Olli's symphonic cantata Seven Songs for Planet Earth received its U.S. West Coast premiere in San Francisco on November 19 & 20, performed by Shauna Fallihee, soprano, Nikolas Nackley, baritone, the San Francisco Choral Society, the Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir, and the California Chamber Symphony, under the direction of Robert Geary. See review at www.sfcv.org and Olli's interview at www.genevaanderson.wordpress.com.

Olli's and librettist Michael Baran's new opera One Night Stand (original title: Yhden yön juttu) will receive its premiere on October 15 at the newly-opened Helsinki Music Center.

The action in One Night Stand is set in an anonymous seafront city at the present time and five years later. It includes features of a detective story and a love story, logic of dreams, random events and social criticism.

The key characters in the opera are Minä (‘Me’), two variations on a person named Axe aka Momo, and the Mad Girl (called Ainut, a Finnish word for ‘the only one’). The story is about the basic issues of being human: identity and how transitory or permanent it is; the conflicting and tangential relationship of hopes, memories and yearning to reality; and of course the possibility, or perhaps impossibility, of love. One Night Stand was commissioned by the Sibelius Academy, and the production was prepared in collaboration with voice students: Olli and Michael conducted a series of workshops where the opera was further processed through improvisation exercises and discussions. A new approach to making an opera is also apparent in other areas of the production. The character of Axe aka Momo is played alternately by a soprano and a tenor, and the costumes and sets make use of recycled materials.

In July Olli was nominated "Official Sleepyhead of the Nation" by the seaside town of Naantali. This honor is given yearly to a person who has contributed to the success of the town and region. According to the tradition, Olli was thrown into the sea at Naantali harbor in the presence of a large crowd, the President of Finland, Ms. Tarja Halonen and her husband included. "Icing on the cake", commented the newly-dipped Sleepyhead after receiving a kiss on the cheek from Ms. President. The festivities also included a train ride with Moomin characters, the town's most famous inhabitants.

Mats Liljeroos of Hufvudstadsbladet, the leading Swedish-speaking newspaper in Finland, writes about Olli's Piano Concerto, premiered on April 27:

"A classic is born. ...The half-hour concerto was a pleasure from beginning to end. ...He is one of our front-line opera composers, and this is reflected in the spontaneous melodiousness of the work and the approach, that could be described as romantic. …A future among the most popular Finnish ones in its genre may be predicted for the concerto."

The US West Coast premiere of Seven Songs for Planet Earth will take place on November 19 and 20 in San Francisco (Calvary Presbyterian Church) with the San Francisco Choral Society, the Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir, soloists and orchestra, conducted by Robert Geary. The Choral Arts Society of Washington recently gave the world premiere of this 40-minute work at the Kennedy Center. The work gained wide media attention, and was enthusiastically received by the audience.
Link to the San Francisco Choral Society
Link to the Piedmont east Bay Children's Choir