Program

Pianist Fazıl Say (b. 1970) made his composer breakthrough with the piano piece Black Earth (1997), followed by the gigantic Nâzim Oratorio (2001). Among his output of more than 100 works, the best known is probably the Istanbul Symphony (2009), which in 2013 was awarded the jury’s special prize at the ECHO Klassik gala. Say’s major works feature powerful narratives and are rooted in harmonies fusing Turkish tradition and jazz. His brilliant orchestration typically incorporates prominent passages for percussion, and the seven-movement piano concerto Mother Earth (2024) makes no exception. 

The work was written to a commission from the luxury goods giant Cartier for the opening of the Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka. The premiere was given by the Osaka Philharmonic under Simone Menezes. Say says: “Mother Earth is about the world’s climate problems, ecological problems. These fires in forests, the bad situation [at the] poles, so it looks like humans [are] killing this planet. So it is a warning situation, it is more than a warning situation. So my piece is a message.” 

Clocking in at half an hour, the concerto paints a vision of the end of times with broad strokes. Initially, the piano sends forth a hope-inspiring melody that runs through the horrors evoked by the concerto: the earth splits, and the upheaval buries every living thing; forests go up in smoke and animals cry out; the seas flood the land, and rivers stop flowing. The fourth movement (‘Interlude’) and the concluding movement (‘Postlude’) incorporate reminiscences of Say’s early piano piece Black Earth. 

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.”

Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation. Born in Finland in 1956, he began his career as a violinist. Today, he is renowned as an artist of exceptional versatility and breadth.

Saraste has previously held principal conductorships at the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he appears with major orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Coaching and mentoring young musicians is of great importance to Saraste. He is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists.

With his extraordinary pianistic ability, Fazıl Say (b. 1970) has been touching audiences and critics alike for almost 30 years. Since the beginning of his career, he has performed with many renowned orchestras, building up a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach to Viennese Classical Romantic and contemporary music, including his own compositions for piano. 

With violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Say performs in a long-standing duo. Other notable collaborators include Maxim Vengerov, Nicolas Altstaedt, Marianne Crebassa, and the Minetti Quartett. Say has built an extensive discography of over 50 recordings. 

In the 2025/2026 season, Fazıl Say is the Artist in Residence at both the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. During these residencies, he performs with longtime partner orchestras – including the Camerata Salzburg, and the NDR Radiophilharmonie – and witnesses premieres of his own newly commissioned works presented by both festivals.  

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.