Armas
Armas is my first symphony orchestra work. It is dedicated to my late grandfather Väinö Armas Valtonen, who passed away at the age of 99 in August 2025. It gets its materials from the 1906 duet song "Oi kiitos sä luojani armollinen" ('o, thank you, my graceful creator') by Oskar Merikanto, which has been a staple performance in all the important events and festivities of my mom's side of my family. Decades ago, my grandfather used to perform it with his sister, at some point the baton was passed to my mother, and most recently my sister sang it.
Armas is part of a workshop with the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Composition department of the Sibelius Academy. A first version was played through by HKO in December 2nd, 2025, and the final version will be played by the orchestra in the second part of the workshop in the Main Concert Hall of the Music Centre in Helsinki, Finland, on April 21st, 2026.
Please contact me directly for any materials related to this piece.