The tales of One Thousand and One Nights come to life in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and navigating by the swell, sea currents and stars is a source of inspiration in New Zealand composer Salina Fisher's Tupaia.
Tianyi Lu
Tianyi Lu is Conductor-in-Residence with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway and Female-Conductor-in-Residence with the Welsh National Opera in the UK. Additionally, she is Principal Conductor of the British St Woolos Sinfonia. Lu collaborates with many renown international orchestras and opera houses.
Chinese-born New Zealander Lu studied at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the University of Melbourne in Australia, and in the UK at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she graduated in conducting in 2015.
At her school of music gala in 2010, Tianyi, then a 20-year-old flute player, said her ultimate dream was to become a conductor. As the Auckland University alumni page advocates: ’Watch Tianyi Lu in action and you soon realise she was born to be a conductor. Her grace and presence on stage and her obvious passion for music makes you realise this is someone who is clearly living the dream.’
With the first performance of Tupaia in Finland, Lu’s debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is truly a greeting from New Zealand.
Salina Fisher: Tupaia
Salina Fisher (b. 1993) studied composition and the violin both at home in New Zealand and in New York. She has had several prestigious residences and been the winner of many composition prizes. Her works are often inspired by nature and history, or by her Japanese-New Zealand heritage. Tupaia (2018) was commissioned jointly by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Albany Symphony Orchestra and was premiered in 2018. It recalls James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific on HMS Endeavour in 1796. During their time in Tahiti, the crew got to know Tupaia, a master Polynesian navigator and priest. Highly skilled in traditional navigation based on the sea, swells, currents, winds and stars, Tupaia was invited to join the crew and played a vital role in their landing in New Zealand. His fascinating record of cultural and navigational interaction inspired Fisher’s compositional process drawing on the idea of celestial navigation.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite, Op. 35
By far the most popular of the many works by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) has always been his symphonic suite Scheherazade. It has been turned into a ballet, and often pops up in TV programmes and ice-skating championships. Rimsky-Korsakov was inspired to compose it after reading the tales known as The Thousand and One Nights (or Arabian Nights) that had fired the imagination of European readers with their thirst for the exotic in the 1880s.
The movements are: The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, The Legend of the Kalendar Prince, The Young Prince and the Young Princess and Festival at Baghdad. The Sea. The Ship Breaks against a Cliff Surmounted by a Bronze Horseman. The movements do not, however, refer to any particular tale, so listeners are free to imagine whatever they like. The often heard solo violin melody represents the young Scheherazade telling her husband tales to forestall his plan to kill her, and the recurring brass theme is the tyrannical sultan himself.
Violin 1 Viola
| Flute Elina Raijas Päivi Korhonen Jenny Villanen Oboe Hannu Perttilä Jussi Jaatinen Paula Malmivaara Clarinet Anna-Maija Korsimaa Sonja Lankinen Nora Niskanen Bassoon Markus Tuukkanen Arvid Larsson Mikko-Pekka Svala Horn Mika Paajanen Miska Miettunen Jonathan Nikkinen Sam Parkkonen Joonas Seppelin Trumpet Thomas Bugnot Pasqual Llopis Diago Obin Meurin Trombone Nir Erez Francisco Couto Jussi Vuorinen Tuba Ilkka Marttila Timpani Tomi Wikström Percussion Xavi Castelló Aràndiga Pasi Suomalainen Mikael Sandström Petri Piiparinen Elmeri Uusikorpi Harp Minnaleena Jankko |
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.
