Songs inspired by the Finnish landscape Photo Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho from Lahti, Finland

Deep in the forest

Aino Konkka, a lyric mezzo-soprano with a passion for drama and good stagecraft, movement and language skills, will delight us in St Leonards this Friday with songs from Finland’s greatest composers all inspired by the Finnish landscape, writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

Aino’s songs are by Jean Sibelius, Selim Palmgren, Aarre Merikanto and Toivo Kuula. The Finnish landscape was a great source of inspiration to Finland’s greatest composer, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957).  The 150-year anniversary of his birth is celebrated this December.

Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) was a brilliant pianist and composer and was considered during his lifetime the most internationally significant Finnish composer after Sibelius. His works are less frequently performed today – but now what a revelation!

“Never pay any attention to what critics say. Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic!” – Jean Sibelius and his monument.

Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958) created a unique modernist style in the 1920s, but after his opera, Juha, was silenced to death during his lifetime, he returned to a more traditional style of writing. These songs echo the forest and its magical creatures.

Lastly Toivo Kuula (1883-1918) wrote some of the most memorable Finnish solo songs, capturing the magic of the forest in his songs about nymphs and shepherds and the melancholy brought by the shortness of the Finnish summer. The poets of these texts include some of the most significant Finnish writers such as Finland’s national poet, J L Runeberg.

Ainno Konkka

Aino Konkka trained in music at Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Finland, and lives currently in London. She has collaborated extensively with Jenny Miller‘s  Barefoot Opera and the Longborough Festival Opera, with her operatic roles including 3rd Lady and 3rd Boy in Mozart’s Magic Flute and Bradamante in Handel/Foggitt’s Alcina. She appears on film as Bradamante in Nichola Bruce’s Alcina Pale Shadows.

Her accompanist is Richard Black, a highly versatile pianist whose work takes in opera, the symphony orchestra, chamber music and song recitals. He has worked for opera companies great and small in the UK. His ability to play almost anything at sight and his wide knowledge of the opera repertoire have made him a familiar face at opera auditions – and he employs similar talents in accompanying students of every voice and instrument at Goldsmiths College.

Deep in the Forest. Songs from Finland by Jean Sibelius, Selim Palmgren, Aarre Merikanto and Toivo Kuula. Recital with Richard Black on 4 December  at 6 The Uplands, Maze Hill, St Leonards, TN38 0HL. Please arrive 7.30pm for 8pm performance: tickets must be bought in advance online or contact barefootopera@gmail.com / 07814 873968 – £15 (£13 concessions) includes a glass of wine and canapes.
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