Our Finnish Music Day concert presents Kalevala-inspired music by Uuno Klami, who was encouraged by Robert Kajanus to take up the national epic in the 1930s. Soprano Iris Candelaria makes her debut as the orchestra's soloist, performing an atmospheric series of orchestral songs by Sibelius.
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016) composed his Requiem in Our Time in 1953, as an entry in the US Thor Johnson competition for a work for brass instruments. It was performed at the competition’s finals in Cincinnati and awarded the first prize. Rautavaara was at the time a conscript in the Finnish army but later, with a recommendation from Jean Sibelius, his victory helped to gain him an opportunity to study in the USA. He dedicated his Requiem to the memory of his mother, who had died when he was 16.
The closing Lacrymosa already looks towards the leisurely stroll through the land of beauty characteristic of Rautavaara’s later music.
The four-movement Requiem begins with a resolute Hymnus. The following Credo et Dubito contrasts a devout chorale with music that is nothing short of sardonic and is in fact an arrangement of a movement from his Fiddlers suite. Dies Irae is a savage, angry scherzo. The closing Lacrymosa already looks towards the leisurely stroll through the land of beauty characteristic of Rautavaara’s later music.
The colourful, rhythmical and Neoclassical style of Uuno Klami (1900–1961) differed from that of, say, fellow-Finn Jean Sibelius. But like Sibelius, Klami felt a pull towards the myths and legends of his homeland and above all its national epic, The Kalevala. His greatest work inspired by the epic is the Kalevala Suite he composed on the suggestion of Robert Kajanus, founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Klami once said of his suite: “I did my best here, as in my other works, to avoid the melancholy and profound gloominess for which Finnish music has, especially abroad, been severely criticised.” And indeed, this suite cannot be described as gloomy. The opening The Creation of the Earth, initially shrouded in mystery before erupting in a big bang, is followed without a break by the calmly melodic The Sprout of Spring. Terhenniemi, a sunny scherzo, leads to A Cradle Song for Lemminkäinen (one of the epic’s leading characters), and the closing Forging of the Sampo (the source or prosperity in The Kalevala) brings the suite to a resounding conclusion.
Iris Candelaria (b. 1995) has quickly risen to the forefront of Finland’s lyric sopranos. In 2022, she made her debut both at the Finnish National Opera as the Queen of the Night in W. A. Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as the High Priestess in Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida.
Iris Candelaria won the 1st prize and the audience award in the prestigious Lappenranta singing competition in 2023. She graduated with a Master of Music from the Sibelius Academy’s opera program under the guidance of Annika Ollinkari in 2022. This year, Candelaria received the Finnish Cultural Foundation award.
Candelaria’s most recent roles at the National Opera include Constance in Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and Valencienne in Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow. Last summer marked Candelaria’s first international engagement: she sang the role of Antigone in George Enescu’s Oedipe at the Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria. Candelaria will also appear in the world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s opera Morgonstjärnan at the Finnish National Opera in early 2026.
Maximilian Fagerlund has studied orchestral conducting under the renowned conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula since 2024. In September 2024 he received the first prize in the first ever Jorma Panula Minikapu conduction competition.
Fagerlund’s pianistic abilities range from classical repertoire to versatile improvisation. He also works as a chamber musician, lied pianist and an active composer. In January 2025 Fagerlund was awarded the first prize in the 17–30-year-old category of the national Leevi Madetoja piano competition. The 2025–2026 season will also include his debut with the Seinäjoki City Orchestra as a piano soloist.
Maximilian Fagerlund started his studies at the age of six with Junio Kimanen at the West Helsinki Music Institute. In 2015 Fagerlund began his studies under Liisa Malmivaara first at the Turku Conservatory and later in 2016 at the Helsinki Conservatory where he was also taught by Antti Hotti. He was accepted into the Youth Piano Academy Finland in 2023. Fagerlund has studied with several acclaimed pianists, including Sir András Schiff, Severin von Eckardstein, Ralf Gothóni and Matti Raekallio.
Maestro Jorma Panula (b. 1930) is one of the most renowned educators of leading conductors, including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Susanna Mälkki, Mikko Franck, and Klaus Mäkelä. Panula has served as Professor of Conducting at the Sibelius Academy Helsinki from 1973 to 1993.
Panula was the Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1965 to 1972. During these years, Panula boldly updated the repertoire. The orchestra gave ’special series’ and introduced Helsinki audiences to the works of such composers as Arnold Schönberg. There were also numerous Finnish premieres of works by such composers as Salmenhaara, Heininen, Sallinen, Bergman, Aho and Rautavaara. In 1968, Panula made an extensive tour in the USA with the HPO.
Jorma Panula has also served as artistic director of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Aarhus Symfoniorkester. Panula has written historical operas, and he is also the composer of the first Finnish musical.
Yes, but only before or after the concert. During the concert we just want you to enjoy the music. This way you won’t disturb the musicians or other audience members.
Only the orchestra has a dress code. You can dress as you like.
You can give the ticket to a friend or donate it to a music student by calling 09-3102 2700 or sending an e-mail to helsinki.philharmonic@hel.fi by 3pm on the day of the concert.
