Father's Day Organ Marathon

With one ticket you can listen to one or even all six concerts. There are 15‑minute breaks between performances, during which you may enter or leave the hall. Schedule 10:00 Viljo Harju 11:10 Eino Susitaival 12:20 Joonas Minkkinen 13:30 Eerik Ohtamaa 14:40 Pekka Piironen Performers Viljo Harju Organist Viljo Harju (born 2004) from Seinäjoki studies organ playing at the Sibelius Academy's church music department with teacher Markku Hietaharju. He has also been taught by Ville Urponen and Maria Väinölä. In addition, Viljo has completed masterclasses with organ professors Bernard Foccroulle, Hans Fagius and Ralph Gustafsson. In organ playing Viljo is most inspired by beautiful harmonic colours and improvisation. He has performed, among others, in the Helsinki Organ Summer concerts, Turku Arts Night festival, Korsholm Music Days and as a soloist with the Seinäjoki City Orchestra. He also regularly appears as a soloist and chamber musician in various churches of his home region South Ostrobothnia. Program Johann Sebastian Bach Dietrich Buxtehude César Franck Marcel Dupré The concert is a graded performance related to Harju's studies. Eino Susitaival Eino Susitaival (born 2005) has been studying organ playing in the Sibelius Academy's solo programme under Ville Urponen and Markku Hietaharju since autumn 2024. Previously he studied organ at the Kuopio Conservatory with teacher Irina Ala‑Opas. As a secondary subject he studies harpsichord with Elina Mustonen. Eino Susitaival performs actively as an organ soloist throughout Finland and has appeared, among others, at the Mänttä Music Festival (2024, 2025) and the Savonlinna Winter Baroque Days (2024‑2026). He collaborates regularly with choirs and ensembles as organist and continuo player and has also performed several works as a soloist. Susitaival's specialty is organ improvisation, which he studies under Mikko Korhonen. To deepen his skills he has taken masterclasses with Sietze de Vries and Olli Saaren. Program Dietrich Buxtehude Johann Sebastian Bach John Granlund Thierry Escaich The concert is a graded performance related to Susitaival's studies. Joonas Minkkinen Joonas Minkkinen is an organist and pianist from Helsinki who is completing his studies in the church music department of the Sibelius Academy under organ teacher Peter Peitsalo. He has also been taught by Ville Urponen at the Academy. He has participated in masterclasses with Ulrich Walther, Ralph Gustafsson and Nathan Laube. Minkkinen has worked as a rehearsal pianist and accompanist for several choirs and concerts, and, for example, as a rehearsal pianist for Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten produced by Opera Box. Alongside his studies he has worked, for example, as a cantor in the Helsinki Cathedral parish and serves as deputy director of the Finnish Song. He is also a founding member of the Bach Collegium Helsinki, a collective specializing in Bach cantatas, and regularly performs with Philia Ensemble and the vocal group Munx Gregorian. Program Johann Sebastian Bach Helmut Bornefeld Nicolas de Grigny The concert is a graded performance related to Minkkinen's studies. Eerik Ohtamaa Eerik Ohtamaa (born 2001) is a Finnish organ artist. At the Sibelius Academy his teachers have been Ville Urponen, Markku Hietaharju and Susanne Kujala. He has also studied under Professor Martin Schmeding at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig. Additionally he has attended masterclasses with Bernard Foccroulle, Nathan Laube, Olivier Latry, Daniel Moult, Pieter van Dijk and Ulrich Walther. He gave his first solo concert in Kiiminki in 2016, at the age of 15. He has taken part in several major Finnish music festivals, such as the Mikkeli Music Festival, Lahti Organ Weeks, Turku Organ Festival and Mänttä Music Festival. He also performed during the opening week of the new Rieger organs at Helsinki Music Centre and later appeared as a soloist in a Francis Poulenc organ concerto there. Program Claude Debussy Julius Reubke Enjott Schneider The concert is a graded performance related to Ohtamaa's studies. Pekka Piironen Pekka Piironen earned his first Master of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy in 1995, majoring in piano. He completed the church music programme with a Master’s degree in 2021, studying organ under Jan Lehtola. While studying in the Academy’s DocMus unit, Piironen began working in 2022 as a permanent cantor in the Kontiolahti parish. Program Marcel Dupré Jean‑Jacques Grunenwald The concert is a continuation‑degree concert related to Piironen's studies. Changes are possible. More information: Janne Ikäheimo, janne.ikaheimo@uniarts.fi