Outi Tarkiainen - Unpainted Portraits (2018)

Outi Tarkiainen (born 1985) is one of the most interesting composers of his generation, whose works have been ordered and presented by, among others, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Chamber Orchestra Avanti !, the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. Tarkiainen has composed vocal, chamber and solo music, works for orchestra and soloists, and music for jazz orchestras. His music publishes Edition Wilhelm Hansen.

Tarkiainen is a composer of particular interest in human voice in its diversity. His so far widespread vocal work is a Sámi-language 45-minute-long orchestra series Country, Spring Daughter (2015), with his tongue drawing the northern world's arches with colorful strokes. Many of Tarkiainen's works can find roots not only in Western art, but also in jazz music. In his works, these two traditions often live organically and innovatively with deep-sea interaction with each other. This is a great example of saxophone concert Saivo (2017), which is composed and dedicated to saxophone player Jukka Perkko.

Watery works have been presented at many important festivals such as the Helsinki Festival, Nordic Music Days, Musica Novas and Pori Jazze. In 2015 he was a resident composer at the French Musique Classique d'Uzerche Festival, where he presented six of his chamber music works. In addition to the Nordic countries, his music has been heard in several European countries as well as in the United States and Japan, Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Uusinta Ensemble, Zagros Ensemble and Henry Mancini Institute Chamber Orchestra. In his works, conductors have worked for example. John Storgårds, Okko Kamu, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Jaakko Kuusisto, as well as soloists Virpi Räisänen and jazzlegends such as David Liebman, Randy Brecker, Conrad Herwig, Peter Erskine and Dick Oatts.

As a composer and conductor, Tarkiainen has performed in Ljubljana on the invitation of the Slovenian Radio Jazz Orchestra and invited by Norrbotten Big Band on Swedish tours in 2011 and 2015. In 2008 he won the 1st prize in the international Jazzverk -big band composing competition in Sweden with his work Oglütz. In the fall of 2017, Alba Records released the Beyond Poems debut album Tarkiainen Chamber Music, featuring soprano Tuuli Lindeberg, Kamus Quartet and Uusinta Ensemble musicians. Into the Woodland Silence, a debut jazz production debut, was released in 2013 and featured the Norrbotten Big Band soloist vocalist Aili Ikonen. Tarko production has also been recorded by Umo Jazz Orchestra, Lapland Chamber Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra and Metropole String Orchestra and Emma Salokoski.

Tarkiainen studied at the Sibelius Academy under the guidance of Eero Hämeenniemi and Veli-Matti Puumala and graduated as a Master of Music in 2010. He has completed his studies, London Guildhall School of Music and University of Miami. In addition to his compositions, Tarkiainen has served as the artistic leader of the Lappish Silence Festival in 2014-2018.