Aalto & Yli-Tepsa
Friday 30.10. ~19.00
Hermanni Yli-Tepsa and Merimaija Aalto began working together in spring 2025. The duo explores and creates acoustic string music – sonic landscapes, atmospheres, sketches and sound vignettes – by improvising, composing, and occasionally experimenting with non-idiomatic playing techniques. Their instrumentation ranges from violins and viola to the human voice.
Hermanni Yli-Tepsa is a researcher in philosophy, student of pedagogy and musician (violin, double bass). In recent years he has focused on improvised, experimental and collaborative approaches to playing with string instruments. Besides occasional solo concerts and his work with a small string ensemble (with Aalto and Saara Viika), he also performs with the bands Fernetti and Juuso Paason tulevat käsitteet, and creates silent‑film accompaniments with the ensemble Seitsemäs taivas.
Merimaija Aalto is a Helsinki based violinist, violist, and vocalist who enjoys navigating between musical styles and combining them with a sense of adventure. She is known for the ensemble AINON, the exuberant Finnish spiritual jazz project Oiro Pena, and the band Lyyti. As a performer, she is particularly fascinated by creating varied shades and contrasts with string instruments. Nature—especially forests, the sea, and waterways—is dear to her, and these themes resonate throughout her music.
︎ Aalto & Yli-Tepsa - Ikimetsä (HD) ︎︎︎
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