KICK-OFF CONCERT
Void Iteration – If I Close My Eyes, Do I Hear?

Artturi Elovirta, Tuuli Lempa, Ulf Långbacka, Teemu Mastovaara

The concert Void iteration – If I close my eyes, do I hear? takes on various ways of approaching the theme of Void. In Ulf Långbacka’s newly written piece Void – searching, staring, leaping Tuuli Lempa’s electronically modified piano sounds combine with Teemu Mastovaara’s cello, mixing with sounds from Långbacka’s electronic keyboard and pre-recorded sound files. The sound worlds interact with Artturi Elovirta’s visual imagery. The first part of the concert consists of an improvisation by the same artists, where both visual and sound elements combine in exploration.

After the concert, the artists will create an installation titled “Void Setup – When you move, what do you see?” where the audience will walk around in the downstairs exhibition hall in the Sibelius Museum. The movements of the audience will trigger images, lights and sounds, derived from the material created for the concert. The installation is open for ABOAGORA participants on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 August.

Artturi “Ami” Elovirta is a Turku-based urban culture “multiple warhead missile”, media artist and creative entrepreneur. Artturi works in the field of creative urban culture and media art and acts as a VJ and visual artist “after dark”. He’s also a passionate electronic musician and creative generalist. Artturi works in various cultural contexts, organises events, makes projection mappings (facade projections) and is an active influencer in his hometown Turku. Artturi’s artistic interests lie in sustainable future, interaction design, creative coding and electronic music. His extensive knowledge and outside-the-box thinking complement many diverse teams, breaking the conventional way of seeing and experiencing things. His visual works have been shown at various events across Europe.

Tuuli Lempa is a versatile pianist, who uses live electronics in her artistic work. She has commissioned and premiered several compositions for piano and live electronics. She also works with professional singers, instrumentalists and choirs and composes electroacoustic music. Subjects like mysticism and the sublime inspire her and are often the common denominator in her different projects. 

Ulf Långbacka has worked as a choral conductor and lecturer in music at Åbo Akademi University since 1991. He has also been active as a composer since the 1980s, having written commissions for many choirs and institutions. Among his most important works are the opera Henrik och Häxhammaren, performed in Turku Castle in 2011, and the mass Mässa i Mångfaldens tid, which was first celebrated in 2018. Recently, he has written many works using electronics in various ways, such as Tipping Point (2021), which combines recorded sounds from the seafloor with acoustic instruments.

Teemu Mastovaara is a Turku-based cellist and composer. His artistic practice combines heartfelt cello music with electroacoustic and experimental sounds, exploring questions related to life and death. Mastovaara builds Max/MSP patches to expand his cello playing. In an effort to make his compositions more easily approachable, he likes to include ways for the audience to interact with his works. His works have been performed at, for example, WeW!, Musica Nova and Helsinki Festival. At UNM in Piteå he was joined on stage by Norrbotten NEO. He is a member of Ensemble for New Music Tallinn and has performed as a soloist with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Collegium Musicum Turku. He is a member of the Society of Finnish Composers and a graduate from Contemporary Performance and Composition, an international master’s programme with academic terms in Tallinn, Stockholm, Lyon and Hamburg.

This concert is open for all free of charge and does not require advance registration.