FREE CONCERT - KUOPIO CITY HALL

Friday 20.02.2026 at 4pm

Quartet Ensemble:
Alberta Brown, flute
Adrian Ibanez-Resjan, violin
Ilja Vasiliev, viola
Juhana Ritakorpi, cello

Double Concerto Ensemble:

Soloists:
Lila Watanabe, violin
Seppo Parkkinen, French horn
Atso Almila, conductor

Adrian Ibanez-Resjan, violin
Maria Ikonen, violin
Ilja Vasiliev, viola
Juhana Ritakorpi, cello
Josh Baker, double bass
Alberta Brown, flute
Arto Parkkinen, oboe
Karoliina Komulainen, clarinet
Lucian Dancescu, bassoon

Programme:
Atso Almila: A Musicubic Fantasy
Atso Almila: Double Concerto for Violin, French Horn and Small Orchestra

Kuopio Symphony Orchestra’s chamber ensembles perform in the Banquet Hall of Kuopio City Hall. The programme features two compositions by Atso Almila. The soloists of the Double Concerto are the KSO concertmaster Lila Watanabe and principal horn Seppo Parkkinen. The ensemble is conducted by composer and conductor Atso Almila.

A Musicubic Fantasy was written for the Kuopio-based KallaKvartetti, giving each musician an equally significant role. The work is divided into three contrasting sections. “This is specifically a flute quartet, meaning the flute’s role is not comparable to the ‘prima’ of a string quartet; instead, it brings its own colour to the combination of three string instruments. The title playfully refers to musical three-dimensionality, perhaps especially through the three characters of the work,” Almila explains. “As a composer, I absorb influences, and the clearest ones here are the Russian shades of the last century, heard in the slow waltz of the middle section. I have long described my style with the term ‘neo-this-and-that’.”

The Double Concerto for Violin and French Horn was composed at the request of Lila Watanabe and Seppo Parkkinen, and the work was completed in March 2025. “They asked for something ‘romantic’ and pleasant to listen to,” Almila says.

Duration approximately 40 minutes.

Produced by the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Free entrance