“Why have you lived? Why have you suffered? Is this all some huge, horrible prank?” In his Resurrection Symphony, Gustav Mahler asks cosmic questions, but also promises an answer: “One is battered to the ground and then raised on angel’s wings to the highest heights.” The concert season culminates in a symphony echoing the mysteries of life and death that was always one of the composer's most popular.
There is no intermission in the concert.
Canadian mezzo-soprano Mireille Lebel grew up in Vancouver and is based in Berlin. She sings leading roles for lyric mezzo in opera houses internationally and has worked as a soloist with conductors Jonathan Darlington, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Labadie, Jacques Lacombe, Joana Mallwitz, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Hervé Niquet. Lebel regularly performs works by Samy Moussa, the current Composer-in-Residence for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
Before residing in Berlin, Lebel was a member of the Theater Erfurt ensemble for five years. Since then, she has worked as a freelance artist in Europe and North America, where her collaborations include Opera Atelier, Národní divadlo Praha, Theater Basel, Opéra-Théâtre de Metz Métropole, Opéra national de Lorraine, Opéra de Nice, the Vancouver Opera, Schwetzingen SWR Festspiele, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Les Violons du Roy, Collegium 1704, and the Houston Symphony.
Mireille graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto and a Master of Music from l’Université de Montréal.
Finnish soprano Helena Juntunen (born 1976) has for over two decades performed globally as a soloist with notable orchestras and in major opera roles. With the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Juntunen last appeared in the spring of 2024 as one of the soloists in Gustav Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand.
Juntunen has performed in the Nordic countries, including Iceland, as well as in the United States, Canada, Japan, and extensively throughout Central Europe. She has collaborated with renowned conductors, such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Colin Davis, Mikko Franck, Daniel Harding, René Jacobs, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Leif Segerstam, John Storgårds, and Osmo Vänskä. On opera stages, Juntunen has appeared at venues such as Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Connecticut, Dresden, Geneva, Genoa, Ilmajoki, Savonlinna, Strasbourg, and Vienna. She has been a regular guest artist at the Finnish National Opera since 1999.
Helena Juntunen is a graduate of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
The Helsinki Music Centre Chorus (Musiikkitalon kuoro) is a symphonic choir of around 130 singers that can, when needed, reconfigure as a male or female ensemble. Founded in 2011 on the initiative of conductors Hannu Lintu, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and John Storgårds, the choir collaborates with all the resident organisations at the Helsinki Music Centre, or Musiikkitalo: the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the University of the Arts Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. Artistic Director of the choir since 2017 has been Nils Schweckendiek, professor of choral conducting at the Sibelius Academy. The singers are passionate choral enthusiasts.
The repertoire, planned in close collaboration with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, is developed with long-term planning in mind and primarily consists of symphonic choral and orchestral works. A cappella works for large choirs are also performed. Most of the choir’s concerts take place at Musiikkitalo in Helsinki.
The Helsinki Music Centre Chorus is recruiting additional singers.
For details of auditions, please visit www.musiikkitalonkuoro.fi.
Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, has established himself as one of the outstanding conductors of his generation. Born in Finland in 1956, he began his career as a violinist. Today, he is renowned as an artist of exceptional versatility and breadth.
Saraste has previously held principal conductorships at the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, he appears with major orchestras worldwide, including the Orchestre de Paris, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Coaching and mentoring young musicians is of great importance to Saraste. He is a founding member of the LEAD! Foundation, a mentorship programme for young conductors and soloists.
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.
