Joel Järventuasta's new Piano Concerto Fantasy will be premiered on October 29, 2025, by Joonas Ahonen and The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In a spectacular concert, under the direction of Ilan Volkov, uniting past and future, adventurous pianist Joonas Ahonen will take us on an adventure about life, love and parenthood.
The work is dedicated to Järventausta's son and wife.
I began writing 'Fantasy' for Joonas Ahonen around the same time as I learned my wife and I were expecting our first child. Overjoyed by these news and excitement about the future, led to a boost in creativity I had never experienced before. The piece began to almost write itself and musical ideas came to me faster than ever. Spontaneous and fantastical in character, much of the work was written in a matter of weeks. Suddenly however, our son was born very prematurely, spending many difficult months at the Neonatal Intensive Care. During those months the music began to take a different shape, reflective of our exhaustion and anxiety. Yet, what underpins the whole work, is a sense of adventure and of course, hope.
- Joel Järventausta
The commission came to be, right after the Finnish Premiere of Sunfall in November 2023.
At the end of a fabulous evening under the direction of Sir George Benjamin, The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra turned to the composer and declared that it was time for Järventausta to write a work for them, and so he did.
