Víkingur Ólafsson, Klaus Mäkelä and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra perform the world premiere of Sauli Zinovjev’s Piano Concerto on 7 January. The concerto is performed alongside Sibelius’ Symphony No. 4. Watch and listen LIVE at Yle Areena.

Co-commissioned by Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Zinovjev’s piano concerto was completed in early autumn 2019. His previous concertos completed in 2017 – the violin concerto Der Leiermann and the cello concerto Die Welt — Ein Tor – could be described as sister works, but the starting point for the piano concerto has been different. ​“The violin and cello concerts are more thought-provoking and lack a virtuoso aspect, while the piano concerto is more playful,” Zinoviev describes.

Zinoviev knew when composing the concerto that Víkingur Ólafsson would perform it: ​“It certainly affected the nature of the work. He has made some great records of, for example, Philip Glass’ and Bach’s music, and there is something minimalist in the piano texture of this concerto too.”