"When I look for another word for music, I always find only Venice." Friedrich Nietzsche The Italian city in the water, a metropolis of art and music, a place of longing and creative work for renowned artists: Venice. How could one not be inspired by the beauty and mysteries of the city, its architecture, art history? First of all, the child of the city Antonio Vivaldi, but also the Austrian Gustav Mahler put his musical stamp on Venice. Ever since Luchino Visconti's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, the Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony is the first piece of music about Venice that comes to mind for many. for 500 years, the crème de la crème of the European musical world played and composed music here. Venice brought opera its heyday. Countless premieres took place here, from Vivaldi to Donizetti, but also by foreign greats such as Prokofiev or Stravinsky. The latter, in turn, had himself buried on Venice's cemetery island of San Michele near his friend, the art critic and impresario Sergei Djagilew. Siggi Loch, curator of the Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic series, has long been fascinated by Venice. And so he commissioned the Finnish pianist Iiro Rantala to compose a night alla "Veneziana." His work for piano and a 9-piece chamber ensemble was premiered on February 1, 2023, together with members of the Berlin Philharmonic in the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. It may sound audacious at first to entrust a Scandinavian, of all people, with a musical homage to Venice. But the Finn is not only an immensely world-, style- and genre-open pianist and composer, but Rantala also brings the necessary measure of humor and entertainment that gives this celebration of Venetian lightness a special charm. Equally trained in jazz (Sibelius Academy) and classical (Manhattan School of Music), he moves playfully in both genres, doing what he does best: His very own thing. He performs with greats of Finnish classical music such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, and collaborates with international orchestras, most notably the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with whom he also recorded two albums. in 2017, Rantala's first piano concerto, "Concerto for Piano and Concerto in G # majAb," premiered in Helsinki and was orchestrated by Finnish violinist, composer and conductor Jaakko Kuusisto. The opera "Sanatorio Express" followed a year later, in 2018, premiered at the Finnish National Opera. Then, in October 2021, Rantala delighted young audiences with the children's opera "Die Zaubermelodika," commissioned by the Komische Oper Berlin. Rantala's musical look at Venice is an unusual one and presented him with a challenge: "I'd never been there before, did a lot of research on the city's music and art history, and then had to let my imagination run wild." Eight fictional stories that might have happened make up his "Veneziana." Stories full of compositional ingenuity, instrumental virtuosity and, as usual for Rantala, humor. Beginning with the opening piece, "Gondol Ride To St. Mark's Square," he imagined a Swedish family coming to Venice for the first time and boarding a gondola - while arguing about everyday family matters. Rantala also takes Mozart, Prokofiev and his great compatriot Sibelius to and through Venice in this way, and reminds us of Monteverdi and his ideas with a wink. In "Vivaldi's ADHD", the creator of the "Four Seasons" muses on what the Scandinavian winter might sound like. Finally, the last piece "Morte A Venezia" is a funeral march in memory of all the great artists who lived and died in Venice. Fantastic sound worlds in virtuoso flow, melodic richness, drama and great emotions: "Veneziana" is a stirring city portrait of a different kind. Program music as only Iiro Rantala can write it... and behind every musical turn lies a new surprise: Long live Venice!