Lotta Annukka Wennäkoski (born Helsinki, 8 February 1970) is a Finnish composer.[1]

Wennäkoski studied the violin at the Béla Bartók Secondary Grammar and Technical School of Music in Budapest, Hungary between 1989–1990 and music theory and composition at the Sibelius Academy between 1994 and 2000 under Eero Hämeenniemi, Kaija Saariaho and Paavo Heininen and in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague between 1998 and 1999 under Louis Andriessen.[2][3]

Wennäkoski began her career as a composer by composing for radio plays and short films. A major landmark on her career was a concert at the Musica Nova Helsinki festival in 1999. Her notable works include Sakara for orchestra (2003), commissioned by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the string quartet Culla d’aria (2004), commissioned by the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Hava for chamber orchestra, the flute concerto Soie (2009), one of the recommended works at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in 2012, Verdigris for chamber orchestra (2015), commissioned by The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Flounce for orchestra, commissioned by the BBC and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2017.[4]

As a composer, Wennäkoski has been described as a lyricist[5] and a lyrical Modernist and post-Expressionist,[6] and she has described herself as "often navigating in an area between exciting timbral qualities and more conventional gestures like melodic fragments".[7]

Wennäkoski acted as the artistic director of the Tampere Biennale festival in 2008 and 2010, as the composer-in-residence of the Tapiola Sinfonietta during the season 2010–2011 and designed the program of the Avanti! Summer Sounds festival in 2017.[8]

Recordings

  • Nosztalgiaim, Sade avaa ("Rain opens"), Culla d'aria, Love and Life of a Woman – Avanti! Chamber Orchestra; Tuomas Hannikainen, conductor; Eija Räisänen, soprano; Tanja Kauppinen-Savijoki, soprano; Riikka Rantanen, mezzo-soprano (Alba Records)
  • Soie, Hava, Amor Omnia Suite – Kersten McCall, flute; Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor (Ondine)
  • Balai – Petri Kumela, guitar (Alba Records)
  • Limn (2002), solo bass clarinet (Orlando Records)[9]

References

  1. ↑ Paavilainen, Ulla, ed. (2014). Kuka kukin on: Henkilötietoja nykypolven suomalaisista 2015 [Who’s Who in Finland, 2015] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Otava. p. 993. ISBN 978-951-1-28228-0.
  2. ↑ Howell, Tim (2012). "Out of the shadows and silences: Lotta Wennäkoski in profile". Tempo. 66 (259): 2–14. doi:10.1017/S0040298212000010. S2CID 145761176. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Nordic Music Days 2017 London". Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  4. ↑ "Wennäkoski, Lotta (*1970): Fennica Gehrman – Finnish sheet music". Fennica Gehrman. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. ↑ Vesa, Karoliina (21 August 2017). "A composer of this world (on Lotta Wennäkoski)". Finnish Music Quarterly. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Korhonen, Kimmo (2003). Inventing Finnish Music: Contemporary Composers from Medieval to Modern. Translated by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. Helsinki: Finnish Music Information Centre. p. 224. ISBN 952-50-7636-9. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Cummings, Simon (9 September 2017). "Proms 2017: pre-premiere questions with Lotta Wennäkoski". Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  8. ↑ "XXXII Summer Sounds Festival 28.6.-2.7.2017: "Chantefables – Songs and Sagas"". Avanti!. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  9. ↑ "Monologues 2020". Orlando Records. 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
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