Esa Pietilä
Esa Pietilä is a Finnish saxophonist and composer (b. 1964) who works diversely on the field of contemporary music. He studied saxophone and composition in Sibelius- Academy jazz department in Helsinki and privately in US with David Liebman. In his home country, the Yrjö Jazz award 2016 was given to him for his original, genre-defying work in the field of avant-garde jazz. Career. Esa Pietilä started his career as a jazz musician and later on has expanded his expression to many different musical genres. He has performed with his jazz groups e.g. Liberty Ship, Esa Pietilä  3, with his duo collaborations with contemporary classical & new music chamber musicians, as soloist for chamber orchestras, other larger ensembles and performing totally free improvisations at his solo concerts. Pietilä has worked e.g. with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, with Avanti! Chamber Orchestra. Pietilä has premiered the saxophone concerto of Kalevi Aho, Eero Hämeenniemi and Pietilä´s concerto "Graffiti Play" for chamber orchestra & contemporary jazz trio. His collaborators on the field of jazz have been Paal Nilssen-Love, Harvey Sorgen, Michael Jefry Stevens, Mathias Eick, Jeff Siegel, Karl Berger, Mark Helias, Brian Melvin, Heiri Kaenzig, Christoph Baumann, Baenz Öster , Franziska Baumann, Mike Nock, Ron McClure, Claudio Fasoli, Anders Begcrantz, Odean Pope, Hilmar Jensson, Raoul Björkenheim. Markku Ounaskari, Ulf Krokfors, Iro Haarla.