The Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA, in cooperation with the April Jazz Festival has commissioned a sound installation from Sid Hille. The installation will be on display at the museum from April 27th, 2019 through January 3rd, 2020.

Sid’s sound installation is called ‘In Dialogue’. The work is inspired by the artistic work of the two legendary Finnish designers Tapio Wirkkala and Rut Bryk. The married couple had an enormous impact on Finnish daily life, with their output ranging from drinking glasses, ceramics, wood panels or coffee pots to futuristic architecture and city design.
Wirkkala’s and Bryk’s work is on exposition in a separate wing at EMMA, which is where Sid’s sound installation shall also be placed.

‘In Dialogue I-V’ comprises of five soundscapes that relate to elements Wirkkala and Bryk were dealing with in their own artistic work: Air, Wood, Glass, Fire and Concrete.

Actually, the ‘Concrete’-movement is relating to the surrounding space of the exhibition, the wonderfully brutal architecture of the WeeGee-house, designed by architect Arno Ruusuvuori.This is the third time EMMA and April Jazz have commissioned compositions like this. Previous installations were created by guitarist Raoul Björkenheim and saxophonist Esa Pietilä, respectively.

Additionally to the installation the commission includes several live performances at the museum.
Sid’s avantgarde-trio F# (with bassist Jori Huhtala and drummer Markus Ketola) will perform on the opening day of the exhibition, on April 27th, 2019 at 3pm, as part of the April Jazz Festival 2019.
There will be three more concerts during the year: on August, 30th Sid will be in dialogue with guitarist Jarmo Saari, on November 23rd with Austrian saxophonist Herbert Könighofer and on January 3rd, 2020 Sid will perform alone, as a multi-instrumentalist, in dialogue with himself.

In case you are curious about what the music sounds like, here is a clip with some excerpts of the five movements:

You are listening to:

Pepa Päivinen on bass flute, bass clarinet, bass and soprano saxophones

Jori Huhtala on double bass and electric bass

Markus Ketola on drums and percussion

Sid Hille on piano, electric piano, theremin and synthesizer

Additionally, in between recording the tracks, all four musicians would sit in a circle to overdub various percussive sounds, voices, whispers, knocking or paper crushing.

After a considerable time of absence from this page (it looks like our last post is from August 2016 – Sorry!), we’re back in office.
A lot has happened and this page needs a serious overhaul. So bear with us for a little longer.

Here are just the most important highlights that will be incorporated into this site as soon as possible:
– SatnaMusic’s 2017 CD release ‘Sid Hille Camerata – Farbformen’ contained two of Sid’s string quartets and a string quintet (with Sid playing the piano). The CD got nominated for ‘Best recording of the year 2017’ on the YLE – National Broadcasting Company, and won the public vote.

– In April 2018 we released something completely different: Sid’s new trio by the name of F# released a CD of completely improvised music – nothing composed, everything happened spontaneously during one day in the studio.
The amazing thing is that this didn’t turn out to be total chaos. Rather the opposite: the three composers in the band (bassist Jori Huhtala and drummer Markus Ketola additional to Sid) are composing also when improvising. Closely listening to each other, throwing in ideas, responding to others, resulted in a thrilling, sometimes meditative, sometimes anarchistic collection of moods that spellbinds the listener and makes him/her beg for more (at least, that’s what it did to us). The whole thing is called ‘The Wannsee Punk’ (SatnaMusic CD 181).

– Sid’s concerto for organ and wind orchestra ‘Crux’ had its first performance on August 28th. Organ virtuoso Susanne Kujala who had also commissioned the composition was the soloist and renowned conductor Ville Matvejeff conducting the Kaartin soittokunta, Finland’s top symphonic wind orchestra.

– In the meantime F# has been very active. A recent tour in September 2018 took them to Estonia again where they recorded their second album, which is to be released in spring 2019. During that three concert tour each night a different soloist joined the band guaranteeing that every night is completely fresh and unprepared. In Helsinki the band performed at the Koko Jazz Club with guitarist Jarmo Saari, in Tallinn with the two singers Ivi Rausi and Laura Põldvere, and in Viljandi with singer Liina Saar who had already visited them during the ‘Wannsee’ recording session the previous year and contributed to three of the songs on the album.

– Next up is a three concert tour in November with Austrian multi-instrumentalist Herbert Könighofer in Finland and in March 2019 F# will be joined by Italian saxophonist Enzo Favata.

– SatnMusic’s most recent sheet music release is a collection of miniatures for organ Sid had composed in early 2017 on a commission from the West Helsinki Music School.

Sid Hille has recorded new soundscapes: UGETSU will be released on vinyl as well as CD.
As he had done on ONE (2011), Sid played an arsenal of instruments ranging from piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano and synths all the way to theremin, the Finnish traditional instrument kantele, melodica and percussion.

On UGETSU Sid also invited some guest musicians to contribute their own personal colours to the sound painting: Jukka Perko – soprano saxophone, Anni Elif Egecioglu – voice, Virpi Taskila – voice and Teemu Viinikainen – guitar.

Watch the video from the studio:

UGETSU will be released on August 25th, 2016, on the occasion of Sid’s appearance at the Viapori Jazz Festival in Helsinki. There, Sid Hille & Foreign Friends will interpret songs that have shaped the identity of Finnish people, songs of a wide variety: traditional folk songs (‘Niin minä neitonen’), recent pop hits (‘Maailman toisella puolen’), tango classics (‘Mustasukkaisuus’) and hymns (‘Suvivirsi’).

Sid Hille’s third string quartet ‘Quatuor no. 3 – Equilibrium’ had its first performance last week. In three concerts around the Helsinki area the Sid Hille Camerata presented their fresh and dynamic take on chamber music. Additional to the premier of ‘Equilibrium’ two movements of Sid’s second string quartet were performed as well as two pieces for piano and strings.
The Camerata will play one more concert this spring on May 7th at the Uusi Paviljonki in Kauniainen.
Here is a clip from the Temppeliaukio Church concert:

After the chamber music concert in Kauniainen, Sid puts his jazz hat back on and presents two exciting bands on two consecutive Saturdays in May:

– SH5, the newly-formed Sid Hille Quintet with trumpeter Verneri Pohjola, saxophonist Manuel Dunkel, Sid on piano, bassist Jori Huhtala and drummer Teppo Mäkynen, will play a ‘Tribute to the Platypus‘, compositions by Sid that had been in the repertoire of the Platypus Ensemble in the beginning of the 2000’s.
Koko Jazz Club, Helsinki on Saturday May 14th, 2016

– the Contemporary Collective, the weird quartet featuring Heikki Nikula on bass clarinet, Teemu Viinikainen on guitar, Markus Hohti on cello and electronica and Sid Hille on piano, theremin and electronica, will present a new repertoire and appear in a new formation with drum wizard Mika Kallio joining the band.
Koko Jazz Club, Helsinki on Saturday May 21st, 2016

Welcome to our concerts!

Hello everybody,

it’s been a while since we’ve updated SatnaMusic’s site, so here’s a little roundup of what’s happened in fall 2015 and what are our plans for 2016.

2015 saw a lot of activity in the live arena. SatnaMusic organized a tour for Sid’s Contemporary Collective to two cities in Germany. The band played two gigs at a lovely little club in Berlin-Neukölln called the ‘Sowieso’ and continued with three concerts at the Musiktage Festival in Donaueschingen in the surroundings of the contemporary art museum ArtPlus.
Here you can see a complete set of the second night in Berlin

…and here’s a video of the last concert in Donaueschingen

Another interesting concert took place on October 22nd in Helsinki’s Temppeliaukio Church, when renowned trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and Sid presented their new duo project ‘NUCLEUS’

Now for the new year 2016.
Sid has composed new music for string quartet. ‘Quatuor no.3 – Equilibrium’ will be performed by the Sid Hille Camerata in a little concert series in April and May

– April 12th, Länsi-Helsingin musiikkiopisto, Munkkiniemi
– April 15th, Temppeliaukio Church, Helsinki
– April 17th, Pitsku Culture Church, Pitäjänmäki
– May 7th, Uusi Paviljonki, Kauniainen

The Contemporary Collective has already started their season with a concert last week in Juttutupa, Helsinki. This avantgarde setup returns on May 21st with a concert at Helsinki’s nowadays most important jazz club ‘Koko‘.

Take a look at all of Sid’s upcoming gigs here.

SatnaMusic will be releasing at least two new recordings this year: Sid’s follow-up on his legendary soundscapes-vinyl-release ‘ONE‘ – this one will be ‘TWO’ – to be recorded in February, and in fall all three of Sid’s string quartets by the Sid Hille Camerata.
Some plans involving the Sid Hille Brotherhood and a newly founded piano trio (which doesn’t even have a name yet) will be revealed in our next update.

So, stay tuned! And thanks for stopping by!

Sid has recorded new piano improvisations based on songs from the Finnish Book of Hymns.
The new CD ‘How Shall I Receive You’ (SatnaMusic CD 151) will be released on Midsummer Day June 20th, 2015, on the occasion of Sid’s 325th solo concert in the Temppeliaukio Church in Helsinki.

Here is a little video clip from the recording session:

And here you may listen to ‘Ilta on tullut, Luojani – Dusk has settled, my Lord’ (vk 563)

The Contemporary Collective is on tour in Finland just now.
Last week the band performed in five cities, one of which was actually Tallinn in Estonia, our neighbour country across the Baltic Sea, and this week has started with two concerts on the same day, yesterday in Kokkola and Kaustinen.

All concerts are filmed and 2-4 minute excerpts are published on our YouTube and Vimeo sites.

Here is a little clip from the concert in Turku on May 8th

Contemporary Collective groovin’ in Turku from Sid Hille on Vimeo.

The remaining concerts this week will be in
Nurmes on Wednesday May 13th
Joensuu on Thursday May 14th
Kuopio on Friday May 15th and
Lahti on Saturday May 16th

For concerts in Germany this fall, please refer to Sid’s gig calendar

The Teosto prize is a prestigious prize awarded by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society ‘Teosto’ to highlight fresh, original and innovative works.
The prize is awarded each year to 1-4 works in any genre.

A splendid candidate for the year 2014 is obviously the Sid Hille Contemporary Collective’s recording ‘Outer Space’ that features just exactly all of the necessary elements for this prize:
– it is as fresh and alive as a concert performance can be, spontaneous, surprising, virtuosic and mesmerizing
– it is definitely original, combining instruments in a rather unusual way, with bass clarinet, guitar, piano and cello, (all of them having a very large range of register, each instrument being able to take turns as bass provider or as soloist, way up high in the register), and creating unusual, even unheard-of new textures, adding electronica to the traditional tone colors
– and most certainly it is innovative, by not only crossing boundaries between genres but simply defying them, rendering them irrelevant, saying: this is not music of a certain genre, this is simply music! Here and Now! (Where it should be.)

‘Outer Space’ is just the kind of work that the Teosto prize was instigated for.

Contemporary Collective Outer Space (2014)

And here is, why ‘Outer Space’ most likely will not even be nominated:

– works are nominated by the various genres’ peer groups, the classical Finnish Composers’ society, the pop composers’ and lyricists’ society Elvis, the publishing houses, some radio journalists.

– none of these peer groups have a particular interest in ‘Outer Space’, because
1. it represents neither typical contemporary classical nor typical jazz or pop music (which we consider its very merit)
2. as mainly improvised music it can’t be published in sheet music, so it’s out for the publishers and
3. with it’s duration of 40 minutes it has received practically no radio play at all, as it doesn’t fit into the slots and playlists that radio nowadays consists of. (There are a few great exceptions with programs such as Avaruusromua or Välilevyjä on the Finnish National Broadcast YLE 1).

– last year the award went to a pop musician, the year before to a contemporary classical composer and a pop singer, and the year before that, a folk musician got the prize. It’s been a while since a jazz act was awarded, so it’s easy to guess whose turn it will be this year. And it’s also the reason why this act will most likely be a clear-cut jazz purist – modernist of course, but mainstream nonetheless – that’ll keep the jazz guys happy for a while again, fair play between the genres, you know.

– even though ‘Outer Space’ has received some raving reviews from the essential critics in Finland, and even though the Sid Hille Contemporary Collective has been touring throughout the country, the phenomenon is utterly marginal next to the various music program formats, such as Voice of Finland and the likes, that have gotten huge media exposure  – even the jazz radio didn’t touch ‘Outer Space’! And a small company like SatnaMusic has no means and resources to push their artists’ products in any similar way as the multi-nationals do.

The ways of the industry are mysterious: have the people who decide about this prize even heard of ‘Outer Space’?

Well, whatever! With your support, dear friends, readers and listeners, we will continue to produce quality, artistic and beautiful music, without compromise, not bending to fit any slots or peer groups, and maybe one day, by coincidence or destiny, somebody in the right position will pay attention and notice some of the very interesting things that are happening here, in the creative margins outside of the genres.

SatnaMusic proudly presents the new video of the Sid Hille Contemporary Collective

In Finnland weht ein frischer Jazzwind from Sid Hille on Vimeo.

Filmed in beautiful black & white with some stylish Finnish production design this 4-minute clip is intended for the German speaking audiences in the first place as Sid’s voice-over is spoken in German. But the pictures and music of the clip of course can be appreciated by anybody.

The Music Finland organization has started its campaign ‘AusFinnland’ that takes Finnish music and culture to Central Europe. The campaign is supported by the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economy and is the largest cultural export effort ever to be organized with public funds.

SatnaMusic and the music of Sid Hille are part of this campaign.
We will organize concert tours for Sid’s bands such as the Contemporary Collective in this video, but also the Sid Hille Brotherhood and the Finnish-Italian Infinita.

Check Sid’s gig calendar for all the latest updates.

Half a year of preparations will come to its fruition this week when the Contemporary Collective takes off to Lapland to play the first concert of this fall’s tour:

– October 23rd Korundi hall, Rovaniemi
– October 234th Music house, Tornio
– October 29th Kanneltalo, Helsinki
– November 7th Kaukametsä hall, Kajaani
– November 9th Keskus Centralen, Loviisa
– November 13th Kansi Auki Festival, Kapsäkki, Helsinki

The first three concerts will present the original version of the band with the string quartet, as they performed on their acclaimed debut album ‘The Zen Connection’ (2012).

The latter three concerts present the condensed quartet version of the band with bass clarinet, guitar, piano and cello who are releasing at the same time their new CD ‘Outer Space’ (2014).

As the two set-ups perform quite different material, intricate compositions on part of the string band and almost entirely improvised soundscapes on part of the smaller band, Sid decided to distinguish the two more clearly by giving the string band a new name: The Sid Hille Jazz Camerata.

While the new CD ‘Outer Space’ is already scoring raving reviews, the Jazz Camerata will record new music in its own right next spring.

2015 will see both bands actively performing. The Contemporary Collective is already booked for a Finnish jazz federation tour in May 2015 and also several international concerts are in the works.
The Jazz Camerata will be part of a concert series called Da Capo at the Pitsku Culture Church where a composition will be performed, then discussed and analyzed with the audience and then played again.
Check Sid’s gig calendar for the precise concert dates.