Kalevi Aho is a Finnish composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Career

Born in Forssa

Forssa

Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland.It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland , in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper region. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...

, he studied composition at the Sibelius Academy

Sibelius Academy

The Sibelius Academy is a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki. The Academy is the only music university in Finland. It is among the biggest European music universities...

 under Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius.-Life:...

, receiving a diploma in 1971. He continued his studies for a year in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 with Boris Blacher. His teaching positions include music theory at the University of Helsinki

University of Helsinki

The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...

 from 1974 to 1988, and a professorship at the Sibelius Academy from 1988 to 1993. He became composer-in-residence for the Lahti Symphony Orchestra

Lahti Symphony Orchestra

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra is a Finnish orchestra, based in the city of Lahti. It was founded in 1910 and placed under the control of the Lahti municipality in 1949. In Finland the orchestra performs in the Sibelius Hall, while it also performs abroad in concert halls and festivals...

 in 1992, and conductor Osmo Vänskä

Osmo Vänskä

Osmo Antero Vänskä is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer.He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic . He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982...

 has recorded many of his recent large-scale works with the orchestra. Aho has worked as a freelance composer, with a state scholarship, since 1993. He lives in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

.

Music

Known principally as a composer of large-scale works, to date Aho has composed fifteen symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, eighteen concertos, four opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

s and several vocal works. His chamber music includes several quintet

Quintet

A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....

s, quartet

Quartet

In music, a quartet is a method of instrumentation , used to perform a musical composition, and consisting of four parts.-Western art music:...

s, sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

s and solo works. He first came to fame with his first symphony (1969) and second string quartet (1970). His works of this time showed such neo-classical

Neoclassicism (music)

Neoclassicism in music was a twentieth-century trend, particularly current in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers sought to return to aesthetic precepts associated with the broadly defined concept of "classicism", namely order, balance, clarity, economy, and emotional restraint...

 traits as a preoccupation with counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 (particularly fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

s), and stylized renderings of older forms, such as the waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

. During the next decade he wrote in modernist and post-modernist styles. His use of irony and juxtaposition of contrasting moods and musical styles and genres has been compared to Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

 and Alfred Schnittke

Alfred Schnittke

Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...

. His music also shows the influence of Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius.-Life:...

 (especially when evoking mysterious textures) and Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

. His music has been extensively recorded by BIS records

BIS Records

BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....

and his music is published by Fennica Gehrman.

Operas

• The Key (1978–79)
• Insect Life (1985–87)
• Before We Are All Drowned (1995/1999)
• The Book of Secrets (1998)

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1 (1969)
• Symphony No. 2 (1970/1995)
• Symphony No. 3, for violin and orchestra (1971–73)
• Symphony No. 4 (1972–73)
• Symphony No. 5 (1975–76)
• Symphony No. 6 (1979–80)
• Symphony No. 7 Insect Symphony (1988)
• Symphony No. 8, for organ and orchestra (1993)
• Symphony No. 9, for trombone and orchestra (1993–94)
• Symphony No. 10 (1996)
• Symphony No. 11, for six percussionists and orchestra (1997–98)
• Symphony No. 12 Luosto, for two orchestras (2002–03)
• Symphony No. 13 Symphonic Characterizations (2003)
• Symphony No. 14 Rituals, for darabuka, djembe, gongs and chamber orchestra (2007)
• Symphony No. 15 (2009–2010)
• Chamber Symphony No. 1 for 20 strings (1976)
• Chamber Symphony No. 2 for 20 strings (1991–92)
• Chamber Symphony No. 3, for alto saxophone and 20 strings (1995–96)

Orchestral

• Silence (1982)
• Paloheimo Fanfare (1989)
• Pergamon for 4 reciters, 4 orchestral groups and organ (1990)
• The Rejoicing of the Deep Waters (1995)
• Tristia. Fantasy for wind orchestra (1999)
• Symphonic Dances (2001)
• Louhi (2003)
• Lamu. Music in the space for young brass players (2008)
• Minea. Concertante Music for Orchestra (2008)

Concertante

• Violin Concerto (1981)
• Cello Concerto (1983–84)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1988–1989)
• Tuba Concerto (2000–2001)
• Piano Concerto No. 2, for piano and 20 strings (2001–2002)
• Flute Concerto (2002)
• Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra (2003)
• Bassoon Concerto (2004)
• Contrabassoon Concerto (2004–2005)
• Clarinet Concerto (2005)
• Double-Bass Concerto (2005)
• Viola Concerto (2006)
• Oboe Concerto (2007)
• The Bells. Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (2008)
• Trombone Concerto (2010)
• Percussion Concerto (2010)
• Trumpet Concerto (2011)
• Horn Concerto (2011)
• Eight Seasons. Concerto for Theremin and Chamber Orchestra (2011)

Chamber/Instrumental

• Solo I for Violin (1975), II for Piano (1985), III for Flute (1990-91), IV for Cello (1997), V for Bassoon (1999), VI for Double-Bass (1999), VII for Trumpet (2000), VIII for Baritone Horn (2003), IX for Oboe (2010), X for Horn (2010)
• In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren for Violin Solo (2009)
• Sonata for Violin Solo (1973)
• Piano Sonata (1980)
• Sonata No. 1 for Accordion (1989)
• Sonata No. 2 Black Birds for Accordion (1990)
• Ludus Solemnis for Organ (1978)
• In Memoriam for Organ (1980)
• Three Interludes for Organ (1993)
• Alles Vergängliche. Symphony for Organ (2007)
• Oboe Sonata (1985)
• Sonata for 2 Accordions (1989)
• Epilogue for Trombone and Organ (1998)
• Lamento for 2 Violins or 2 Violas (2001)
• Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano (2006)
• HAHE for 4 Cellos (2008)
• String Quartet No. 1 (1967)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1970)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1971)
• Kimasen lento [Kimanen's Flight] for String Quartet (1998)
• Three Tangos for Violin, Accordion, Guitar, Piano and Double-Bass (1999)
• Quartet for Flute, Saxophone, Guitar, and Percussion (1982)
• Oboe Quintet (1973)
• Bassoon Quintet (1977)
• Quintet for Flute, Oboe, and String Trio (1977)
• Quintet for Saxophone, Bassoon, Viola, Cello, and Double-Bass (1994)
• Clarinet Quintet (1998)
• Quintet for Flute, Violin, Two Violas, and Cello (2000)
• Wind Quintet (2006)
• String Quintet Hommage à Schubert (2009)

External links and references

• Finnish Music Information Centre minisite - including profile, discography and audio clips
• Fennica Gehrman home page (publisher) (Aho page with sound samples)
• Minnesota Orchestra's showcase concert magazine, May 6, page 43