Turkka & Järvinen -The Sibelius Academy Choir: Selkie
Selkie is a nine-part composition for the Sibelius Academy Choir – come and experience the fully immersive sound.
Selkie – Seal Woman tells two stories about crossing boundaries, making amends, understanding, accepting reality and ultimately forgiveness.
The work is based on an old fable told on the shores of northern seas. One night, while fishing the waters of colder climes, a lonely fisherman sees dancing, silver-speckled seal women, or selkies, cavorting on sea-splattered rocks. Stealing one of their shed sealskins, the fisherman makes one of the selkies his wife. He promises to return the sealskin after seven summers pass. A boy named Oruk is born to the couple. Going against his father’s wishes, he ultimately helps his mother return to the sea and gains an understanding of the connection between both worlds. The old fable is linked to a modern-day story about a bitter divorce and the struggle to survive in the midst of a serious illness.
The composition of Selkie was funded by Taike. The work is the second part of a series of four compositions, each representing one of the four elements. The first part, Baba Yaga – Häpeämätön! (Baba Yaga – Shameless!), which represents fire, was performed at Joensuu Pakkahuone on 5 November 2021.
- Composition and Libretto: Tellu Turkka (premiere)
- Direction and Choreography: Päivi Järvinen
Tellu Turkka
Tellu Turkka (Master of Music (MMus)) of the Sibelius Academy Department of Folk Music is a musician, composer and choir director. Turkka has become known for her works, which include Nordic folk music aesthetics. Turkka’s work is primarily devoted to long, archetypal choral pieces based on fairy tales, such as Suden aika (The Time of the Wolf). Turkka often uses vernacular figures of speech and breathing rhythms in her work.
Päivi Järvinen
Päivi Järvinen (Master of Arts (Dance)) has worked in the performing arts in free groups, theatres and opera, both in Finland and abroad. Järvinen began making moving choral works in 1997 with Marjukka Riihimäki’s Grex Musicus choir, and has worked with numerous choirs in Finland and Norway. In 2007–2020, Järvinen served as the artistic and executive director of Pitskun kulttuurikirkko (Pitsku Culture Church) in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, organising over 500 concerts, performances and events, and inviting over 17,000 visitors.
Päivi Järvinen and Tellu Turkka began their collaboration with the composition of Turkka’s Suden aika (The Time of the Wolf) 1998. Järvinen placed her Philomela choir among the audience, around it, at their the feet and outside the venue. The performance is still included in the choir repertoire and has been performed more than 200 times in Finland and abroad. The collaboration between Turkka and Järvinen has continued with several works, including Enkelit (Angels), Etsijä (Seeker), Minne kauneus katosi (Where Did the Beauty Fade?), Kädetön neito (The Handless Maiden) (Commissioned for the Tampere Vocal Music Festival in 2009). Between 2018 and 2019, Tellu Turkka and Petra Poutanen collaborated with the Tampere-based Tellus women’s choir to compose a piece called Susinartut 1918 (Wolf Bitches – 1918) based on the texts written by women consigned to prison camps in the Finnish Civil War. Järvinen directed the performance.
Further information: Susanna Brandt, susanna.brandt@uniarts.fi
Selkie is a nine-part composition for the Sibelius Academy Choir – come and experience the fully immersive sound.
Selkie – Seal Woman tells two stories about crossing boundaries, making amends, understanding, accepting reality and ultimately forgiveness.
The work is based on an old fable told on the shores of northern seas. One night, while fishing the waters of colder climes, a lonely fisherman sees dancing, silver-speckled seal women, or selkies, cavorting on sea-splattered rocks. Stealing one of their shed sealskins, the fisherman makes one of the selkies his wife. He promises to return the sealskin after seven summers pass. A boy named Oruk is born to the couple. Going against his father’s wishes, he ultimately helps his mother return to the sea and gains an understanding of the connection between both worlds. The old fable is linked to a modern-day story about a bitter divorce and the struggle to survive in the midst of a serious illness.
The composition of Selkie was funded by Taike. The work is the second part of a series of four compositions, each representing one of the four elements. The first part, Baba Yaga – Häpeämätön! (Baba Yaga – Shameless!), which represents fire, was performed at Joensuu Pakkahuone on 5 November 2021.
- Composition and Libretto: Tellu Turkka (premiere)
- Direction and Choreography: Päivi Järvinen
Tellu Turkka
Tellu Turkka (Master of Music (MMus)) of the Sibelius Academy Department of Folk Music is a musician, composer and choir director. Turkka has become known for her works, which include Nordic folk music aesthetics. Turkka’s work is primarily devoted to long, archetypal choral pieces based on fairy tales, such as Suden aika (The Time of the Wolf). Turkka often uses vernacular figures of speech and breathing rhythms in her work.
Päivi Järvinen
Päivi Järvinen (Master of Arts (Dance)) has worked in the performing arts in free groups, theatres and opera, both in Finland and abroad. Järvinen began making moving choral works in 1997 with Marjukka Riihimäki’s Grex Musicus choir, and has worked with numerous choirs in Finland and Norway. In 2007–2020, Järvinen served as the artistic and executive director of Pitskun kulttuurikirkko (Pitsku Culture Church) in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, organising over 500 concerts, performances and events, and inviting over 17,000 visitors.
Päivi Järvinen and Tellu Turkka began their collaboration with the composition of Turkka’s Suden aika (The Time of the Wolf) 1998. Järvinen placed her Philomela choir among the audience, around it, at their the feet and outside the venue. The performance is still included in the choir repertoire and has been performed more than 200 times in Finland and abroad. The collaboration between Turkka and Järvinen has continued with several works, including Enkelit (Angels), Etsijä (Seeker), Minne kauneus katosi (Where Did the Beauty Fade?), Kädetön neito (The Handless Maiden) (Commissioned for the Tampere Vocal Music Festival in 2009). Between 2018 and 2019, Tellu Turkka and Petra Poutanen collaborated with the Tampere-based Tellus women’s choir to compose a piece called Susinartut 1918 (Wolf Bitches – 1918) based on the texts written by women consigned to prison camps in the Finnish Civil War. Järvinen directed the performance.
Further information: Susanna Brandt, susanna.brandt@uniarts.fi