The opera Flash Flash by Juhani Nuorvala is to be premiered on 9 February, at next year’s Musica nova Helsinki. There will be two performances, after which it will enter the repertoire of the Espoo Theatre with four more. The production will be directed by Erik Söderblom, with a cast that includes Tuuli Lindeberg, David Hackston, Martti Anttila and Sampo Haapaniemi.
Only one section of the opera dating from 2005 has so far been heard. It has also been called the Warhol Opera, because the English libretto by Juha Siltanen is an exhilarating rewind of the life of Andy Warhol. The music is a fearless combination of classical, minimalist and pop.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra is to premiere Hakola's first symphony on 12 December with Hannu Lintu at the Helsinki Music Centre. There is another performance on the following day, and it will also be available in YLE Areena. Read more about Hakola and his thought on the composition process here.

Matthew Whittall has been commissioned to write the obligatory piece for the Banff International String Quartet Competition in August 2019. Another work to be premiered next year is the commission from Musica Nova Helsinki for the Crash Ensemble (world premiere on 2 February, in Helsinki).
Paavo Heininen is composing a piece for violin and orchestra as a commission from the St. Michel Strings. There will be two performances: on 23 May in Mikkeli and 24 May in Helsinki. The piece is entitled Sinfonia concertante da camera Op. 144, and the soloist will be Kaija Saarikettu.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic premiered Lotta Wennäkoski's Hele for 12 players on 13 November. The work was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and Gustavo Dudamel. In the concert the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor Susanna Mälkki tapped leading European composers for a night of cutting-edge composition, with five world premieres commissioned by the LA Phil.

Tapio Tuomela turned 60 years on 11 October. A concert presenting his vocal and chamber works was held on 16.10. at the Helsinki Music Centre. The program included also a world premiere: Three Folk Ballads for mezzo-soprano and ensemble written for Virpi Räisänen and the Zagros Quartet. More information is available at musiikkitalo.fi/en/content/tapio-tuomela-60

Music by Mikko Heiniö was heard at three focus concerts in autumn. On the programme for 7 October at the Helsinki Conservatory was chamber music and another concert took place at the Sibelius Museum in Turku on 10 October focusing on Heiniö’s guitar music.
The Key Ensemble also celebrated Heiniö with a concert in Turku on 17 November. Dedicated exclusively to choral music by him, the concert was conducted by Teemu Honkanen.

Fennica Gehrman is delighted to announce our partnership with nkoda, the new subscription service app for digital sheet music, with over 100,000 titles at launch. The first scores include works from our hire and sales catalogues, from some earlier pieces by Jean Sibelius till the music of today, and the aim is to entrust nkoda with our entire catalogues. The scores can be annotated using built-in smart tools. The app is currently available on a 30-day free trial for iPad, iPhone and Android tablet and other versions are due in September 2018.

Fennica Gehrman has signed a publishing agreement with Tuomas Turriago that includes Per Aspera for chamber ensemble and the Concerto for Chamber Ensemble premiered in Tampere early in 2018. The agreement also covers some instrumental works. Turriago has an ambitious project aiming to compose a sonata for every instrument. The most recent ones are for alto saxophone, to be premiered at the Gap international saxophone festival in July and for flute, to be heard for the first time in Helsinki in November.