Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
Osmo Tapio Everton Räihälä (born 15 January 1964; name sometimes spelled without umlauts) is a Finnish composer of contemporary music. He has mainly written instrumental music for various chamber music line-ups, five concertos (one for mallet instruments, a viola concerto, an oboe, a cello, and a French horn concerto) as well as for symphony orchestra.Räihälä was born in Suomussalmi. He has studied under Harri Vuori. His best-known work is the 2005 orchestral portrait Barlinnie Nine, a tribute to the Scottish football player Duncan Ferguson, then of Everton, whom Räihälä is known to be a supporter of. In 2004, another orchestral tribute, this time to the Islay single malt whisky Ardbeg, was chosen as one of recommended works in the international Uuno Klami competition. The French horn concerto received the same accolade in 2014.Apart from the Nordic countries, Räihälä's music has been performed in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Germany, Russia and many other countries. The first CD recording of his works, Rock Painting, was released in 2006, and the following, Peat, Smoke & Seaweed Storm in 2014. As of 2015, Räihälä's music is represented by the German publisher Sikorski Musikverlage.Räihälä's first book Miksi nykymusiikki on niin vaikeaa [Why Is Contemporary Music So Difficult] won the prestigious Finlandia Prize book award in nonfiction category in 2021.