Outi Tarkiainen

Outi Tarkiainen’s saxophone concerto Saivo (2017) is an intense and brilliant sonic adventure full of a mysterious sense of waiting. The word ”saivo” originates from the ancient Sami belief in a two-bottomed lake, where under a lake dwells another lake and world inhabited by otherworldly creatures – the exact mirror image of our world. The concerto builds sonorous timbral bridges between the soprano saxophone and the orchestra to grow into an illusion of another reality which is similar, yet peculiarly different from the world we know. The work was commissioned by Tapiola Sinfonietta and is dedicated to the saxophonist Jukka Perko, who has been one of the most important ambassadors of Finnish jazz for 30 years.

Tarkiainen (born 1985) is one of Finland’s young, emerging composers and has written music for and conducted jazz orchestras. Today she focuses on writing music for symphony orchestra, ensembles, and chamber groups. Tarkiainen was born in Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, a place that has proved a constant source of inspiration for her. She studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Guildhall School in London, and at the University of Miami. She has been composer in residence at the Festival de Musique Classique d’Uzerche in France and is artistic director of the Silence Festival in Lapland.