Interview by Dominique Wagener and Aimée Quednau

On May 7th, 2019, the Collegium musicum of the University of Cologne, in cooperation with the Department of Scandinavian and Finnish Studies, had the pleasure to welcome the Finnish male voice choir, Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat, from Helsinki. They prepared an elaborate evening program, opening with the Kalevala themed Opus 18, six songs for male choir (1893-1901) by Jean Sibelius. These were followed by a short Richard Strauss piece called Durch Einsamkeiten (1938) and a modern composition, Runo (2015), by their very own member Juuso Vanonen. The second half of the evening was dedicated to the world premiere of the whole nine-piece cycle, Nine Echoes of Ancient Trees (2014), by Michael Ostrzyga. As the piece originated upon YL’s request, the composer himself gave a short introduction to the piece.