Sibbe Live!: Winterreise
Light and darkness mix in Winterreise, interpreted by a soprano voice
Hanna Rantala, soprano, Kirill Kozlovski, piano
Franz Schubert
With a soprano voice, the familiar tunes of Winterreise sound different. The higher than usual pitches add plurality to the overall composition, which Kozlovski’s imaginative playing emphasises. All this combined with Rantala’s expressive soprano voice makes for an extraordinary winter journey. This concert marks the first time that the Rantala-Kozlovski duo returns to Winterreise after its premiere in autumn 2021.
Soprano Hanna Rantala has been heard on the stage of the Finnish National Opera in a number of leading roles in her vocal style, and she was a permanent member of the National Opera’s soloist corps from 2011-2015. Her most recent roles there include Mona Kummel in Kuusisto’s Ice Opera and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. More recent works also include her Baroque opera debut as Cleonilla in Vivaldi’s Ottone in Villa and the premiere of Tapio Tuomela’s Karvalakkiooppera, in which she played Piija. She has performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival several summers. There she has been heard as Gilda (Verdi’s Rigoletto) and Pamina (Mozart’s The Magic Flute). At the Royal Danish Opera, she has also sung Gilda, and Sophie from Strauss’ The Sleeping Beauty. Other notable roles in Rantala’s career include Anne Trulove (Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress), Susanna (Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro), the title role in Janacek’s The Clever Kate, and Adele (Strauss’ The Bat). In addition to opera, Rantala’s repertoire includes soprano solos in orchestral works such as Bach’s St John Passion, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem and Handel’s Messiah, as well as a wide range of solo songs and contemporary music. Since autumn 2020, he has been pursuing an artistic doctorate at the DocMus doctoral school of the Sibelius Academy, examining the performance practices of vocal repertoire.
Kirill Kozlovski has studied piano at the Belarus Academy of Music in the Youth Department, the Sibelius Academy and the Vienna University of Music. In 2017 he graduated with a PhD in Music from the Sibelius Academy with a thesis on contextualisation of Dmitri Shostakovich’s music. Kirill Kozlovski has been successful in both national and international piano competitions. In 2005 he was nominated Finland Festivals’ Young Artist of the Year.
Kozlovski has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at several international festivals in France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Estonia, Spain and Finland. Kirill Kozlovski regularly performs as a solo pianist in Finland and abroad. He has performed with Jorma Hynninen, Monica Groop, Miina-Liisa Värelä, Jenni Lättilä and Mika Kares, among others.
Concert is organised in cooperation with the Finnish Soloist Association