Narek Hakhnazaryan is an Armenian cellist and winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition who made a lasting impression on his last visit to Helsinki. He is now returning to perform his new bravura piece, Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. The Four Seas Interludes from Peter Grimes, meanwhile, represent Benjamin Britten at his most poetic. Britten himself lived by the shores of the North Sea.

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.

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.

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.