Elisar Riddelin, conductor

Carolin Widmann, violin

Aki Rissanen, piano

Armi Von Vep, burlesque artist

Siljamari Heikinheimo, director

Joonas Tikkanen, scenographer

Kurt Weill: Concerto for violin and wind orchestra op. 12

Bohuslav Martinů: Le Jazz

George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

In the 1920s, the Musiikkisanasto [Music glossary] authored by Lepo Laurila defined ‘jatsi’ in terms that would never be published today. Attitudes were judgmental all over Europe. Jazz crossed a line, triggering overt racism. Yet for the young composers of the Roaring Twenties, the rhythms and sounds of jazz represented a new freedom and joie de vivre. In Weill’s Violin Concerto, jazz influences emerge from the shadows of the recent Great War. Martinů wrote his buoyant Le Jazz in Paris, but the piece was not premiered until the 1960s. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was the first and still one of the most brilliant attempts to cast jazz in the guise of concert music. This programme of blue notes is brought to you by Elisar Riddelin, a Tampere-born violinist and conductor; Carolin Widmann, known as a performer of contemporary violin music; and jazz pianist and composer Aki Rissanen. Tapiola Hall shows itself in a dimly lit and relaxed mood.

Afterparty in the foyer following the concert. 

Tapiola Sinfonietta 2025-2026