
Songs my grandfather could have sung to me
Songs that could have been in different versions, as Miika remembers them
"Mytomato is a brilliant piece, dancing away on the borders of parody and multi-layered commentary – musical and extra-musical – all woven together with witty irony and creative craziness."
"Die grafische Notationstechnik Soune, an der der Komponist seit Jahren arbeitet, transzendiert durch ihre visuelle Komponenete die Grenzen traditioneller Notation und bietet Raum für humorvolle, tiefgründige und gleichzeitig körperliche Erlebnisse auf der Bühne. "
"Intellectually stimulating and teasingly funny art of our time."
"A peculiar, yet ever-so-wonderful mixture of absurd comedy and versatile virtuosity, gorgeously performed by Heikkilä and Kozlovski"
"This three-hour, precisely timed sound structure is a confusing, constantly moving deconstruction of language, voice and sound. […] The bizarre fascination that the spectacle has created will not get out of your head so quickly."
"Voice Box was full of tongue in cheek [...] that allowed the audience to fully join in."
"The avant-garde business trip to the green creates a situational border experience with a feel-good program."
"The audience […] experiences an masterfull musical performance, which is then deconstructed in an irritating sequence of events at different locations in a deliberately bizarre manner."
"Delightful and playful experimental opera from young Finnish composer"
"Genuinely avantgardistic German music theatre."
A song cycle that shows the classical Liedzyklus in a new light
The texts of these art songs are something most of us don’t even stop to read properly. Theatre plays start by telling us what the stage looks like: The balcony of Juliet and the terrace of Herodias. These words are loaded with meaning and drama, but at the same time, they have almost poetical clarity. They tell us where the drama is going to happen. And with the help of experimental music theatre and nuanced use of the singing voice, these texts are woken up by the singer.
Any number of the songs may be performed in a concert in any order. The songs are written to be premiered by different voices and different instruments. The accompanying instruments include piano, violin, viola, kantele, and saxophones.
The Xenon ensemble commissioned four Debussy parts.
The full list of Hyytiäinen’s songs, including the different versions, can be found here.
The parts (as of August 2023)
June 5th 2023, Helsinki: Arabia Kaikkuu concert series
Joonatan Rautiola, voice; Maritta Manner, piano
Ulla Raiskio, voice; Armaan Madar, piano
June 3rd 2019 in Cité internationale des arts
Marine Boustie, soprano; Dejana Sekulic, violin
September 30th and November 25th 2018 in Schwartze Villa and Villa Elisabeth
May 16th 2017 by Opera on Tap, Chicaco: The Elbo Room
Mezzosoprano Kelly Bourget
March 18th 2017, Music Hall, Helsinki: Dramatised Concert: Omin Äänin
Anna-Maija Oka, soprano; Irina Cederberg, kantele; Maritta Manner, piano; Juho Eerola, dramaturgy director
Songs that could have been in different versions, as Miika remembers them
Emote is a emotions for voice, percussion and video.
Experimenting with the graphic notation
"Mytomato is a brilliant piece, dancing away on the borders of parody and multi-layered commentary – musical and extra-musical – all woven together with witty irony and creative craziness."
"Die grafische Notationstechnik Soune, an der der Komponist seit Jahren arbeitet, transzendiert durch ihre visuelle Komponenete die Grenzen traditioneller Notation und bietet Raum für humorvolle, tiefgründige und gleichzeitig körperliche Erlebnisse auf der Bühne. "
"Intellectually stimulating and teasingly funny art of our time."
"A peculiar, yet ever-so-wonderful mixture of absurd comedy and versatile virtuosity, gorgeously performed by Heikkilä and Kozlovski"
"This three-hour, precisely timed sound structure is a confusing, constantly moving deconstruction of language, voice and sound. […] The bizarre fascination that the spectacle has created will not get out of your head so quickly."
"Voice Box was full of tongue in cheek [...] that allowed the audience to fully join in."
"The avant-garde business trip to the green creates a situational border experience with a feel-good program."
"The audience […] experiences an masterfull musical performance, which is then deconstructed in an irritating sequence of events at different locations in a deliberately bizarre manner."
"Delightful and playful experimental opera from young Finnish composer"
"Genuinely avantgardistic German music theatre."