Finnish Composer’s Double Concerto for Viola and Percussion to Receive Premiere

Finland’s Lahti Symphony Orchestra will premiere Kalevi Aho’s Concerto for Viola, Percussion, and Orchestra. 

To be held at Sibelius House concert hall in the evening, this double concerto will be conducted by Lahti Symphony’s principal guest conductor Anja Bihlmaier, with Hiyoli Togawa on viola, and Alexej Gerassimez on percussion.

This premiere will be followed by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 in the concert program. A long-time collaborator with the Lahti Symphony, Aho was appointed as its composer-in-residence in 1992 and became honorary composer in 2011.

“[It is] always a landmark when a new work of art sees the light of day,” the Lahti Symphony wrote on their website. “The solo concerts of Kalevi Aho will continue today with a rare ensemble — when viola and percussion [meets] in an explosive combination.”

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This double concerto is one of four new concertos by Aho receiving premieres between February and March 2022. 

In addition to the premiere of his double concerto for viola and percussion, Aho’s Piccolo Clarinet Concerto Simplicus simplicissimus will be premiered by the Kuopio City Orchestra. This will be followed by The Helsinki Philharmonic premiering his Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra; and his Concerto for Alto Flute and Strings will be premiered in Skopje, Macedonia. 

Born in 1949, Aho began learning music at age 10. He studied violin and composition at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy with Einojuhani Rautavaara and with Boris Blacher at Germany’s Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst.

Between 1974 and 1988, he taught musicology at Helsinki University, and from 1988 to 1993, he served as a professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy. As of 1993, he became a freelance composer.