At the opening show of the International Green Week the guest will have the opportunity to experience the natural as well as the cultural scenary of the northernmost country of the EU through music, dance and food. On the stage you will see the presentations of pianist Iiro Rantala and a dance group VäkeväCollective.
Iiro Rantala plays the sounds of four seasons and mood of the Finns
Iiro Rantala is an energetic keyboard lion, who crosses music genres and styles with flair and excitement, playing at his exhilarating and adventurous best. Zany, unconventional and occasionally wicked, yet always entertaining and uncompromising. Iiro Rantala is among the most internationally visible Finnish musicians and is second to none when it comes to unsurpassed keyboard technique and flaring showmanship. Rantala is already at the level of his heroes. He is also a highly respected and regularly performing concert pianist and a perfect master of the traditional jazz piano. Rantala understands and creates his music from these different angles. In this he is unique.
In his show Iiro Rantala introduces all of his arsenal from jazz to classical, and tunes in some places to the jazzy, more humorous moods. Rantala compacty describes Finnish four seasons and to those related mental states of Finns.
This describes perfectly Iiro Rantalas way of playing: “More than ever, Iiro Rantala is now playing what he enjoys. He is a seasoned performer and his touch at the piano is uniquely beguiling. His ability subtly to vary his sound and the imagination he brings to his melodic lines are unforgettable. Rantala can sweep listeners of their feet, he can be clown and magician, charmer and virtuoso, maverick and humorist.” (Jazz critic of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ralf Dombrowski)
President of the Rebublic of Finland, Sauli Niinistö invited Iiro Rantala to a dinner with Federal president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 18th of September last year, during mr Steinmeiers state visit to Finland.
Traditional folkdance meets modern thinking
VäkeväCollective is an arts community from Helsinki that consist of dancers, musicians as well as planners of performing arts. Collective unifies the traditional folk dance with modern context and thinking. During recent years the group has produced international, cross-cultural works that integrate elements from art, research and documentation.
At the opening of the Green Week the group will show the award-winning Trinomia -performance. In it dancers combine traditional elements of Finnish folkdance to the dynamics that arise from the nature of the north, where force and counterforce, repetition and separation as well as light and shadow follow one another. In the sounds of the performance the vulnerable kantele (Finnish Zither) meets robust bass.
Coreography of the performance is made my Tuomas Mikkola, composition of the music by Maija Kauhanen and voice design by Mitja Nylund. The arrangement and direction of the performance has been made by Tuomas Mikkola and Outi Markkula.
Finnish culinary team will bring fresh flavours from trendy Nordic cuisine
On the menu guest can enjoy the know-how as well as pure tastes of Finnish cuisine by the Finnish Culinary Team. The team has recently been renewed and is now full of fresh, young chefs eager to reach their limits at international level in the coming years. On the menu one can enjoy beetroot with goat-cheese, crabskagen, salmon with traditional Finnish unleavened barley bread, tartar made from the highland cattle that has been breathing that has been grown in arctic conditions, glazed pork-cheek with onioncroust and pure of sunroot as well as croquets made of oat and cheese. For the sweet tooth one may try the traditional Finnish bun, a pudding made of traditional Finnish breadcheese and a blueberry pannacotta.
Finland is a beer country and you may taste Finnish craft beers of Bryggeri Helsinki and the the most famous vodka in Finland, Koskenkorva, whose producer Altia was selected last year as the Green Company of the Year at the The Drinks Business Green Awards 2018.