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You can now watch and listen to HPO concerts in the comfort of your very own armchair, streamed online.
The pre-concert talk (in Finnish) will help to put you in the mood. During the interval you can also meet more interesting people and hear what goes on behind the scenes.
No grand gestures or competitive glory, just quiet power, dignity and clean piano playing. Nelson Freire made his debut in 1944 at the age of just four and is one of the greatest pianists of his generation. The premiere of a new piece by Lotta Wennäkoski will also have audience members listening intently. The work is the first in a series of Helsinki Variations commissioned for the Finland 100 centenary year, in which six composers were invited to choose a Finnish composition from before 1945 as a source of inspiration.
Born 250 years ago this year, Napoleon is remembered with imperial pieces and a musical reaction to tyranny. Schönberg’s Ode to Napoleon was his statement of support for the forces fighting Hitler. The composer insisted that the singer must have ”the number of shades, essential to express one hundred and seventy kinds of derision, sarcasm, hatred, ridicule, contempt, condemnation, etc., which I tried to portray in my music.” Elisabeth Leonskaja is a piano legend whose devoted fans follow her achievements from one concert and country to another.
”For me, composition consists of the enchantment of the audience through sound,” says Peter Eötvös, who will be conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time. One of the most noteworthy composers of our day, Eötvös went to study under Zoltán Kodály at the age of 14 and continues in his footsteps as a composer, conductor and teacher. Commissioned by the four biggest orchestras in Italy, Alle vittime senza nome reflects the refugee crisis in Europe – the anonymous passengers crowded onto boats and at the mercy of the waves.
”Veli Kujala performs magic tricks for a hobby. This can perhaps be heard in his music,” says violinist Eriikka Maalismaa, describing the musical language of this evening’s debuting composer. Maalismaa is a freelance musician who enjoys working with alternative orchestras, concert series and mini-festivals in and around Helsinki. Respighi’s Rome trilogy will be performed in its entirety during the concert season. When the composer conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 1933, the programme also featured The Pines of Rome.
What connects the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and local music students? Junior Concert, of course! This year there is even more cause for celebration, as it marks the 10th time this fun concert takes place.
To mark Finnish Music Day, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is going on a tour of our hometown. The concert programme has even more historical significance this year, as it has been a hundred years since Sibelius’s Humoresques were first performed and 150 years since the birth of Armas Järnefelt. His Festive Overture debuted in 1904 at the opening of the Finnish National Theatre. The concerts will be performed without a conductor, showcasing the chamber music dimensions of the orchestra.
”I was a pretty fearless young person,” Gemma New, a conductor from New Zealand, told the Canadian newspaper The Star in 2016, explaining how her career has progressed so rapidly. The cornerstone of her debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, a bright song of praise to a free and happy person. Luciano Berio’s Voci is woven from Sicilian songs and interpreted her by Antoine Tamestit, one of the few but brilliant solo viola players touring the world’s concert stages.
“Dented nature” is how German composer Enno Poppe describes his inventive music, which grows from small sprouts.
“Thus Fate knocks at the door” is how Beethoven described the theme of his Symphony No. 5, without which the history of music would sound quite different. Akiko Suwanai in turn performs a violin concerto that earned her fame in 1990 as the youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Shostakovich’s dark symphony was rejected by censors, Gershwin’s piano concerto is sizzling with the excitement of Broadway stages.
Sergei Prokofiev’s symphonic fairy tale for children has familiarised young audiences with orchestral instruments from one generation to the next.
A mystic tension permeates Jonathan Harvey’s Messages, in which the choir recites mythological angel names, leading listeners on an ethereal journey across seven heavens.
Your ears will be in for a surprise as the Musica nova Helsinki festival once again presents the latest in contemporary music alongside established classics. Bryce Dessner, guitarist of The National, composed his piano concerto for the evening’s two sibling soloists. Also being performed in Finland for the first time will be Metacosmos, which was commissioned for the New York Philharmonic, and the rhythmic De Snelheid. The opening concert of the festival culminates with Delta, a composition by Jay Schwartz that explores the dimensions of sounds.
The Violin Concerto of John Adams in turn is a modern classic that is interpreted here by the brilliant Chloë Hanslip.
The ode to universal friendship ends our autumn season in traditional fashion. The excitement of one of the most popular concerts of the year is ensured by top Finnish soloists together with the Helsinki Music Centre Choir. Eva Ollikainen will be conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time.
The Unanswered Question of Charles Ives and the Enigma Variations of Edward Elgar operate in the realm of great secrets. The violin concerto of composer-DJ Mason Bates combines club sounds with symphonic music. It shares one thing in common with Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Fantasy: both were composed especially for Anne Akiko Meyers.
We celebrate Finnish Music Day with an international atmosphere.
Aaron Copland originally composed his rustic ode to the simple life of American settlers for choreographer Martha Graham in the form of ballet music. With his reputation for deep interpretations, Paavali Jumppanen takes the audience on a voyage of discovery to an early piano concerto by Brahms. The concert opens with a new composition by Sean Shepherd, in which abstract paintings are given musical form.
Igor Stravinsky had already established a reputation as a young composer to watch with his gently controversial pieces, but The Rite of Spring was a step too far for Parisian audiences. The debut performance in 1913 met with much shouting and indignation. Even though the scandal surrounding the composition has subdued over the years, it remains as powerful as ever.
Concert Piece for Four Horns and Elgar’s Symphony No. 2 for the first time, this is a concert of true rarities.
Duke Ellington’s swing is brought to life as the UMO Jazz Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra join forces once again. The programme includes the classic album Symphonic Ellington and its iconic musical description of Harlem. Antti Rissanen conducts the orchestras as they take on familiar and fresher arrangements of the music of the jazz giant.
Helsinki Philharmonic & Susanna Mälkki & Kirill Gerstein
Béla Bartók - Konsertto orkesterille
Edward Elgar - Sellokonsertto
Iiro Rantalan uudet sävellykset Timo Parvelan Ella ja kaverit -kirjaan
Helsinki-päivän konsertti 12.6. 2013
Yhteislaulukonsertti Musiikkitalosta
Friedrich Cerha - Sellokonsertto
Taiteilijatapaamisessa konserttimestari Pekka Kauppinen
Truls Mørk talks about his work as musician
Kirill Gerstein choosing a piano in Musiikkitalo
Oboisti Jussi Jaatinen kertoo työstään
Kuusivuotias Frida ja viulisti Maiju Kauppinen tapasivat ja juttelivat soittamisesta ja unelmista.
Timo Virtanen ja Sibeliuksen toisen sinfonian partituurit
Béla Bartók - Konsertto orkesterille
Edward Elgar - Sellokonsertto
Friedrich Cerha - Sellokonsertto
Konserttitallenteita, haastatteluja, takahuonetunnelmia.
Keskusteluja musiikista
Konserttitallenteita, haastatteluja, takahuonetunnelmia.
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