Having worked a half of the gone year abroad, Raihala is now firmly rooted in Finland, and focusing continuously on several major works, of which one is a concerto for the french horn, and other a piece for kantele and violin, commissioned by Eija Kankaanranta.

The Arts Council of Finland has granted Raihala a working scholarship for the year 2012.

The first performance of Oboe concerto by Anni Haapaniemi, Sakari Oramo and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra on October the 15th was a rousing success, greeted by the audience, and the musicians likewise. The premiere was broadcast in Finland, and is available for listeners inside Finland’s borders until November the 16th. You can listen to it here.

Zen, for soprano and an instrumental quartet was finished in mid-October. The version for trumpet and an instrumental quartet, called Zenith, will get its world premiere at the Kirkko soikoon festival on March the 3rd 2012, in Helsinki.

L’homme à la licorne for soprano saxophone and piano, written last summer in Paris for Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo and Risto-Matti Marin will be premiered by the duo in Helsinki on September the 24th.

Raihala’s orchestral work Ardbeg, which had its world premiere in 2005, is now published and available from Uusinta Publishing Company Ltd., as is the Cello Concerto.

In January 2012, Rampant for two solo violins was be played at the Berlin Konzerthaus by Antti Tikkanen and Minna Pensola.