Ville Urponen Organ Concert
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026
Start Time: 3:00 p.m. (Doors open at 2:30 p.m.)
Venue: International Christian University Chapel
Program
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata und fuge in d, BWV 565
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Variazioni sulla Follia di Spagna, Wotq 118/9, H.263
Naji Hakim: Variations on "To Call my True Love to my Dance" (2007)
and more...
Comments from the Organist
My program starts with one of the most famous organ pieces ever: J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor. After that comes his son's variations on the famous Spanish theme La Follia which shows how colourful organ can be. Concert ends with Naji Hakim´s Variations on "To Call my True Love to my Dance" which shows how interestingly and even differently one can compose for organ today. Variations consist of movements like "Valse", "Tango" and "Burletta" and end with a breathtaking Finale.
Profile
VILLE URPONEN is one of Finland's most prominent organists. He completed diplomas in both the organ and the piano at the Sibelius Academy, having studied the organ with Prof. Kari Jussila and the piano with Meri Louhos. He went on to study the organ with Jacques van Oortomerssen and Pieter van Dijk at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. He has also attended several organ masterclasses. He completed his Master of Music degree at the Sibelius Academy in 1996 and his artistically oriented Doctor of Music degree at the Sibelius Academy in 2009.
Urponen has performed in numerous countries in Europe and in Japan, China, South Korea and Russia. He has appeared at many major music festivals at home and abroad. Among his merits are performing the entire organ output of Johann Sebastian Bach in Helsinki in summer 2012 and playing the opening concerts of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Bach organ at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig in July 2020. He gave one of the inaugural recitals of the new Rieger organ at the Music Centre in Helsinki in January 2024. Over the course of his career, he has given more than 30 world premieres and the first performances in Finland of numerous contemporary works.
Urponen is known for his ensemble skills and regularly collaborates with leading Finnish singers and instrumentalists. He has also given concerts with some of Finland's best-known choirs. He has played solo organ and harpsichord parts with orchestras and also regularly plays orchestral organ parts with a variety of Finnish orchestras, including the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera and the Turku Philharmonic. He has collaborated with conductors such as Nicholas Collon, Roy Goodman, Hannu Lintu, Grant Llewellyn, Klaus Mäkelä, Sakari Oramo, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leif Segerstam, Vassili Sinaiski, John Storgårds and Mark Tatlow. He has also sat on the juries of international organ competitions and given organ masterclasses in numerous countries in Europe, in South Korea and in China.
Urponen has released several solo albums to international acclaim, including music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Jean Sibelius and several selections of Romantic Finnish organ music. His latest CD that consists of organ music of forgotten German composer Günter Raphael was released in Spring 2026 and immediately received five stars out of five possible stars from the reviewer of American record magazine "Fanfare". He also appears with an orchestra on several discs: with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Collon and Sakari Oramo, with the Turku Philharmonic under Leif Segerstam and with the Tampere Philharmonic under Hannu Lintu. He also appears as accompanist on several albums of choral music, including one by the YL Male Choir conducted by Pasi Hyökki.
Since 1994, Urponen has made dozens of studio and concert recordings for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) as soloist and with singers, instrumentalists, choirs and orchestras. In addition to core organ repertoire, he has recorded the complete organ works of many Finnish composers and has further recorded a considerable amount of Finnish music for YLE, including solo songs by Aarre and Oskar Merikanto and the song cycle Die Liebenden by Einojuhani Rautavaara with accompaniment arranged for the organ by Urponen himself. He has appeared on TV and radio broadcasts in Finland and abroad.
In addition to his career as a performing artist, Urponen is a prolific scholar and writer. In 2010, he published a book on Finnish organ music up to the Second World War (Intomielisen nuoruuden vääjäämätöntä voimaa. Suomalainen urkumusiikki toiseen maailmansotaan asti, 2010, rev. 2020). He has written articles for Finnish and foreign publications, appeared as an expert on YLE talk radio and produced a three-part series on Finnish organ music for YLE.
Ville Urponen is a Lecturer in Organ at the Sibelius Academy. He is the artistic director of the Turku Organ Festival and deputy chairman of the organ concert working group at the Music Centre in Helsinki. He was on the design committee for the new Rieger organ at the Music Centre in Helsinki (2024). He held the chair of the Organum Society, the oldest organ music association in the Nordic countries, from 2003 to 2009, and in 2015 he was awarded the Organum Society trophy for his long-standing high-profile contributions to the art of organ music.
Tickets
Admission: 2,500 yen (all seats unreserved)
Advance tickets available on Peatix (scheduled to go on sale in early September) or at the door
Inquiries: Sacred Music Center ☎ 0422-33-3330