Tickets 15€ / 10€

Pori Jazz 2023 Artist of the Year Tuomo Uusitalo is an internationally awarded jazz pianist who has been active in New York since 2012, and whose life path has brought him back to Helsinki after years abroad. Uusitalo's career has already been extensive and his list of merits includes performances with several legendary bands and musicians, such as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Jimmy Cobb, Billy Hart, Chris Cheek, Seamus Blake, Justin Brown, to name a few.

_{In 2026, it will be 100 years since jazz symbolically arrived in Finland with the ship Andania. The year thus marks a historic centenary celebration for Finnish jazz: Jazz in Finland 100. The anniversary highlights Finnish jazz and its artists both in Finland and abroad, celebrating jazz as part of Finland’s cultural heritage. The Jazz in Finland 100 campaign is coordinated by the Finnish Jazz Federation.}

Open event

Tickets 15€ / 10€

An award-winning saxophonist, composer and sound artist Heli Hartikainen's music merges experimental sonic textures with hypnotic, evolving soundscapes. Hartikainen's debut album CHRONOVARIATIONS, which utilizes 3D audio technology, won the Finnish Critics' Association's honorary prize in 2025 for the year's most significant artistic breakthrough and was nominated for the Emma Awards for the Best Jazz Album of 2024.

Interbody (2026) examines time from the perspective of the human body: geological, atmospheric, corporeal, and technological time as embodied experience. At its core is the tenor saxophone, extended through a self-built live sampler that responds in real time to pitch and volume, creating a polyphonic counterpart to the performer. A degree of randomness is built into the system, merging improvisation and algorithmic processes—the human and the machine-organism—and keeping the performer on their toes.

_{In 2026, it will be 100 years since jazz symbolically arrived in Finland with the ship Andania. The year thus marks a historic centenary celebration for Finnish jazz: Jazz in Finland 100. The anniversary highlights Finnish jazz and its artists both in Finland and abroad, celebrating jazz as part of Finland’s cultural heritage. The Jazz in Finland 100 campaign is coordinated by the Finnish Jazz Federation.}

Open event

Tickets 15€ / 10€

Anno 22 is a fresh jazz band from Jyväskylä, whose music is inspired by modern Nordic jazz and plays with different textures and soundscapes. The band's compositions alternate between more traditional, acoustic soundscapes and electronic elements from electric bass to electric drums. The music is centered around clear, strong melodies and sensitive interaction. The band is releasing their debut album this year (2026). Saxophonist Sakurako Ishiyama will also be performing at LPR JAZZ.

_{In 2026, it will be 100 years since jazz symbolically arrived in Finland with the ship Andania. The year thus marks a historic centenary celebration for Finnish jazz: Jazz in Finland 100. The anniversary highlights Finnish jazz and its artists both in Finland and abroad, celebrating jazz as part of Finland’s cultural heritage. The Jazz in Finland 100 campaign is coordinated by the Finnish Jazz Federation.}

Open event

Tickets 15€ / 10€

Mikko Pettinen Why Not is a Finnish band whose expression is based on strong interaction and the nuanced language of modern jazz. Mikko Pettinen is known for his personal compositional style, which emphasizes clear formal language, subtle dynamics and a sense of space.

The lineup performs the repertoire from the 2025 Patient Patient album (Eclipse Music), which is based on Pettinen's personal experiences after receiving a superficial hemosiderosis diagnosis in March 2023. The works reflect the feelings and thoughts aroused by this phase of life – uncertainty, stagnation, hope and acceptance – in a subtle and profound way. The cultural editorial team gave the album a full five stars, and the album was nominated for the Indie Awards in the Jazz of the Year category. It was also recognized by a Funky Awards nomination in the Album of the Year – Boundary Crosser category. Yleisradio journalists also selected the album among the ten best albums of 2025.

_{In 2026, it will be 100 years since jazz symbolically arrived in Finland with the ship Andania. The year thus marks a historic centenary celebration for Finnish jazz: Jazz in Finland 100. The anniversary highlights Finnish jazz and its artists both in Finland and abroad, celebrating jazz as part of Finland’s cultural heritage. The Jazz in Finland 100 campaign is coordinated by the Finnish Jazz Federation.}

Open event