Day Night Day - reduced orchestration (2026)

Day Night Day is an orchestral work about the northern light and ice that every winter invade the land but that reflect the early spring light in brilliant spectra. The work incorporates references to two Sámi melodies: a yoik by Láve Nigá Risten from the Teno region of Northern Finnish Lapland heralded by trumpets towards the beginning of the work, and a variation of the old South Sámi lullaby Sjamma, sjamma hummed at the end by the woodwinds. The musical themes spring from my forthcoming opera Day of Night jointly commissioned by Aalto Musiktheater Essen and Finnish National Opera and Ballet. The libretto of this opera based on the novel Halla Helle by the Sámi writer Niillas Holmberg is by Aleksi Barrière. The orchestral work Day Night Day was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic together with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.