Velinikka is a quarter-tone accordion concerto for quarter-tone accordion and chamber orchestra. The composition is commissioned by Gaudeamus Music Week and dedicated to Veli Kujala. It was very inspiring to compose the concerto for Veli Kujala and Insomnio conducted by Ulrich Pöhl. The cadenza of the concerto is improvised or/and composed by the soloist.

Cooperation with Veli Kujala and the undersigned have led to an elaboration of a new instrument, the quarter-tone accordion. The most significant difference between a standard concert accordion and the quarter-tone accordion is, that reed blocks inside the quarter-tone accordion are replaced with the quarter-tone reed blocks. The quarter-tone reed blocks are able to produce complete quarter-tone scale of range of nearly five octaves.

The quarter-tone accordion was invented by Veli Kujala in 2005. The quarter-tone reed blocks were designed by Veli Kujala and built by Pigini (www.pigini.com), an accordion factory in Italy, in 2006. The tuning system used is quarter-tone equal temperament, in which the scale divides an octave into 24 equal-ratio steps. The quarter-tone accordion is tuned with a accuracy of one thousandth of a hertz by Tapio Peltola.

Today many composers are interested in using micro-intervals. This increases demand for instruments able to produce them. The quarter-tone accordion is one of the answers for this demand.

Sampo Haapamäki