With George Benjamin at the general rehearsal, pic by Tuula Sarotie / With Benjamin and Magnus Lindberg, pic by Tuula Sarotie /
During YLE interview with Lotta Emanuelsson

What a joyous week it was to work with Sir George Benjamin and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on the Finnish premiere of Sunfall. The work was performed during the FRSO’s George Benjamin-festival on the 15th and 16th of November at Musiikkitalo, Helsinki and the first night was broadcast on national TV and Radio, YLE. You may watch the premiere performance here! The orchestra played with immense energy and brilliance, under Benjamin’s guidance.

The reception was very warm, and I was happy to hear from members of the audience about their listening experiences, and read a positive review in Hufvudstadsbladet (translated from Swedish):

Joel Järventausta emerged as a strong composer with Sunfall, which was heard in its Finnish premiere…it is interesting how he uses a fairly simple compositional “skeleton” with minor tonalitites and all kinds of “disturbing” elements added in the form of rhythmic accents and textures…Järventausta’s approach to writing for orchestra is powerful in a way that is reminiscent of John Williams, although he strikes many different tones in the work. 

Wilhelm Kvist

Commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Sunfall has now been performed four times by them, conducted by François-Xavier Roth (in the UK, Germany and Denmark), two times by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by George Benjamin and is travelling to Denmark again on February 29th, with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eva Ollikainen.

It is strange to look back to spring 2020, when I finished this work. Everything had shut down due to the pandemic and the state of the arts and culture was precarious, to say the least. Though the London Symphony Orchestra was always committed to programming the work, it was not clear when they would get a chance to do so. I was prepared for one performance, possibly even without an audience and a socially distanced orchestra. I did not quite expect that the work would end up reaching so many listening ears so quickly, and for that I can only be grateful.

It was also a pleasure to hear George Benjamin’s two operas, Into the Little Hill and Written on Skin, during the festival. Ever since discovering Written on Skin in 2017, I am time and again spell-bound by its sound world and libretto written by Martin Crimp. You might say I am biased, but it remains to me a masterpiece.

All in all, to me, the whole festival was beam of light, piercing through the thick, clouded November skies. I must thank George Benjamin, and the intendant of FRSO, Tuula Sarotie for programming Sunfall in the festival. Filled with creativity and energy, I now retreat back to my desk to finish my chamber opera…