Sirri/Sandpiper for viola da gamba and ensemble
According to some reports merisirri (The purple sandpiper) is assumed to be the first bird in Finland to die out of extinction because of the climate change. Merisirri nests only in shrubbery hilltops, habitats which are vanishing as forests cover the mountains.
Mikko Perkola is an inspiring and multitasking soloist who together with Uusinta Ensemble articulates merisirri´s agony and cry for help, but also the flashes of hope. Texts used in Sirri, interpreting the subject, are from an article "It´s Not Climate Change - It´s Everything Change" by Margaret Atwood from 2015 and a novel "The Leopard" by Giuseppe di Lampedusa from 1958.
Instrumentation
gamba solo, fl, cl, ssax, pno, 2vln, vla, vlc, db
Premiere
Mikko Perkola, viola da gamba, Uusinta Ensemble, José María Sánchez-Verdú, cond. Musica Nova Helsinki, February 3, 2019
Commisioned by / dedications
Commissioned by Uusinta Ensemble. Dedicated to Mikko Perkola and Uusinta Ensemble
Review
Minna Leinonen has organized energetically explosive agony in a skillful and dexterously rhythmical way. Sirri proves for it´s part that awareness of ecocrisis is strong in Finnish contemporary music and that composers and musicians are searching for their own relationship between the nature and the climate change.
- Hannu-Ilari Lampila, Helsingin Sanomat 02/2019
Watch Mikko Perkola´s interview (in Finnish)