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!

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.

…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

Happy New Year! The coming year is filled with interesting things, can’t wait to get to work on all of them! We’ll be recording some new material with Jukka Eskola and Teppo Mäkynen, the release will be later this year. Also lots of different arranging and orchestration things in the pipeline, and a trip to Sweden in March with Allegro Big Band.

And excited to hear my new work for cello, voice and saxophone, featuring my dear wife on cello and my former teacher, Jukka Perko, on saxophone. Concert on the February 2nd:

https://kamariorkesteri.fi/kamarimusiikkisarja-paikan-henki-hetkia-kirkon-vuosisadoilta/

Internet did its magic: I got a contact from Iowa State University, more precisely its jazz studies leader Mike Giles, who wanted to feature my big band composition “Good Night and Good Luck” on their upcoming concert. Would be nice to hop over there to listen, but geography might put a stop on that. Anyway, Thanks Mike!