Outi Tarkiainen (b. 1985), one of Finland's young, emerging composers, has written music for and conducted jazz orchestras, and today focuses mainly on writing music for symphony orchestra, ensembles and chamber groups. She was born in Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, a place that has proved a constant source of inspiration for her, and studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Guildhall School of Music in London and the University of Miami. After making her name as a composer-conductor with some of Europes leading jazz orchestras, she began collaborating with the Finnish vocalist Aili Ikonen, in a partnership that culminated in a series of works for jazz orchestra. This included Into the Woodland Silence (2013), which was recorded with the Norrbotten Big Band for Fredriksson Music. The CD Unpainted Portraits is her forth collaboration with the Norrbotten Big Band and the works were written by Outi during 2017 as Composer in Residence for the Norrbotten Big Band.