The charged moods in Sauli Zinovjev's music have attracted attention on concert stages around the world: “Brisk, exciting and unpredictable” (The Wall Street Journal).
“A Shostakovichian mood of alternately furious and stunned emotional burden” (The New York Times).
The first half of the concert belongs to Tchaikovsky! The symphonic ballad The Voyevoda is related to the composer's opera of the same name, whose interlude and ballet were often performed at the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra's popular concerts in the early 20th century. However, the symphonic ballad itself is now likely being performed for the very first time at an HPO concert.
Hannu Lintu is the Chief Conductor of Finnish National Opera and Ballet until the end of the current season. Lintu works also as Music Director of Orquestra Gulbenkian and begins his tenures as Artistic Partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the International Sibelius Festival. Lintu’s appointment as Music Director of Singapore Symphony Orchestra will begin in the season 2026/27.
Lintu’s highlights this season’s include returns to the BBC, St Louis, Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies, as well as productions of Strauss’ Elektra and a world premiere of Sebastian Fagerlund’s The Morning Star at Finnish National Opera.
Hannu Lintu studied cello and piano at the Sibelius Academy, where he also later studied conducting with Jorma Panula. He participated in masterclasses with Myung-Whun Chung at L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and took first prize at the Nordic Conducting Competition in Bergen in 1994.
Stockholm-born Daniel Lozakovich (b. 2001) has become one of today’s most sought-after violinists. Last autumn, he appeared with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä on tour in Korea, followed by performances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, among others.
This spring, Lozakovich will perform Tchaikovsky’s concerto also with Gulbenkian Orchestra under Hannu Lintu and with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Nathalie Stutzmann. He will tour Europe with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and his close collaborator Tarmo Peltokoski.
As a highly sought-after recitalist, he has made appearances in historical venues such as Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Tonhalle Zürich, and more.
Daniel Lozakovich has already achieved considerable acclaim on record, having been signed by Deutsche Grammophon at just 15 years old. His recording include the concerti of J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven. Daniel Lozakovich plays the “ex-Sancy” 1713 Stradivari.
Petr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) began to write a new orchestral work in autumn 1890 based on Alexander Pushkin’s Russian translation of the poem Voyevoda by Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. He wrote out sketches for the piece within a week, but the full score was not completed until the following autumn. Tchaikovsky invited all his friends and acquaintances to the premiere in Moscow in November 1891. There was a surprise in store: the orchestra was to include a brand new instrument, patented in Paris only a couple of years earlier — the celesta.
At rehearsals, however, Tchaikovsky suddenly lost faith in the work. He conducted the premiere of Voyevoda with an obvious lack of enthusiasm, and the reception was lukewarm. Tchaikovsky was so sure of the piece being an utter failure that he destroyed the score on the day after the concert. Fortunately, the orchestral parts were rescued by the concert organiser, Alexander Siloti, and the score was reconstructed after Tchaikovsky’s death.
A voyevod, i.e. a local government chief, comes home. His wife is nowhere to be seen. He goes out into the garden, and to his great shock he sees his wife with another man. He orders his servant to shoot the man, but the servant shoots the voyevod instead. The narrative is easy to follow in the music: passionate triplets represent jealousy, the grunts of the bass clarinet mirror the voyevod’s anxiety. The garden scene culminates in the gunshot, followed by a laconic conclusion.
While staying in Switzerland in 1878, Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) received a visit from a pupil of his in Moscow, a violinist called Josef Kotek, and was inspired to compose his only Violin Concerto. This he did in about one month. The soloist he had in mind, Leopold Auer, did not like it, however, and refused to play it, so the honour at the premiere in 1881 fell to Adolf Brodsky, to whom it is also dedicated.
The critics were not impressed. The influential Eduard Hanslick said it “stank” and that “the violin was not played but beaten black and blue”. The audience liked it, however, and it soon became popular. It is nowadays a firm fixture in the standard repertoire and is the concerto with which Akiko Suwanai won first prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Of the many 19th-century violin concertos, the Tchaikovsky is one of the most melodic and poetic, and it is difficult to conceive that its composer was on the brink of a nervous breakdown when he wrote it.
Sauli Zinovjev (b. 1988) made his breakthrough with the orchestral work Batteria (2016). He has since written several orchestral works, besides solo concertos and chamber music works performed around the world. In autumn 2026, Sinfonia Lahti is to premiere the commissioned work Fade Out.
Zinovjev’s symphony now being premiered, Taste of Metal (2023–2025), is a joint commission by the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Paris. The composer writes:
“At its best, a piece of music contains everything. An entire life in a single moment. This notion shaped my approach to music even before I knew that the iconic Gustav Mahler had stated something very similar. The desire to create an entire universe is not just a philosophy; it is a power that drives my creativity with an almost compulsive intensity.
“My output to date culminates in my first symphony, Taste of Metal. Its inspiration arose from the sculptures of Markus Copper: tense, overpowering works that exude danger, raw energy and a profound awareness of the fragility of human life. Similarly, Taste of Metal is at once beautiful and cruel. The work has for movements: ‘low’, ‘flow’, ‘glow’ and ‘blow’, tracing an arc from movement deep in the earth to internal combustion and an explosive release. Here, metal is not just sound but also weight and the bitter tang of blood.”
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.
