Discover your inner child as we invite you to step inside the music n
The three-week collaboration between musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and educators from the British Aurora Orchestra culminates in the performance of Come and Play! on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at KokoTeatteri. The project is based around a memorised performance of Carnival of Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, arranged by Jessie Maryon Davies.
HPO’s Laboratory continues in a festive carnival spirit as a group of bold orchestra musicians dive into a three-week creative journey this spring. During this collaboration, musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra play and experiment together with Aurora Orchestra’s Creative Director Jane Mitchell, musical storyteller Jessie Maryon Davies, and Scott Graham, founder of the Frantic Assembly theatre company. At the end of April, the Laboratory workshop culminates in a performance of Come and Play!, which invites the audience to become part of Saint-Saens’ much loved work.
Founded in 2005, Aurora Orchestra has developed a reputation for bold performances which collaborate across art forms and find new ways for audiences to experience orchestra music. Throughout this laboratory project the creative team from Aurora and the musicians from HPO have been sharing their love of music by looking at how we can all access music through play. What games do children play with music and what can this teach all of us about how we listen and connect with each other?
Come and play! will explore all these things and share the joy and laughter we have found in the laboratory. The audience will be invited to move, sing, become immersed in sound and perhaps even to play some instruments themselves.
“Our work has been filled with friendship and respect. We have played, improvised, and explored together – now it’s the audience’s turn to join us in play and music,” says Creative Director Jane Mitchell.
“The musicians have come to the workshops bringing their own sense of play, their inner child, their musical skills, and the playful spirit of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. Together with us, they have created a performance that encourages musicians to collaborate in new ways and to build new kinds of connections with the audience,” describes musical storyteller Jessie Maryon Davies.
Participating musicians from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra include Ilkka Lehtonen (violin), Elina Viitasaari (violin), Torsten Tiebout (viola), Tuomo Matero (double bass), Jenny Villanen (flute), and Thomas Bugnot (trumpet).
Come and Play!
Thursday, April 24, at 7:00 PM at KokoTeatteri (Hämeentie 3, 00530 Helsinki).
Tickets: €10 from KokoTeatteri webshop. Recommended age: 13+. Duration: approximately 75 minutes.
The KokoTeatteri café will be open to the audience before the performance from 6:00 PM and after the performance until 9:00 PM.