Eva Ollikainen conductor  

Marianna Shirinyan piano  

Joel Järventausta: Naava  

Galina Ustvolskaya: Piano Concerto  

Intermission  

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica” 

Eva Ollikainen is the chief conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and frequently conducts music by contemporary composers, while Marianna Shirinyan is an Armenian-born, Denmark-based pianist who is frequently heard in Finland. Galina Ustvolskaya’s (1919–2006) piano concerto from 1946 bears the influence of her teacher Shostakovich, who was rejected when he proposed to his student.

Joel Järventausta (b. 1995) seeks inspiration for his music in Finnish nature and found it in the forest landscape visible from his studio window. Naava is a barometer of the forest’s clean air and a light-filtering lichen that comes to life in shifting orchestral textures of Järventausta’s work. Two sharp forte strokes set in motion an unwavering momentum in Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, clearing away both musical and imperial obstacles in its path.