Programme: Young Artists of the Winter concert series: Isabella Shaw
10.2.2022 at 7pm
Programme
Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966)
(Sånger vid havet)
Ute i skären
(Själ och landskapet)
Vitt land
Önskan
Bara hos den
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
- Kaiutar (Op. 72 no 4)
- Hertig Magnus (Op. 57 no. 6)
- Näcken (Op. 57 no 8)
- Långsamt som kvällskyn (Op. 61 no 1)
Anthony Davis (1951-)
And one day they began to fall (Goddess of the Waters’ aria, Amistad)
Interval (20 minutes)
Isabella Shaw (1991-)
Deep Waters
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
(Songs of Separation)
Poème
If You Should Go
Werner Jaegerhuber (1900-1953)
(Offrandes Voudouesques)
Omimba
Erzulie
Guédé Nibo
Vévélo
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
(A Floresta do Amazonas)
Veleiros
Cair da Tarde
Melodia Sentimental
Canção de Amor
Programme notes
Through water we can see ourselves; and the reflection of what has been before;
Through water we are stretched, translucent eddies of bodies and of experience
Fragmented in shadow light underplayed,
The coils of which stretch from generation to generation.
When human settlements are built, they are built upon a water source. Rivers, springs, underground wells are our roots; even long-dried underground reservoirs are markers of potential or historical living organisms. And the seas, the oceans, are our ancient homes, remnants of the primordial ocean: the place from which all life developed. And yet, though water is essential for life, like all things bigger than ourselves, it is also dangerous, life-taking. Mythological and practical imaginations throughout the ages, across cultures, have told stories of beings that live in the depths, that can provide blessings or destruction.
Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966) set many of Ebba Lindqvist’s sea-poems, which speak to expansion, loss, interior truth and ways of living, found exquisitely and exclusively in the sublime power of the waters. Specifically evocative of the Baltic seascape, they identify humanity and being-ness only in contrast to, in communion with and connection with the powers of nature that are bigger than ourselves: only with the sea can the speaker find peace; only with the sea (as in Havet sjunger) can two people understand each other. The natural world is essential for locating ourselves; without it we are lost.
The Sibelius songs I’ve chosen are a few of those that connect with folklore, history, water, and myth. Kaiutar tells the story of the nymph Echo, whose unnamed beloved Narcissus drowned gazing into a pool (Ovid’s Metamorphoses); Larin-Kyösti’s poem sets the story firmly in a Finnish landscape, and evokes the enthralling powers of nature; at the end, Echo herself becomes only a voice, as in Ovid, but here the interplay with the natural world is more evident, and she seems to possess agency in her transformation to a siren-like being. Näcken, with text by Ernst Josephson (who repeated the theme of the Neck/Nix throughout his life, in poetry and painting), tells an ambiguous tale of enthrallment, illusion, and loss. Hertig Magnus references the historical Magnus Vasa (1542-1595), who suffered from mental illness; the song takes up one of many local tales of him seeing a mermaid, or water nymph, and throwing himself out a window, nearly drowning. As in Näcken, the gold-harp makes an appearance as an instrument of enthrallment. Långsamt som kvällsskyn, on the famous poem by Tavastsjerna, paints the image of loss and longing synchronously with the evening seascape. The song was among African-American contralto Marian Anderson and Kosti Vehanen´s Finnish repertoire; they recorded it in 1936.
The opera Amistad (1997) tells the story of the 1839 revolt on the Spanish ship La Amistad, which was transporting enslaved Africans along the coast of Cuba, in violation of the trade agreements at the time. The enslaved Mende people aboard revolted, and attempted to sail back to the west coast of Africa, but were tricked by surviving crew members into sailing north, to New York, where the ship was captured by US coastal authorities. It became subject of the one of the most important supreme court “freedom suits”, since it involved international law: although at that time, slavery had not been abolished, it was illegal to bring new people into captivity from across the waters. The opera was commissioned by the Lyric Opera of Chicago and American Music Theatre Festival of Philadelphia, on a libretto written by composer Anthony Davis’ cousin Thulani Davis. The Goddess of the Waters appears in Act II, remembering the horrors of the Middle Passage, from her perspective.
William Grant Still (1895-1978) was an African-American composer and conductor, with over 200 works including symphonies, operas, ballets, and solo vocal and instrumental works. His cycle “Songs of Separation” features texts by poets from the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a text by Haitian poet and politician Phillippe Thoby-Marcelin.
Between 1937-1945, Werner Jaegerhuber (1900-1953), a Haitian composer, undertook an ethnographic research period, notating songs with text and musical material from Haitian Vodou religious songs and folksongs. He harmonized the melodies, adding piano accompaniment, and published them in 1945, originally titled “Complaintes Haitiennes”. The texts in the songs performed today are addressed to the Erzulie Fréda Dahomey (loa of love and beauty), Gede Nibo (a psychopomp loa), and describe the Veves, sacred symbols used in ritual.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1989)’s A Floresta do Amazonas (1958) began as a film score for Green Mansions, but was scrapped from the final film. Villa-Lobos reworked it as a symphony for orchestra, choir, and soprano. In 1987, the original score for the songs, for voice and piano, was uncovered among Villa-Lobos’ unpublished manuscripts. The songs have been recorded in many forms. Villa-Lobos was initially interested in folk music, popular music, and in his youth travelled the interior states to learn about indigenous Brazilian music. His work is known for combining rhythmic and melodic elements from different strands of Brazilian music culture.
Deep waters, originally performed at UrbanApa x Ateneum festival in November 2021 in an extended form, was written after a period of research on my own ancestry and the Middle Passage.
Lyrics
Ute i skären (Ebba Lindqvist)
En dag skall komma, då vinden står stilla,
då darrgräset sjunger och solen somnat.
Då skall vi fara dit ut till de yttersta öarna. Ljuskringflutna, hägringslysande, burna på bränningens skum.
Out in the skerries
A day will come, when the wind stills,
When the trembling grass sings and the
sun slumbers,
Then we shall go out there, to the farthest islands.
Light-flooded, mirage-gleaming,
Carried on the foam of the surf.
Vitt land (Ebba Lindqvist)
Vitt land, tyst hav, mjuk snö faller.
O, göm, göm mitt ansikte,
göm mitt hjärtas hemlighet!
Jag vet den blommar röd på mina läppar.
Jag vet den brister fram ur mina händer,
att vem som hälst kan röra den.
Så må de se den!
Ty vad jag äger
kan ingen, ingen ta ifrån mig!
Ej mer än tömma havet på dess vatten,
ej mer än lyfta solen ifrån himlen!
Och allt skall ha sin tid,
sitt liv,
sin undergång.
White land
White land, silent sea, soft snow falls.
Oh hide, hide my face, oh hide my
heart’s secret!
I know it blossoms on my lips.
I know it bursts forth from my hands,
So that anyone may touch it.
Then let them see it!
For what is my own,
no one can take from me!
No more than empty the sea of its water,
no more than lift the sun from the sky!
And everything shall have its time,
its life,
its extinction.
Önskan (Ebba Lindqvist)
Och detta är min enda önskan i kväll:
Jag vill bara luta mig emot mörkret ett tag,
känna havet stryka in över min kind,
eller strävt hårt berg röra vid min hud.
Och låta allting annat strös för vinden,
mitt liv för vinden,
och sitta lutad länge emot mörkrets rygg.
The wish
And this is my only wish tonight:
I want only to lean against the darkness for a while,
to feel the sea stroking my cheek,
Or the rough rock touching my skin.
And let everything else be scattered to
the winds,
my life for the wind,
And sit leaning for a long time against
the back of darkness.
Bara hos den (Ebba Lindqvist)
Bara hos den vars oro är större än min
har jag ro.
Så ger havet mig ro,
Det ensamma havet, som sjunger sin sång
bortanför lust och nöd. —
Så kommer jag i kväll till dig,
du hav som alla komma till
men ingenstans har själv att gå.
Only with the one
Only with the one whose unrest is
greater than mine
do I have peace.
And so the sea gives me peace,
the lonely sea, that sings its song
beyond desire and distress.
So this evening I will come to you,
You, sea, to which everyone comes,
But which itself has nowhere to go.
Kaiutar (Larin-Kyösti)
Kaiutar, korea neito
Astui illalla ahoa,
Kaihoissansa kankahalla,
Huusi yksin huoliansa.
Tullut ei suloinen sulho,
Vaikka vannoi valallansa
Kihlaavansa kaunokaisen.
Ennen astuivat ahoa
Kankahalla kuherrellen
Kilvan kyyhkyjen kisoissa
Kesäpäivän paistaessa,
Illan kuun kumottaessa.
Meni sulho sanoinensa
Impi jäi sydäminensä.
Etsii impi ihanainen
Kullaistansa kankahalta,
Huhuilevi i kuuntelevi,
Kirkuvi kimahutellen
Äänen pienoisen pilalle,
Jähmettyvi, jäykästyvi,
Kaatuissansa kauhistuvi
Mustan metsän pimeyttä.
Aamulla herättyänsä
Kulkee kuje mielessänsä,
Eksyttävi erämiehen
Matkien ja mairitellen,
Niin kuin ennen eksytteli,
Sulho suurilla sanoilla, Tuulen turhilla taruilla.
Hertig Magnus (Ernst Josephson)
Hertig Magnus från sitt fönster
drömmande ser Vätterns bölja,
månbelyst och sval och klangrik
slottets fasta murar skölja;
tunga kval hans själ förvirrat,
att sin gode far han mistat,
och att blod i strömmar flutit
för hans bröders skull, som tvistat.
Hertig Magnus från sitt fönster
ser i vattnets ljusa dager
liten sjönymf ljufligt vagga,
sjungande och fri och fager
»Hertig Magnus,» så hon sjunger,
»kom till mig från slottet höga,
att ditt ädla sjuka hjärta
i den svala böljan löga,
låt mig kyssa få din tinning,
sköna prins, låt dig beveka,
kasta dig i mina armar,
på gullharpan skall jag leka!»
Hertig Magnus från sitt fönster,
tjusad utaf nymfens fägring,
sprang i vattnet, lät sig föras
af sin undersköna hägring,
bars omkring tills morgon grydde,
af den väna vattenanden,
och blef funnen bland violer,
oskadd, slumrande på stranden.
Duke Magnus
Duke Magnus from his window,
Dreaming, sees the Vettern’s waves,
Moonlit and cool and sonorous,
Sweeping the walls of his castle;
Heavy sorrow has confused his soul,
For the loss of his good father,
And the blood that has streamed
For the sake of his brother’s quarrels.
Duke Magnus from his window
Sees in the water’s bright days
A little lake nymph lightly rocking,
Singing, free and fair.
“Duke Magnus,” so she sings,
“Come to me from your high castle,
Lay your noble sick heart
In the cool waves,
Let me kiss your forehead,
Beautiful prince, let yourself be moved.
Cast yourself into my arms,
I will play to you on a golden harp!”
Duke Magnus from his window,
Enchanted by the nymph’s fairness,
Sprang into the waters, let himself be led
Into the beautiful mirage,
borne until daybreak
By the watery spirit,
And was found among the violets,
Unharmed, sleeping on the beach.
Näcken (Ernst Josephson)
Djup stod färgen på fura på sten,
Furor och stenar, de kasta skuggor hän
I skummande silver och gull.
Sitter på stenen i skuggans breda famn,
Svartlockig gosse, så bleknad som en hamn,
Och trevar med stråke på sträng.
Neckens gullharpa spela opp en dans,
Gigan går efter och mistar all sin sans
För elvkung med silver i skägg.
Gossen var blott min egen fantasi –
Necken var forsen, som brusade förbi
Och stänkte sitt skum på min kind.
The Nix
Deep in shade stood the fir and stone,
Firs and stones, casting shadows
Of shimmering silver and gold.
Sitting on a stone in the shadow’s broad embrace,
A dark-haired boy, as pale as a ghost,
And draws his bow across the strings.
The Nix’s gold harp strikes up a dance,
The fiddle joins after and loses all sense
Before the elf-king with his silver beard.
The boy existed only in my imagination,
The Nix was the waterfall that rushed past
And splashed its foam on my cheek.
Långsamt som kvällskyn (K. A. Tavaststjerna)
Långsamt som kvällskyn mister sin purpur
där över milsfjärdens blänkande slätt,
sakta som brisen somnar därborta långt,
så att ögat ej skönjer det rätt,
fjärran som ekot dör efter sista
utdragna tonen av skärflickans sång,
skall jag dig glömma, du, som gav purpur,
vårbris och toner åt livet engång!
As slowly as the evening sky
As slowly as the evening sky loses its purple,
There across the glistening plain of the bay,
as gently as the breeze falls asleep,
Farther than the eye can see,
as distantly as the echo
that fades after the last, lingering note
of the island-girl’s song —
Will I forget you who once brought purple,
spring breezes and music to my life.
And one day they began to fall (Thulani Davis)
And one day, they began to fall,
To rain, rain down
into my endless, watery unknowing reach.
They began to fall, these people,
Creations of the gods, flung like petals,
Strands of palm,
Into my endless unknowing body.
The people always gave me honor,
They came to the water’s edge
Bringing sweets and flowers
As offerings.
I have a taste for honey,
Sweet amber hidden in the tree,
And sweet blossoms,
bright colored and fragile,
Fragrant and short-lived.
They grow in the earth, unknown to me.
But they come as if from the heavens,
Creatures of the earth,
Falling into my body,
Passing through my dancing and gleaming,
My skin of mirrors and clouds,
Spittle and sky.
Blood and sinew,
Pulled down by my heaving waves.
I am the waters that run through their hands,
Through their skin and back into the vast within.
They come as if from the heavens,
Creatures of the earth,
Seeds spit from me onto the land
Not like an offering,
Not like the honey, the blossoms,
The sweet smells I crave,
But screaming, flung like wasted dead leaves,
Broken tree limbs, lifeless shells.
…
I tell the heavens,
I tell the earth,
Gods of all the living and the dead,
This howling is not of the seas,
This death defiles my body
Who dares to take my children,
Rip them from the land?
This howling is not of the seas,
It is a madness
Not of nature,
Not of the gods, but of men
Deep Waters (Isabella Shaw)
(short version)
1.
If I would try to tell you,
you would not understand.
If I would try to speak
against the creak of wood
and the sluice of waves,
it would be a thing incomprehensible
to your mind.
If I would try to speak I could not;
For my words would be taken from me,
For my tongue was stilled
and my voice was a stone upon the mind.
The words that give meaning to waves and sky
To blood and the reek of death
have been taken from my body,
Knocked down one by one fast
beneath the waves.
I am a child of the waters.
My making was incalcified here,
where the currents leak
into each record’s variable
of fluid, renewing and residual time.
I am a child of the ocean’s edge
There where beach and land incomposite
Flow towards creation of the new.
2.
From deep grass they took me bore me bleeding overland
In deep pain they took me
From my mother, my mother’s mother
My father’s father
My parent’s parents
From my descendants
From warm arms they took me
Stripped and wrapped me in soil
Loss burned from the burning tongue
Of those who tilled, and hungered, and bled
I am a feather of a sea bird; rising, scattered
Upon the memory of the wasted tide
3.
One there was who came across the waters
One and forty four who remained
One was taken across deep waters
One and 13 million who remained
And living and dying by the throat withheld
To a cry
It has been so long
It has been so long
Out to sea willing and raking
and bending us
down, down
4.
Through water we can see ourselves;
and the reflection of what has been before;
Through water we are stretched, translucent
eddies of bodies and of experience
Fragmented in shadow light underplayed
The coils of which stretch
from generation to generation.
From generation to generation
blood stirred and sworn.
(I tried to speak but there are no words
And my tongue is stone.)
5.
Iron around the neck
drags you deep into deep waters
The stone in the heart takes you deeper;
Irons around the ankles and around the wrist
Cut into flesh and do not drag deep enough
To survive
Or to remain.
6.
One came across the water and 45 remained
and those who changed to seabirds told me in
their own voice with the voice of their throats
but I could not understand for my words had
been stolen
As our bodies were stolen and the lines broken
The hollow vessel is carried by all those whose
futures were torn
across the waters;
no passage but a pall for pain and subjugation
income and industry,
cargo
“If there would be no buyers” but
the body from the bones they stripped us flesh
from flesh
while we were still alive
but we were still alive
and we are still alive.
7.
Iron drags you deep but brittle,
brittle, crumbles;
The blood through our veins
is liquid incompressible.
I need water words
To look past memory
I need water words
To bear this heartbreak away;
I need water words
To speak my own memory,
Which begins with the sea
Sit in the circle with me,
You whose words were taken
You whose lives were calculated as loss
I need water words
Flowing, mystifying and undying,
Tell me true:
Who would I be without you?
How would I know myself
Without knowing you?
How could I know myself
Without knowing you?
Poéme (Philippe Thoby Marcelin)
Ce n’était pas l’aurore
mais je m’étais levé en me frottant les yeux.
Tout dormait à l’entour.
Les bananiers sous ma fenêtre
frissonnaient dans le clair de lune calme.
Alors, j’ai pris ma tête dans mes mains et j’ai pensé à vous
Vaikka ei ollut vielä aamu,
nousin ylös silmiäni hieroen.
Kaikki ympärilläni oli unessa.
Ikkunani alla banaanipuiden lehdet
värisivät tyynessä kuunvalossa.
Joten laskin pääni kämmeniini
ja ajattelin sinua.
Käännös: Niina Ranta
If you should go (Countee Cullen)
Love, leave me like the light,
The gently passing day;
We would not know, but for the night,
When it has slipped away.
Go quietly; a dream,
When done, should leave no trace
That it has lived, except a gleam
Across the dreamer’s face
Rakas, jätä minut kuin valo,
kuin lempeästi etenevä päivä,
jonka pois hiipumisen huomaa vasta yöllä.
Lähde hiljaa –
päättyneestä, eletystä unesta
ei tulisi jäädä muita jälkiä
kuin hauras valonsäde uneksijan
kasvoilla.
Käännös: Niina Ranta
Veleiros (Dora Alencar Vasconcellos)
Velas no mar vão deixando passar
A tarde anil e outras ondas
vem levar
Sempre existe na mágoa
doce murmúrio
dum triste amor
Quanta tristeza,
ondas do mar
Neste vai-e-vem
sem me levar
Pois sempre eu fiz,
muita tensão
Em não pisar teu coração
Longe no céu vai a onda a jogar
Tudo o que é meu dentro do mar
Vem me esperar
Lua,lua branquinha
Lua crescente vem devagar
Purjeet merellä ohittavat
Iltapäivän indigon
ja aallot nousevat
Elää kärsimyksessä
suloinen kohina,
surullisen rakkauden
Kuinka surullista,
meren aallot
Tässä tulossa ja menossa
ottamatta minua
Kuten aina,
varovaisena,
En voi lähestyä sydäntäsi
Kaukana taivaalla kulkee aalto
Kaikki mikä on minun meressä
Tulee odottamaan minua
Kuu, valkoinen kuu
puolikuu nousee esiin
Cair da Tarde (Dora Alencar Vasconcellos)
A garça voou,
a sombra ficou,
anoiteceu,
levando o brancor!
ah!
A mata dormiu,
o vento acabou
a folha caiu,
fazendo rumor
ao tocar!
O ramo gemeu
o ninho vibrou,
o rio bebeu
as nuvens do céu.
O eco passou
bem perto daqui,
as vozes levou,
rompendo manhãs
ao morrer
ah!
Haikara on lentänyt,
Varjo on jäänyt,
Yö on laskeutunut pyyhkäisemällä pois
valon!
Ah!
Metsä on nukahtanut,
Tuuli on kuollut,
Lehti pudonnut,
Sen sivellin saa heikoimman
kuiskauksen!
Oksa on huojentunut,
Pesä on vapistanut,
Joki on juonut
pilvet taivaalta
Kaiku meni ohi täältä,
Ottaen äänet mukanaan,
Päivän varhaiset
tunnit kuolemassa.
Ah!
Melodia Sentimental (Dora Alencar Vasconcellos)
Acorda, vem ver a lua
que dorme na noite escura,
que fulge tão bela e branca
derramando doçura.
Clara chama silente
ardendo o meu sonhar.
As asas da noite que surgem
e correm no espaço profundo.
Ó doce amada, desperta!
Vem dar teu calor ao luar.
Quisera saber-te minha
na hora serena e calma.
A sombra confia ao vento
o limite da espera,
quando, dentro da noite, reclama o teu amor.
Acorda, vem olhar a lua,
que brilha na noite escura.
Querida, és linda e meiga!
Sentir meu amor é sonhar.
Herää, tule katsomaan kuuta
joka nukkuu pimeänä yönä,
joka loistaa niin kauniisti ja valkoisena
tihkuen makeutta.
Kirkas hiljainen liekki
lämmittää unelmiani.
Yön siivet ilmestyvät
ja juoksevat syvän avaruuden halki.
Voi suloinen rakas, herää!
Anna lämpösi kuunvalolle.
Haluan tietää, että olet minun
Hiljaisena ja rauhallisena hetkenä.
Varjo luottaa tuuleen
Odottamisen raja
kun yön yli,
rakkautesi kutsuu.
Herää, tule katsomaan kuuta
joka loistaa pimeänä yönä.
Rakkaani, olet kaunis ja lempeä!
Tuntea rakkauteni on uneksimista.
Canção de Amor (Maria Lucia Godoy)
Sonhar na tarde azul
Do teu amor ausente
Suportar a dor cruel
Com esta mágoa crescente
O tempo em mim agrava
O meu tormento, amor!
Tão longe assim de ti
Vencida pela dor
Na triste solidão
Procuro ainda te encontrar
Amor, meu amor!
Tão bom é saber calar
E deixar-se vencer pela realidade
Vivo triste a soluçar
Quando, quando virás enfim?
Sinto o ardor dos beijos teus
Em mim. Ah!
Qualquer pequeno sinal
E fremente surpresa
Vem me amargurar
Tão doce aquela hora
Em que de amor sonhei
Infeliz, a sós, agora
Apaixonada fiquei
Sentindo aqui fremente
O teu reclamo amor!
Tão longe assim de ti
Ausente ao teu calor
Meu pobre coração
Anseia sempre a suplicar
Amor, meu amor!
To dream into the blue evening
Of your absent love
To endure the cruel ardor
With this growing suffering
The time increases
My torment, love!
So far away from you,
Overcome by pain;
In sad solitude
I seek still to find you,
My love, my love!
It is good to know how to be silent
And allow yourself to be overcome by reality
I live in sad sobbing
When, when will you return at last?
I feel the burning of your kisses
on me. Ah!
Any small sign
And trembling surprise
Makes me bitter.
How sweet that hour
In which I dreamed of love
Unhappy, alone,
now I remain impassioned.
I feel chilled By your claims of love!
So far away from you
Absent from your warmth,
My poor heart
Always longs to plead Love, my love!
About artist
Isabell Shaw
Originally from Colorado (USA), Finland-based mezzosoprano Isabella Shaw studied literature and lan- guages at the University of Cambridge (UK) and early music in London before completing her master’s in opera at Sibelius Academy (2021). Opera roles include Bradamante (Händel), Sesto (Mozart) and Lucretia (Britten) (SibA Opera) and Caredo/Nymfa (Ensemble Damian). Recent appearances include UrbanApa x Ateneum and Sonic Blossom.
Shaw is a founding member of early music chamber ensembles Emrys (CH/DE/FI) and Motus Harmonicus (CZ). In 2013 she was recipient of the Barbara Thornton Memorial Scholarship from Early Music America. Shaw has performed with early music ensembles in Czechia, Spain, France, and Canada. Her dramaturgy and compilation work can be seen in projects such as Proserpina (baroque monody), Mirail de Prez (songs of the trobairitz), Lucifer’s Fall (Milton, metaphysical poets, English baroque) among others. She has per- formed with orchestras in Finland and abroad. She was one of Taiteiden kesä’s Young Artists (FI, 2021), and was chosen for the Corneille baroque singing competition (Opera Normandy, 2021) and for the semifinals of the Sibelius Singing Competition (2020, cancelled due to COVID19). Upcoming projects include Cantus Merlini (FR) with ensemble Emrys, after an artistic residency period in France, Olena/Fox in All the Truths We Cannot See (SibA), and La Doriclea (FI).
Shaw’s past artistic work has been generously supported by the Héléne and Walter Grönqvist Foundation and the Taike Foundation. Shaw is also a poet (Wilderness, 2020) and fiction author (Weyrwood, 2018).
Kristian Attila
Sibelius-Akatemian laulumusiikin osaston ja oopperakoulutuksen lehtorina työskentelevä Kristian Attila kuuluu kysytyimpiin suomalaisiin lied- ja oopperamusiikin alalla vaikuttaviin pianisteihin ja pedagogei- hin. Hän on myös Savonlinnan Musiikkiakatemian taiteellinen johtaja. Attila on tullut tunnetuksi esiinty- misistään lukuisten eturivin suomalaisten ja ulkomaisten laulutaiteilijoiden, mm. Tommi Hakalan, Juha Uusitalon, Jorma Hynnisen, Ritva Auvisen, Pia Freundin, Ursula Langmayrin, Gala El Hadidin ja Monica Groopin kanssa. Hän on esiintynyt lukuisissa Euroopan maissa sekä Japanissa, Pohjois-Afrikassa, USA:ssa ja Kanadassa.
Attila on toiminut parinkymmenen vuoden ajan virallisena pianistina lukuisissa kansallisissa ja kansainväli- sissä laulukilpailuissa (mm. Lappeenranta, Mustakallio, Mirjam Helin, Kangasniemi sekä Järvenpään Si- belius-laulukilpailu) sekä pianistina lukuisilla mestarikursseilla, mm. Tom Krausen, James Kingin, Barbara Bonneyn, Soile Isokosken, kanssa sekä pitänyt omia mestarikursseja.
Attila on tehnyt useita levytyksiä, mm. Toivo Kuulan yksinlauluja sisältävän levyn ”Tule armaani” (Ondine) Tommi Hakalan kanssa sekä Sibeliuksen yksinlauluja sisältävän CD:n ”Norden” (Alba) Pia Freundin ja Tommi Hakalan kanssa, sekä lukuisia taltiointeja Yleisradiolle. Hän on johtanut pianon äärestä kamarioop- peroita (mm. Ilkka Kuusiston Vapauden vanki, DVD- taltiointi 2009 ja Nainen kuin jäätynyt samppanja, DVD 2011).
Attila on vieraillut opettajana useissa pohjoismaisissa ja Baltian maiden musiikkikorkeakouluissa, Kairossa ja Alexandriassa (Savonlinnan Musiikkiakatemian Musical Bridge), sekä Texasin ja Michiganin yliopistoissa USA:ssa. Viime vuosina hän on esiintynyt ahkerasti näyttelijä Seela Sellan ja sopraano Pia Freundin kanssa esittäen suuren suosion saavuttanutta näyttämöllistä kokonaisuutta ”Tänä yönä en pelkää kulkea yli pimeän”.
Attila on toiminut myös jäsenenä Erkki Pullisen johtamassa työryhmässä, joka editoi suuren määrän Yrjö Kilpisen lauluja Suomen Kulttuurirahaston tuella. Hän on saanut apurahoja Suomen Kulttuurirahastolta, Taiteen edistämiskeskukselta, Pro Musica -säätiöltä sekä Jenny ja Antti Wihurin rahastolta.