Henry Mancini 100 years

Henri Mancini (1924-1994) is considered one of the most important composers of film history. For example, four Oscars, a Golden Globe and twenty Grammies adorned his trophy showcase.  The characteristics of Mancini’s film music are strong melodies, “ear worms” known by everyone- such as the Pink Panther and Baby Elephant Walk- timeless ambiance and fanciful use of various instruments in orchestrations.  Mancini was also a trailblazing composer combining, among the first musicians, features of jazz with classical post-romantic orchestra music.

All of the most famous, most enjoyable and most touching pearls from Mancini’s career have been selected for the Air Force Big Band’s Henri Mancini concert.  Multi instrumentalist Matti Fredriksson will also be heard as the orchestra’s visiting artist.

Ville Vannemaa is our country’s most asked for big band conductors.  Vannemaa, who is currently the Artistic Director of the Turku Jazz Orchestra, has appeared as the visiting conductor of  UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Espoo Big Band and Oulu All-Star Big Band for many years. In parallel with conducting, Vannemaa has wide experience of working with big bands also in the capacity of composer/ arranger and orchestra musician i.a.  In UMO’s saxophone section.  As an instrument player, you may have heard him in the ranks of  Jukka Perko’s Hurmio 2.0, Popeda, Valtteri Laurell Nonet and Kalevi Louhivuori Quintet.

Matti Fredriksson is a genre-stretching musician, multi instrumentalist and producer.  When he was a child, Fredriksson got a spark for music and sound from folk music, which has brought from a jazz band guitarist to a symphony orchestra concert master and from a heavy band keyboard player to a studio mixing console. He has held solo concerts as a violinist and served as an orchestra and chamber music player. Some time ago, he also became known to the Finnish pop music audience as a guitarist of the band Yölintu.  He has also performed as a freelance musician for theatres, gigs and studio sessions.   In the course of his long career in studio settings working with music productions, creating various types of soundscapes has been a great passion of his next to playing an instrument. This has contributed to his versatile and delicate musical expression.