Uusi jäsen: Preben Antonsen
I have a profound love and respect for the bel canto repertoire and I might have moved away from classical music entirely if not for the discovery of Bellini. Some of my favorite projects have been working with singers and creating an expansive world for them to inhabit. I hear in the human voice all the spectral and harmonic qualities explored in the 20th century — those of Messian, Dutilleux, Ligeti, Scriabin and Grisey — and my aim is to unite these kinds of harmonies with the enchanted vocal legato that communicates to audiences so well.
As sources of inspiration, I have often drawn upon Christian and Islamic sacred art, the poetry of Paul Celan, the nature mysticism of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the master jewelers of the 1800s. Before I moved to Finland, I was the co-director of the new music ensemble After Everything, based in San Francisco. My four-hand piano arrangement of John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine has been performed at the RUSK Festival and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival.
Three works
At-Tahajjud (2021)
for soprano, clarinet, harp and percussion
Performed by Anne Harley, Stacey Fraser, Brian Walsh, Alison Bjorkedal and Yuri Inoo in Los Angeles
Dag Gadol (2024)
for full orchestra
Performed by Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco
Opal Hand (2025)
for kantele and kokle
Premiered by Nea Wunsch and Krīstine Tukre in Helsinki
Kuva: RR Jones