Duo SaBu, which is composed of pianist Heidi Saario and tenor Erich Buchholz, brings to life songs for voice and piano, especially the songs of Finland. A recent performance at the Piedmont Center for the Arts was described as "vocal/piano concert of extraordinary quality". Erich, a native of Chicago, has studied Finnish language and repertoire since 2006. Heidi, a native of Helsinki, has performed and taught piano in Finland, Canada, and USA. They met at a solo performance of Heidi’s in 2022, where she played Finnish piano music, and began working together soon after. Finnish composers represented include Oskar Merikanto, Yrjö Kilpinen, Jean Sibelius, Leevi Madetoja, Martti Turunen. They also perform the music of Edvard Grieg, Erich Korngold, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The richness of Finnish song repertoire is deep, with its stark and expressive poetry, and music that breathes a new life into the poems with moods that are at times pastoral and folk-like, turning brooding, romantic, imbued with a profound connection to the natural world. In the songs you hear bird calls, the sea, winds, snow-capped mountains. These musical images amplify the emotions and complexity of human experience captured in the poetry of L. Onerva, Eino Leino, Hilja Haahti, J. H. Erkko, A. V. Koskimies, Severi Nyman, and the folk poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Heidi and Erich are passionate about bringing this exceptional repertoire to more audiences in the USA and abroad. Complete texts and translations are provided at each of their performances.
The richness of Finnish song repertoire is deep, with its stark and expressive poetry, and music that breathes a new life into the poems with moods that are at times pastoral and folk-like, turning brooding, romantic, imbued with a profound connection to the natural world. In the songs you hear bird calls, the sea, winds, snow-capped mountains. These musical images amplify the emotions and complexity of human experience captured in the poetry of L. Onerva, Eino Leino, Hilja Haahti, J. H. Erkko, A. V. Koskimies, Severi Nyman, and the folk poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot. Heidi and Erich are passionate about bringing this exceptional repertoire to more audiences in the USA and abroad. Complete texts and translations are provided at each of their performances.
Tenor Erich Buchholz has enjoyed a career that spans the worlds of opera, operetta, musicals, concerts and recordings. He sings the role of Fridolin in Leo Fall’s “The Rose of Stambul” with Chicago Folks Operetta on the Naxos label. With Hudson Shad, a male classical vocal sextet, he has toured 17 of the United States, Japan, and Germany, with performances of Kurt Weill’s “Seven Deadly Sins” at the Berlin Philharmonic, The Elbphilharmonie Hall in Hamburg, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Tonhalle in Duesseldorf, and the symphonies of Detroit and Louisville. He has soloed at the Grant Park Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Calgary Philharmonic. An accomplished stage actor as well as singer, in one notable season he portrayed Romeo in Shakepeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” followed by Tony in “West Side Story”. He has over 1000 hours of recording experience as a session singer, and has sung recitals in Ohio, California, Wisconsin, Iowa, Washington and Illinois. In the greater Chicagoland area he has performed concert and oratorio works by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Britten, Debussy and Bernstein. He is featured on Bob Applebaum’s “Jazz Shabbat Service”. He began exploring the world of Finnish art song in 2006, which led him to his present work with pianist Heidi Saario as part of Duo SaBu, based in the San Francisco Bay area.
Heidi Saario is a native of Finland and has performed as a soloist and a collaborative pianist in Finland, Canada, and the USA. Heidi enjoys exploring repertoire from the Nordic countries. Her playing has been praised as being ”polished and self-assured, at all times displaying a real affinity for the music.” Her debut CD Jean Sibelius - Compositions for Piano highlights rarely heard solo piano pieces by a Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Her active collaboration with soprano Cindy Koistinen as Duo Freya produced another recording Diamonds of the North – Songs from Scandinavia. According to the Wholenote Magazine “this recording of Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian music for voice and piano is truly full of little musical diamonds – and a rich introduction to the world of Nordic art song.” Aside from performance, Heidi Saario is active as a music educator. She maintains a busy teaching studio in Alameda, CA, teaching students of all ages and levels. She also serves as a Senior Examiner and Ambassador for the Royal Conservatory. Heidi has given presentations on Finnish and Nordic music in conferences across USA and Canada.