The adventurous and uncompromising modern jazz group Elifantree (Finland) presents an evening of breathtaking music, blending improvisation and dazzling vocals with electroacoustic elements and visuals.
The event is free and open to the public. Check back for the registration link, to be published on this page soon!
Elifantree
Anni Elif Egecioglu, vocals
Pauli Lyytinen, saxophones, electronics
Olavi Louhivuori, drums
Joonas Saikkonen, sound and visuals
Related event
Join us on October 5 (Sunday), 3:00 PM, in the Shaw Auditorium foyer, as the members of Elifantree coach HKUST's music students in a live improvisation workshop.
Bios
"Elifantree is enigmatic, unnerving and wonderfully unpredictable and can move from dreamscapes to fever sweats within the same bar."
The ever-evolving trio makes music using the framework of jazz, but usually trek well outside of it. With dazzling vocals, outstanding saxophone playing, pulsating rhythmical textures, and a complete devotion to the creative impulses, Elifantree has established itself as one of Finland's most uncompromising bands. And with their use of additional electroacoustic elements they create a sound much larger and wider than the sum of their parts. Elifantree has performed widely around the globe since 2007 and has gained a reputation as an energetic, unrestrained, and constantly surprising live act that has been compared to works by David Lynch, Charlie Chaplin, and Pablo Picasso. Their playful and versatile music is exceedingly articulated and always blessed with the spirit of improvisation.
The trio has released six critically acclaimed albums: Love & Trees (2010), Time Out (2012), Movers and Shakers (2015), Anemone (2018), Blood Moon (2019) and the double album Hachi (2021).
Anni Elif Egecioglu is a Swedish-Finnish vocalist, cellist and composer. Her versatile voice and bold artistry has brought her to many corners of the world. She is an artist who freely navigates the boundaries between different musical and artistic genres, blending vulnerability with mastery, and has performed with several of Finlands leading ensembles such as Tapiola Sinfonietta, Uusinta Ensemble, and UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra. Egecioglu started studying music at a young age and graduated as a classical cellist from the Academy of Music and Drama, in Gothenburg 2009. Nowadays she works mainly with improvised and experimental music but since a few years back she started performing contemporary classical music more frequently and also collaborating with composers which now plays a bigger part in her artistic oeuvre. As well as performing as a soloist, Anni Elif works regularly with the ever-evolving trio Elifantree, Anni Elif Ensemble, and as a duo with pianist Seppo Kantonen.
Saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Pauli Lyytinen is known for his adventurous and uncompromising work within rhythm and art music that transcends borders. Lyytinen is a sovereign saxophonist and improviser who expands his expression with a wide range of electronic instruments such as the electronic woodwind, effect pedals and synthesizers. Of the discography, which covers fifty titles, over 30 records contain music composed by Lyytinen, and the artist has performed his own music at hundreds of prestigious clubs and festivals in 35 countries around the globe. Lyytinen ́s environmental solo saxophone album Lehto / Korpi won the Jazz-Emma prize in 2025 ("Finnish Grammy") and was also nominated on Indie Awards 2025. Lyytinen 's active bands are Pauli Lyytinen Solo, Elifantree, Pauli Lyytinen & Niillas Holmberg, Magnetia Orkesteri, Pauli Lyytinen Rabbit Hole (fi/no/ch), Equally Stupid (fi/is/us) and Sole Azul. Throughout his 25-year artistic career, Lyytinen has collaborated with numerous international top musicians and other performing artists. In recent years he has collaborated increasingly with contemporary classical groups and interdisciplinary projects.
Born into a musical family, Olavi Louhivuori grew up in Jyväskylä, Central Finland, surrounded by music and musicians. His father is a professor at music department of the University of Jyväskylä, mother a violinist and music teacher and each of the seven-member Louhivuori family plays an instrument. Olavi began studying the violin at the age of 4 but switched to cello and piano after four years. He discovered the drums at the age of 9 when he was accepted into the music class of his primary school.
In 1998 Louhivuori enrolled at the Finnish Music Conservatory of Jyväskylä for 3 years. During these years he joined numerous different jazz groups, including the Joona Toivanen Trio and Jyväskylä Junior Big Band. Being a familiar face in the local venue, Jazz Bar, gained him a splendid opportunity to perform and jam with both local and visiting international musicians. Indeed, the Joona Toivanen Trio opened the junior jam session at Jazz Bar every Tuesday night for three years.
In 2002 Louhivuori moved to Helsinki to start his studies at the prestigious Sibelius Academy, and it did not take long before the drummer found himself working full-time both in Finland and abroad. First place in the Young Nordic Jazz Comets competition three times within six years (with Joona Toivanen Trio in 2000, Ilmiliekki Quartet in 2002, and SUN Trio in 2006) sent the talented drummer touring on the Continent and around the world, in Asia, Australia, and the United States.
Louhivuori has established himself as a drum artist with a distinctively nuanced and subtly experimental style. In recent years, one of Louhivuori’s most noteworthy achievements has been the membership in the Polish jazz veteran Tomasz Stanko’s new quintet. Apart from that, he has performed with such acclaimed names as Lee Konitz, Anthony Braxton, and Marilyn Crispell, and in the Finnish jazz scene, Louhivuori’s collaborations include UMO Jazz Orchestra and the folk group Piirpauke.
Joonas Saikkonen is a Finnish music technologist, sound designer, and producer specializing in alternative music, jazz, and folk. He has worked extensively with various artists and ensembles in Finland and the Nordic countries. Albums he has recorded and mixed have received five Emma Awards – the Finnish equivalent of the Grammy Awards – and a numerous amount of nominations.
Saikkonen has served as the technical producer for Etno-Espa (2015) and Jazz-Espa (2016–present) in Helsinki. He has also been responsible for sound reinforcement on the Finnish tours organized by the Jazz Federation. Joonas began studying cello at the Monaco Conservatory in 1991. After moving to Finland in 1997, he switched his main instruments to guitar and drums. His diverse music studies have provided him with a strong foundation for his work as a producer. Saikkonen graduated as a music technologist from the Pop & Jazz Conservatory in 2011 and continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy, from which he graduated in 2019. His strengths include exceptional listening skills, musicality, a deep foundation in music theory, creativity, and attentiveness.
His current projects include producing the fifth album by Antti Autio, recording and mixing Linda Fredriksson’s upcoming album, the Tale of the Fell performances by Tuuletar and Tapiola Sinfonietta, as well as live mixing for Karri Koira, a platinum-awarded Finnish R&B Artist.