Osmo Vanska plays clarinet piece by Finnish composer

By Claude Peck

Music in the Park opened its 2009-10 chamber-music season Sunday with a sold-out concert at Hamline University featuring some big names: Osmo Vanska on clarinet, Sarah Kwak and Gina DiBello on violins, Thomas Turner on viola and Anthony Ross on cello.

One of the featured works was the Midwest premiere of a clarinet quintet by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho. Vanska, who described the piece as "very difficult," said that he had been practicing it for a long time. That practice will pay off when the BIS record label records the piece next year, per Vanska.