14.3.2025 6 pm
Tapiola Garden
Tickets 20 / 15 €

Multi-award-winning British saxophonist and composer Emma Rawicz emerged on the international stage to critical acclaim with her first release on the prestigious ACT label at the age of just 21. Now, after making her debut on many of Europe’s most important stages and festival lineups, including Ronnie Scott’s, Cadogan Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, Burghausen Jazz Festival and more, she has sown the seeds of a major career, and become known as one of the leading artists of her generation.

Rawicz was the youngest ever Artist in Residence at Cambridge Jazz Festival and has received several awards and nominations recognizing her achievements. Emma has also recently been selected as a BBC New Generation Artist from September 2024 for two years. With over 70 shows as bandleader and featured artist across 16 countries (a. o. UK, NL, BE, PL, NO, SE, DE, FR, CH) in the past year alone, Emma is rapidly becoming highly sought after as a performer, as well as developing her craft and unique, recognizable sound as a player and composer.

Her music is distinct and engaging, thanks to her endlessly melodic compositions, infectious grooves and a virtuosity on her instrument that is well beyond her years. Emma’s sound on the saxophone is a defining part of her identity, with a range that spans gorgeous tone on ballads and fiery exhortations in thrilling odd time and groove numbers. Emma’s music is both sophisticated and wholly accessible, with an honest joyful commitment that is present regardless of the setting.

This concert is part of Better Live, a project co-financed by the European Union’s Creative Europe program.

Emma Rawicz – saxophone
David Preston – guitar
Joshua Ginsberg – double bass
Marc Michel – drums

17.30 doors
18.00 Trio Taival (student band)
19.00 Emma Rawicz Quartet

21.3.2025 6pm
Tapiola Garden
Tickets 20 / 15 €

Olli Soikkeli has become one of the world's most renowned gypsy jazz guitarists. Now he performs in Finland with his New York trio, bassist Antti Lötjönen and drummer Ben Zweig. The concert is part of the trio's Finnish album release tour.

Soikkeli, who has been living in New York for more than ten years, has performed alongside world stars of the genre at jazz clubs and festivals throughout Europe and the United States.

"Olli Soikkeli, is a riveting Finnish guitarist who combines astonishing dexterity and speed with pure soul in a way that places him among the worthiest current day successors to the legacy of the great Django." – The Wall Street Journal

Olli Soikkeli, guitar
Antti Lötjönen, bass
Ben Zweig, drums (US)

17.30 doors
18.00 Student band
19.00 Olli Soikkeli New York Trio

4.4.2025 6.30 pm
Exhibition Centre WeeGee

Free entry!

Jonathan Bäckström Quartet is an acoustic improvising Finnish-Swedish ensemble led by Kruunupyy-based bassist-composer Jonathan Bäckström. The company's debut album was released in 2024 on the Finnish label We Jazz Records. The quartet's expression ranges from minimalist soundscapes to explosive and multi-layered free improvisation. Each musician brings their own unique voice to the concoction and the collective result is a powerful musical statement. Bäckström will be joined on tour by alto saxophonist Marcus Wärnheim, tenor saxophonist Adele Sauros and drummer Joonas Leppänen, who will be filling in for Benjamin Nylund in this concert.

Jonathan Bäckström - bass
Adele Sauros - tenor saxophone
Marcus Wärnheim - alto saxophone
Joonas Leppänen - drums

11.4.2025 6 pm
Tapiola Garden
Tickets 25 / 20 €

This special line-up includes pianist and singer Tuomo Prättälä, one of the most popular jazz/soul/r'n'b singers in our country, Maja Mannila, and guitarist and bassist Johannes Granroth who is known i.a. from the Maja Mannila Trio and Peela.

In addition to the material from both Tuomo's and Maja's repertoire, we will also be hearing some familiar covers.

Tuomo Prättälä – piano, vocals
Maja Mannila – vocals
Johannes Granroth – bass

17.30 doors
18.00 Student band
19.00 Tuomo Prättälä & Maja Mannila & Johannes Granroth

9.5.2025 6 pm
Tapiola Garden
Tickets 20 / 15 €

Anni Kiviniemi is a jazz pianist and composer based in Los Angeles, who has performed extensively across the Nordic countries, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada, both as a solo artist and with her own trio. Kiviniemi’s boundary-pushing musical style balances on the edge of chaos and order, navigating the subtle line between improvisation and composed material. Attentive listeners may detect influences ranging from Slavic folk dances and 20th-century classical piano music to Middle Eastern musical traditions and free jazz.

Anni Kiviniemi Trio’s debut album Eir (We Jazz Records), released in 2024, has been described as “lyrical and explosive” as well as “uncompromisingly original, beautiful, and timeless”. Although the structure of the pieces is carefully crafted, Kiviniemi encourages her fellow musicians to take risks, explore new ideas, and have fun: as a result, no two live performances of the songs are ever the same. Kiviniemi invites her audience (and often herself) to be surprised, moved, and challenged.

Anni Kiviniemi – piano
Jori Huhtala – bass
Olavi Louhivuori – drums

17.30 doors
18.00 Student band
19.00 Anni Kiviniemi Trio