Can’t wait to share some details on the upcoming Jussi Lampela Ensemble album! In the meantime, Jori Huhtala took some nice pictures, below You’ll find a group shot.

In other news, a quick summary of some recent works:

Left to right:

Jaani Helander – violoncello

Ilkka Lehtonen – violin 1

Lotta Poijärvi – viola

(me in the middle)

Elina Viitasaari – violin 2

Jukka Eskola – trumpet

Teppo Mäkynen – drums

All kinds of things preparing to be released, still a lot to prepare. Just wrote a couple arrangements for the Helsinki Police Band, with more symphonic wind arrangements for the Navy band in the pipeline.

Also working on a string quartet concert that will feature singer Vuokko Hovatta. The quartet will feature among others Malin Broman on the violin, so it should be something quite extraordinary…

And besides working on arrangements for various people, I’m finally realeasing a new album with my Ensemble, on Jan 16 2026, as part of the Helsinki Philharmonia’s late night club at the Musiikkitalo, Helsinki. More details later!

I’ve long wanted to add the phrase award-winning to my resume, and finally got a chance: I won an award from a music to a TV ad that I arranged and orchestrated! The award came from the annual Voitto-gala in Finland that celebrates the best ads. Obviously a lot of people were involved, a big thanks to music supervisor Leo Niemi who invited me to be part of the project and Ima Iduozee for the director’s vision.

Here’s the video, most Finns recognize the underlying theme (originally composed by “Yari” Knuutinen):

Spring season rolls along! Besides the normal arranging and orchestration things our Beatles-themed concert (with Ralf Nyqvist doing half of the arrangements) had a great premiere with the Vaasa City Orchestra last week! I got to conduct the show, with Markku Veijalainen as our host, sharing his stories about the Fab Four.

Also looking forward to a concert with the Vantaa Pops Orchestra at the end of March, I planned the concert together with Lauri Porra and also got to write some arrangements for it. Will be fun, with top metal singers from Finland Noora Louhimo (Battle Beast) and Timo Kotipelto (Stratovarius).

The new year starts with a bang here, couple of nice projects coming up + a new record in the works:

-Just finished couple of orchestral arrangements for the vocal ensemble Club for Five, first performance with the great Tapiola Sinfonietta in May:

https://www.espoo.fi/fi/tapahtumat/espooevents:agj37sfu74

-I’ll be conducting Vaasa City Orchestra in an all new project, highlighting the Beatles classics. Also will be writing half of the arrangements with Rafa Nyqvist:

https://www.vaasa.fi/koe-ja-nae/kulttuuria-vaasassa-ja-seudulla/vaasan-kaupunginorkesteri/beatles-2-0/

-A new Jussi Lampela Ensemble record is coming in the fall, featuring Jukka Eskola and Teppo Mäkynen!

All kinds of things coming up, and finally we also have the first concert with the Mimmit-orchestra with Tapiola Sinfonietta:

https://www.espoo.fi/fi/tapahtumat/espooevents:aghq5ko7eu

Also happy to have three tracks recorded with Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Tuomo Rannankari, on Tuomo’s new album, here’s one of them:

We had an intense two days recording with the mighty Tapiola Sinfonietta, for the Mimmit-band! The end result will be a radioplay for the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, and also a record release at some point.

Can’t wait to hear the end result! Tapiola Sinfonietta is a marvellous orchestra, and it’s a priviledge to work with them.

Some pictures below, with me and the project mastermind Pauliina Lerche.

Thrilled to be accompanying a silent film with Ostrobothnia Rhythm Orchestra in a couple of weeks! I wrote music to a Finnish silent film “Meren Kasvojen Edessä” a few years ago, and now we’re presenting a new version of it with a 13-piece orchestra.

We’ll be at Vaasa on August 23rd, details here:

https://ritz.fi/fi/event/film-concert-meren-kasvojen-edessa/

My arranging course for this year is set for an international audience. I’m having four sessions in August on consecutive Saturdays, starting on August 3rd. Please check from the link below for more specific times and for more info:

Arranging course mini-site:

…or as it often is in Finland, it’s pretty chilly until we get to about July:) Exciting things ahead anyway:

We’re performing music for an old Finnish silent film, Meren Kasvojen Edessä (1926), together with our Ostrobothnian Rhythm Orchestra in August in Vaasa, Finland. I’ve composed this a while ago for a smaller ensemble, but now we’re performing it with a 13-piece ensemble. Should be fun, and the movie itself is an exciting adventure! More here:

https://ritz.fi/event/film-concert-meren-kasvojen-edessa/

I’m also happy to conduct Tapiola Sinfonietta a couple of times in the fall period, together with Mimmit-group. We’ll be recording music for a radioplay, and there’s gonna be a concert later on in November also. Here:

https://www.espoo.fi/en/events/espooevents:aghq5ko7eu