition to making international tours, it sends small ensembles out across the city, provides opportunities for young people to perform and, through its active education programme, is able to make contact with special groups. For the third time it invited an entire age group – this time all the children born in Helsinki in 2020 – to enjoy music with their families over the next seven years as members of the HPO Kids -program.  

The HKO Screen concerts and background interviews screened live or recorded on the Internet makes the process of creating a piece of music even more readily accessible. 

The orchestra has a three-member Artistic Leadership Team, which comprises Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Co-director Pekka Kuusisto and Composer-in-Residence Anna Thorvaldsdottir. 

Ammu muita ampiainen
Pistä muita piikkiäinen
Ampiainen, ankerioinen
Älä minua pistä!

Ammu maahan, ammu puuhun
Ammu aidan seipähäseen
Pistä piikkis piruhun
Älä minua pistä!

Tuuless on sinun tupasi
Korvessa sinun kotisi
Lahokannossa kartanos
Älä minua pistä!

Sokkee on isäsi
Sokkee on äitisi
Sokkee sunkin pittää olla
Älä minua pistä!

Eg sendte bod imot himlens hægste,
om hjartesåri mi kunn var lækte.
Eg fekk det svori eg venta på,
det kan ingjen lækje så djupe sår.

Gamlestev after Berit Opheim Versto: omkved from “Draumkvædet”
For månen skin’e,
og vegjine falle so vide.

Stev after Kim Rysstad: “Månestev”
Å månen blenkte å sjynnun tindra,
å alli nokå mitt hjarta hindra.
Å hågt på himlen skin skyin fine,'
mæ gyllte kanta fyrst månen skine.
Sjå kvite rimet på greino henge,
det æ kje venaste lauvet lenge.'
Det æ kje lauvet å blomen fin,
men det æ fagert fyrst månen skin.

Nystev after Kim Rysstad: “I snap my fingers”
I snap my fingers and toss my troubles
Into the wind, as if empty bubbles.
I hum and whistle some catchy strain,
And in a little – I feel no pain.