The everyday mini-opera Once, set in a hardware shop and composed by Heta Aho with a libretto by Juha Itkonen, will once again be performed by the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In the spirit of Musica Nova’s 2027 ‘Perspectives’ theme, the concert explores the various dimensions of the musical experience, as Márton Illés’s Ljubljana24 and Jesper Nordin’s Sculpting the Air (Gestural Exformation) open up new perspectives on the relationship between sound, movement and listening.
Márton Illés
Ljubljana24
Jesper Nordin
Sculpting the Air
Interval
Heta Aho & Juha Itkonen (libretto)
Once, one-act opera for soloist and orchestra, concert version
Once again examines time, memory and humanity from different perspectives.
In Heta Aho and Juha Itkonen’s mini-opera Once, an everyday encounter in a hardware shop opens up a view into the past, as the love, uncertainty and passion of youth suddenly return to the present. The work invites the listener to view the same life from two angles simultaneously: from the distance of the present and from the immediate closeness of memories.
Once tells a love story in the form of a one-act opera, in which the protagonists meet at a hardware store somewhere along a ring road. When the woman encounters her ex, suddenly her entire youth — love, uncertainty, and madness — floods back through her.
Former Tapiola Sinfonietta artist-in-residence, writer Juha Itkonen, and composer Heta Aho created the work Once on commission from the Tapiola Sinfonietta for the 2024 Nuoruus (Youth) Festival. The soloist is singer, cellist, and composer Anni Elif.
Aho drew inspiration for the work from Yona’s idea that “Powerful emotions need an entire orchestra as their canvas.” Yona made this remark while recording the album Uni johon herään (2021) with the Tapiola Sinfonietta.
The musical expression has been inspired not only by Anni Elif herself, with her jazz background, but also by the legendary pop stars Carola Standertskjöld, Seija Simola, and Irina Milan, as well as the rich arrangements of their 1970s recordings.
“The hardware store setting has inspired Aho’s musical imagination to run wild. She masterfully and inventively combines different styles — nostalgic entertainment, jazz, contemporary music, and classical.” Helsingin Sanomat, April 12, 2024
In the spirit of Musica Nova’s theme for 2027, Perspectives, the concert also explores the various dimensions of the musical experience. Márton Illés’s Ljubljana24 and Jesper Nordin’s Sculpting the Air (Gestural Exformation) examine sound, movement and listening from new perspectives.
Together, these works form a whole in which perspective is not merely a way of seeing the world, but also a way of hearing, remembering and experiencing it.
Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre
Tickets 10–35 € + subscription fees (starting at €1.50 + 0.65% of the total amount of the order www.lippu.fi)
