Jan Lehtola: Organ Recital

Sat 8.2.2025 at 19.00
Helsinki Music Centre

Jan Lehtola, organ
Alejandro Olarte, Timo Kurkikangas ja Jean-Baptiste Barrière, electronics

Hommage à Kaija Saariaho

Luc Antonini (b. 1961)          Sonate (2023) premiere
Composition awarded in the International Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition

Yves Balmer (b. 1978)           Winds Choreography (2023) premiere
Composition awarded in the International Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition

Zacharias Ehnvall (b. 1991)   Multiplicité (2023) premiere
Composition awarded in the International Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition

Intermission

Maija Hynninen (b. 1977)      Voyager uruille (2024)premiere
Circulation–Solar wind–Interstellar space
Commissioned by Jan Lehtola

Mioko Yokoyama (b. 1989)   Wind talks (2024)premiere
Commissioned by Musica nova Helsinki

Aino Tenkanen (b. 1991)       Broken Signal (2024) premiere
I 0010 0000
II 0100 0010
III 0101 0010
IV 1011 0100
Commissioned by Musica nova Helsinki

Tiina Myllärinen (b. 1979)     Reflections (2024) premiere
Commissioned by Musica nova Helsinki

Alejandro Olarte (b. 1978)     Fragmented Time-Étude for Computer-Controlled Organ

Maija Hynninen (b. 1977)      Voyager 1 uruille ja elektroniikalle (2024) premiere
Circulation–Solar wind–Interstellar space
Commissioned by Jan Lehtola

Duration ca. 2h including an intermission

In cooperation: Musica nova Helsinki and Musiikkitalo Organ Association

This concert commemorates composer Kaija Saariaho. She can be considered one of the most successful Finnish composers ever. The backbone of her popularity was her first opera L’amour de loin (2000), which premiered in Salzburg and earned Saariaho the Grawemeyer Award in 2003. Saariaho’s career culminated in her sixth opera Innocence, which received its world premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2021. Since then, the opera has toured several significant opera houses. In 2021, Saariaho received the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. Kaija Saariaho died of glioblastoma, a brain tumour, at her home in Paris on 2 June 2023 at the age of 70. The disease was diagnosed in February 2021.

Kaija Saariaho was born in Helsinki on 14 October 1952. As a Finnish woman, she was a passionate advocate of equality. In the autumn of 2022, Saariaho was widely celebrated both in Finland and abroad with concerts, seminars, and other events due to her 70th birthday. Saariaho’s life and career are unparalleled, and she became one of the world’s most significant living composers at a time when gender equality issues were only emerging. Her body of work is immense: it includes six operas, a ballet, nine compositions in the form of concertos, several orchestral works as well as chamber and vocal compositions.

Saariaho had an important role in the Finnish society, and in the spring of 2023, she was awarded the title of Academician of Arts in Finland. She was a devoted spokesperson for education, the youth, and different opportunities. She defended the freedom and significance of arts and demanded responsibility from the society. Saariaho composed four organ works: a concerto, a vocal composition, a chamber music piece, and a composition for orchestra and organ. It can be said that her organ works represent every genre in the organ repertoire, although Saariaho composed for the organ to a limited extent. Her contribution to organ art, however, is not insignificant because it is thanks to Saariaho’s 2017 donation of one million euros that the new large organ built by Rieger Orgelbau was inaugurated at the Helsinki Music Centre on 1 January 2024. Saariaho was the driving force of the project, and she actively wanted to be informed about its progress and also have a say in the appearance and technical features of the organ. It can be said that in this sense, too, the organ played an important role in her values and personality.

The first half of the concert consists of three winners of the International Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition. The competition was the first big project of the Musiikkitalo Organ Association. The competition opened in March 2020 and the winners were announced on 27 April 2023. The competition produced 13 new compositions, out of which two were composed for symphony orchestra and two for sinfonietta and organ, and nine were solo works. All of the compositions have been performed on the Helsinki Music Centre’s new Rieger organ in concerts in the Helsinki Music Centre’s Concert Hall during 2024 and 2025.

The Alfred Kordelin Foundation funded the competition with a 100,000 euro grant. The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation gave 74,000 euros for the prizes. The competition was very widely covered in the Finnish print media. Electronic communications also reached composers and other operators abroad.

The initial plan was to announce the results already in 2022 and perform the compositions in the Concert Hall concerts on the inauguration year of the organ, 2023. The Music Centre’s organ project, however, faced a setback when in the summer of 2020 the Austrian organ builder Rieger Orgelbau announced production difficulties. The workshop that employs almost 70 organ builders had experienced different kinds of difficulties because of the pandemic. Due to these problems, the working group overseeing the organ building and the foundation’s board held negotiations to change the completion schedule. We agreed that the organ would be inaugurated exactly one year later than originally planned, on 1 January 2024. The good thing about the postponement was that composers all over the world got an additional year to complete their compositions.

The whole process was a diverse learning experience for us organisers. The communication campaign was successful beyond expectations, as we received a total of 98 compositions from all over the world, all the way from South America, Asia, and Australia, for this competition that was held for the first time. The competition closed on 29 October 2022. The pre-jury, which included Olli Kortekangas, Maija Hynninen, Susanne Kujala, and Jan Lehtola, worked with the compositions for the rest of the year and prepared a shortlist of the works that made it to the next stage. The final jury, which in addition to the aforementioned included Susanna Mälkki, Nicholas Collon, Francesco Filidei, and Olli Porthan, selected in early February 2023 two concertos, three chamber orchestra compositions, and seven solo works as the winners of the competition. Chief conductors Collon and Mälkki judged only the concerto series. Kaija Saariaho served as the chair of the jury at all stages of the competition. The results and the composers were announced on 27 April 2023 in the Music Centre’s Organo Hall.

Altogether 74,000 euros were awarded in prizes in the competition. In addition, the Society of Finnish Composers awarded Bálint Karosi for the best composition using the organ, the Lahti Organ Festival gave their special prize of 2,400 euros to Gunnar Idenstam, and the Church Music Composers’ Association awarded Gorka Cuesta with their special prize of 1,000 euros. The other awarded composers were Luc Antonini, Yves Balmer, Qi Chang, Zacharias Ehnvall, Simon Holt, Ere Lievonen, Mauricio Silva Orendain, Federico Perotti, Artturi Rönkä, and Tomi Räisänen.

So far, the winning compositions have been performed by Ville Urponen (4 January 2024), Susanne Kujala (12 February 2024), Angela Metzger (2 February 2024), Leevi Lipponen (14 May 2024), Markku Hietaharju (28 July 2024), Amelie Held (21 September 2024), Jan Lehtola (29 September 2024), Franz Danksagmüller (11 November 2024), and Gunnar Idenstam (1 January 2025). The last composition that is yet to be performed will be heard on 1 March 2025 when the composer Bálint Karosi himself will perform it in Turku Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert. The intention was to perform each awarded composition in an individual concert, and the works that will be heard today have visited the desks of every organist who performed at the Organ Association’s concerts in 2024, without ever getting beyond that point. Since I was involved in the planning and executing of the competition in all possible roles, I feel that it is my responsibility to ensure that these works are also performed. That is why I will perform them all in this concert dedicated to Saariaho’s memory.

It has been a pleasant task, as all three compositions are very different. What they have in common is their modern approach, the mutually reinforcing bond between structure and texture, and the full use of the organ. Of course, there were many new things to be learnt with these compositions, but there would be no improvement if one never left their comfort zone. Practicing three different pieces side by side has also brought useful variety to the routine. It is a quite different process to prepare a large work by one composer, although it has the advantage of repetition; within one work the playing technique or texture does not change in the same way as within three different compositions. Practicing these works has also been my tribute to Saariaho.

I met Kaija Saariaho for the first time in April 2015. In that May, I was supposed to perform Maan varjot as a soloist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. Since the Music Centre did not yet have an organ at the time, Saariaho had given her permission to play the concert with the Music Centre’s digital organ, which was usually used in supporting roles in various smaller orchestral performances, but never in concertos. The relationship between Saariaho and I was a functional one. We were in touch often due to the various performances of Maan varjot, then because of the organ project, and later due to the Saariaho 70 event and the Saariaho competition. The last time I spoke on the phone with her was on Sunday, 5 February 2023. The call ended with her words: “We must get back to this.” The topic of the conversation was a new organ work for the Helsinki Music Centre organ. It, however, was never composed.

In this concert, we hear some of the things that we may have heard also in Saariaho’s new composition. When the organ was being built, she and I frequently discussed the features of the organ, and some of these discussions have been recorded as videos that can be viewed on YouTube. It was clear that the instrument that was being constructed would revolutionize composing for organ. As we were working in the jury, we did not discuss the compositions much, but rather gave anonymous points. Since there were four composers involved, it went like before in similar circumstances: the composers examined the works from the perspective of inventiveness and versatility. This often results in complex and almost impossible solutions when it comes to the playing technique. When the organ’s unlimited possibilities are available, many want to use all of them all the time. The amount of information skyrockets. When composing on a computer, the composer may forget that the performer will be a human being. It feels like the organist’s performance is expected to be almost superhuman and as precise as a computer. As if the brain was meant to be divided into several different sectors that need to be controlled simultaneously. It is not enough that each limb has to deal with different rhythms and their polyrhythmic networks, but each beat also contains numerous harmonic and melodic rhythms. When you add to this the simultaneous use of the organ’s technical controls, there is an enormous amount to manage. Perhaps that is why the world’s top organists did not perform the compositions that will be heard today.

I remember organist Enzio Forsblom (1920–1996) telling me how he had met Paavo Heininen (1938–2022) in St. John’s Church in Helsinki. The two were preparing a new work. When after the first bar, Heininen had asked to change the registration, the collaboration had ended there and then. Since then, I have recorded Heininen’s entire catalogue and premiered more than a dozen of his works. I can now say that we have come a long way in composing and performing from those years of Heininen’s youth. These days, you can compose almost anything and almost everything gets performed.

So that we can truly honour Saariaho, I wanted to include works by Finnish women in this concert. After all, as a female composer, Saariaho broke the glass ceiling. I managed to inspire four different composers to join the concert, and their works test the possibilities of the new organ in an interesting way. Out of those compositions, those by Mioko Yokoyama, Aino Tenkanen, and Tiina Myllärinen are Musica nova commissioned works. Maija Hynninen’s work was funded, at my request, by the Sibelius Fund of the Society of Finnish Composers. It will be heard in two different versions: as a solo piece and with electronics.

The electronics section is inspired by Kaija Saariaho’s husband, Jean-Baptiste Barrière.

Barrière describes the Ramifications project as follows:

”Ramifications is a musical and artistic research and production project dedicated to promote new creative interactions between music and arts through the use of Music Centre’s organ.

Based on a seminal collaboration between the Organ Association, the Sibelius Academy’s Department of Music Technology at the University of the Arts, and Music Centre,

it aims to develop works that make full use of the extraordinary musical possibilities of the organ, and extending it to control computer sound synthesis and transformations, lights, video, etc.

This idea was first proposed by Jean-Baptiste Barrière (composer and multimedia artist) towards the end of the organ construction, then formalised as a research and production project together with Alejandro Olarte (Head of Sibelius Academy’s Department of Music Technology), and Timo Kurkikangas (computer sound and art designer). First exploratory works are currently ongoing with the help of Jan Lehtola, thanks to Emilia Mäki who kindly made available time slots for research in the extremely busy schedule of Music Centre and its technical teams.”

Some results of this development will be heard in this concert in Alejandro Olarte’s work Fragmented Time-Étude for Computer-Controlled Organ and in Maija Hynninen’s work Voyager 1.

Luc Antonini’s Sonata (2023) is the most traditional of the competition works that will be heard today, since the composer does not use the organ’s new technology. His music utilizes the organ’s versatile tonal possibilities through stylistic compositional techniques. It continues in the footsteps of Claude Balliff’s (1924–2004) sonatas and parallels the works of the same name by Valéry Aubertin (born 1970). The leitmotif of the composition is twelve-tone and follows a variation form. The piece is not dodecaphonic, since modality has played a significant role in organizing the harmonic and melodic material. The composition makes full use of the organ’s registration possibilities, and some of the variations honour the French classical period organ building tradition.

Yves Balmer’s Winds Choreography (2023) pursues a new kind of expression through playing technique, organ use, and musical notation. The façade of the Music Centre’s organ with its curved air tubes and pipes functioned as an inspiration for the work. The composer was both surprised and fascinated by the subtle and diverse curves of the tubes, which gave him the idea of ​​natural phenomena, plants, and living organisms. Balmer also started to think of gusts of wind, or tornadoes, which gave him the idea to depict the freedom of the wind in his work. For Balmer, wind also refers to breathing and is an incarnation of breathing. Janet Echelman’s sculpture Earthtime 1.78 Helsinki, which was exhibited in Helsinki’s Senate Square in 2021, has also haunted in Balmer’s mind. The title of the composition derives directly from Echelman’s fascinating TED Talk Taking Imagination Seriously, from which the words “wind’s choreography” were borrowed.

In the rich history of cultural connections between wind, breathing, spirit, music, and life, where music and wind form a natural pair, Balmer sees the organ as a masterpiece. As a machine, the organ has evolved over generations and centuries, enabling the transformation of air into increasingly diverse music as it flows through pipes. Just as Echelman’s nets that are suspended in the air reveal the movements of the wind, Balmer shapes the air passing through the organ in his composition. The composer also thought about the famous quote by Claude Debussy: “Listen to no one’s advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.” Included is also a quotation from Olivier Messiaen’s organ work Le Vent de l’Esprit. Balmer makes versatile use of the Music Centre organ’s modern technology. Balmer also determined the registrations of his composition; the composer has complemented his composition with instructions that contain 424 changes.

Zacharias Ehnvall’s Multiplicité (2023) was also inspired by the Music Centre organ’s visual and tonal possibilities. The composer’s imagination was sparked by the idea of organic growth: The roots of a tree grow deep into the soil in search of nutrients, while the branches stretch towards the space to reach the unknown. As he was composing Multiplicité, the organ and its significance were constantly on the composer’s mind, and the process evolved into ideas about cycles of growth and life in a broader sense.

”The smallest particles of the universe arrange themselves to form life, then dissolve into particles, arrange themselves to create new life, and dissolve into the same particles again in an eternal cycle. Constant change, constant transformation, constant reincarnation of the same material”, Ehnvall writes. Coincidentally (or not…), this is also the essence of music for the composer. He continues: ”From the midst of the chaos – in the present moment – we observe the chaos. From this perspective, it is not difficult to say that this thing is different from that thing, life is different from death, you are different from me, this music is different from that music, even though in reality the moment of observation is the only thing causing the differences.”

Multiplicité is a study of things and ideas that may at first seem different, but can in fact be the same. There is only one event, one whole, and one thing in the work. Only the moment of observation changes. Ehnvall also refers to the ideas of the philosopher Deleuze, according to which ”the key is not how this one thing differs from other things, but how this one thing differs from itself over time”.
– Jan Lehtola

My composition Voyager 1 (2024) was named after the space probe Voyager 1. This probe that was launched into space in 1977 studied the Solar System and especially its planets Jupiter and Saturn. Currently, it is in the interstellar space outside our solar system. Much like the probe, the organ piece is also on an expedition. Inspired by the Music Centre’s new Rieger organ, I wanted to try the different possibilities of timbre, texture, and dynamics. Compared to church acoustics that have a long reverberation, the Music Centre’s Concert Hall is a vastly different space, where the sound of the organ is in a way at its purest. This and the versatile possibilities of the new organ allow to explore delicate tonal nuances but also challenge the composer. From the vast toolbox available, one must carefully select what will be used in a particular work.

The solo organ version of Voyager 1 starts with the swaying Circulation part. The journey continues from the whirlpool that is the interface of timbre, harmony, and melody, with the fast Solar Wind part and all the way to the interstellar space where the swirling movement transforms into scalar and linear motion. Occasionally, the texture that is searching for a fixed point unpredictably breaks away from the fixed point in skilful virtuoso patterns and reaches towards the unknown. As in space, in the composition, too, heavy masses find balance in extreme lightness.

Unlike the solo version, the version for organ, electronics, and lights starts with the slow Magnetic Fields part, after which slightly varied versions of the solo work’s parts Solar Wind and Interstellar Space will be heard. The electronics use a digital MIDI connection, which allows MIDI data to be sent to and received from the organ. That connection is used extensively in the work, as the computer in a way plays the role of another organist playing the same organ. The electronics and lights are also dynamically controlled by the MIDI data coming from the organ. The golden record that the Voyager 1 probe carries is given a somewhat new interpretation at the end of the electronics version of the piece.
– Maija Hynninen

The organ may seem to be a keyboard instrument associated with metal, but in reality, it is an instrument related more to wind. The realisation that the organ’s attributes are fundamentally different from those of the piano (my main instrument), despite both being keyboard instruments, inspired me to focus on ‘wind’ in my composition. 

I was fascinated by the unconventional tones that emerged from adjusting the airflow, deviating from the traditional ‘organ sound.’ Additionally, the ability to emphasize the overtones of a single note through the use of registers became an important element in the structure of the piece. In the final part of the work Wind talks (2024), I intended to listen closely to the breathing of the organ.
– Mioko Yokoyama

Broken Signal (2024) is my first organ composition that has been performed. The piece consists of four short fragments that are inspired by computer signals. After all, the organ, too, is a kind of computer, where there is a delay between pressing a button and hearing the sound. During that time, all sorts of things can happen.
– Aino Tenkanen

My work Reflections (2024) is my first composition for the Music Centre’s new magnificent organ, and I was very curious and happy to get to know the many possibilities of this instrument. With this organ, I was especially fascinated by the spatiality of the instrument. In my composition, I approach spatiality in different ways – both from the perspective of the organ’s physical spatiality and from the perspective of the space surrounding the instrument.

While I was composing this piece, I envisioned the enormous instrument being like a large space or a room where sound reflects and shimmers in different directions, not unlike light in a prism. At times, the sound reflects from side to side or from front to back of the organ, and at other times the sound circulates the organ in the pipes.

I also toyed with the idea of ​​how the organ would sound in different spaces. I looked for ways to create associations of different acoustics through music, such as the long reverberation of a cathedral or the short reverberation of a dry space. During the piece, the organ sounds like it is being played in different spaces. Imaginary acoustics also carry their own meanings and emotions; dry, precise, and distinguishable acoustics create their own atmosphere and tell a different story than cathedral-like acoustics where things mix and overlap into a mass of sound where any single line will be difficult to hear. In contrast to the physical massiveness and impressive volume of the organ, I was curious to highlight the instrument’s vulnerability and flexibility, as well as its differently vibrating colour surfaces.
– Tiina Myllärinen

Fragmented Time is a musical étude that explores the intersection of computer technologies and musical acoustics, offering a glimpse into the boundless potential of the organ’s extensions. The piece seeks to create a dialogue between the traditions of human-crafted instruments, the musical mind, and the speculative possibilities of algorithmic thinking. Reimagined as a digitally controlled system, the organ transcends its mechanical origins, evolving into a “super-musical computer” that redefines its acoustic and musical identity.

In this étude, I investigate the concept of “granular timbre,” where rapid bursts of shifting melodic fragments blur the boundaries between tone and texture. Through automated microtemporal shifts in the organ’s registers, I aim to evoke a Klangfarbenmelodie—a melody of tone colors—fractured and reassembled into ever-evolving dimensions.

The composition invites listeners into fragmented temporal spaces where time splinters and reorganizes, the familiar becomes unpredictable, and the organ speaks in voices both ancient and futuristic.
– Alejandro Olarte

International organ virtuoso Dr Jan Lehtola is one the most successful and progressive Finnish organists of his generation. He has appeared with the BBC Philharmonics, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Lahti Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic and Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestras and the St. Michel Strings. He has performed at many international festivals, including the Lahti Organ Festival, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Time of Music in Viitasaari, the Tampere Biennale, Musica nova Helsinki, the Turku, Mikkeli, Mänttä and Hauho Music Festivals and the annual Festival of New Organ Music in London. He has worked with conductors including Juha Kangas, Sakari Oramo, Muhai Tang, Kent Nagano, Ludovic Morlot, Leif Segerstam and Osmo Vänskä, amongst others. Dr Lehtola has also given recitals in leading European concert halls such as Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and cathedrals and churches such as La Trinité in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Riga and Tallinn Doms, St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London.

Jan Lehtola collaborates regularly with composers and has given more than 180 world and regional premieres. He has had works written for him by Harri Ahmas, Kalevi Aho, Atso Almila, Adina Dumitrescu, Thierry Escaich, Naji Hakim, Matti and Paavo Heininen, Carita Holmström, Maija Hynninen, Juha T. Koskinen, Olli Kortekangas, Juha Leinonen, Jouko and Jyrki Linjama, Jukka Linkola, Paola Livorsi, Pehr Henrik Nordgren, Axel Ruoff, Martin Stacey, Riikka Talvitie and Adam Vilagi. Lehtola was the Artistic Director of the Organo Novo Festival in Helsinki 2007–2016 and Chairman of the Finnish Organum Society 2009–2014. He is currently Chairman of the Helsinki Music Centre Organ Association.

Lehtola has recorded for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) and can be heard on more than sixty commercial recordings (on the Bis, Toccata Classics, Alba, Ondine, Pilfink, Jubal, IFO and Fuga labels) in repertoire including works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wilhelm Humpreys Dayas, Marcel Dupré, Marie-Joseph Erb, Friedrich Lux, Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Stöhr, Edurard August Tod, Robert Schumann and Charles-Marie Widor. He has also released complete recordings of works by Oskar Merikanto, Jouko ja Jaakko Linjama, Kaj-Erik Gustafsson, Juhani Pohjanmies, Olli Kortekangas, Jean Sibelius, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Paavo Heininen, Kalevi Aho, Erkki Salmenhaara, Harri Ahmas, Joonas Kokkonen and Axel Ruoff.

Dr. Jan Lehtola studied the organ in Helsinki, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Lyon and Paris. He graduated from the Church Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, gaining his diploma with distinction in 1998. In 2000 he gave his Sibelius Academy debut recital in Kallio Church, Helsinki, and in 2005 received a Doctorate for his dissertation on Oskar Merikanto as a transmitter of European influences to Finland. Jan Lehtola has been a Lecturer of Organ 2007–2017 and a University Lecturer since 2017 at the University of Arts, Sibelius Academy. He is also active as a lecturer and a teacher of masterclasses.

Jan Lehtola has received the rotating prize of the Organum society, the oldest organ society in the Nordic countries (personally, 2020 and Musiikkitalo Organ Association, 2024) and he has been awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland (2023).

For further information, please visit www.janlehtola.com

Alejandro Olarte is an electroacoustic musician, researcher, and educator. He serves as the Head of the Department of Music Technology at the University of the Arts, Helsinki, where he earned his doctorate in Live Electronics and Pedagogy. He also holds degrees from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and a Master’s in Computer Music from the University of Paris. His work focuses on the artistic integration of sound and technology, exploring their affordances and challenges in contemporary contexts. Committed to education, Olarte advocates for knowledge exchange as a catalyst for societal progress, supports artistic research through sound and musical practice, and has a strong interest in modern instrument design and sound synthesis.

Timo Kurkikangas is a sound designer who has graduated from the Sibelius Academy and is known for his work with several notable Finnish and foreign composers, orchestras, and organisations. These collaborations have resulted in numerous concerts and opera productions, new contemporary works of music, and recordings. Some of Kurkikangas’s notable recent productions include Kaija Saariaho’s operas Innocence, Only the Sound Remains, and Adriana Mater that were performed for example at Aix-en-Provence and in Tokyo, Helsinki, Savonlinna, London, Amsterdam, and San Francisco, as well as a Grammy-winning Saariaho recording with the Helsinki Chamber Choir.