HPO welcomes Anna Thorvaldsdottir as Composer-in-Residence
The programme for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2025–2026 concert season has been announced. Throughout the season, audiences will be able to enjoy classics of orchestral music, interesting premieres and top interpretations by international guest artists. The orchestra's composer-in-residence for the upcoming season is the Icelandic superstar of contemporary music Anna Thorvaldsdottir, several works of whom will be performed by the orchestra.
The concert season will kick off in early September with a joyful reunion, when the orchestra's Artistic Leadership Team from the past three years will take to the stage. The opening concert will be led by Chief Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste and feature Principal Guest Conductor Pekka Kuusisto and Second Concertmaster Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä as violin soloists. The concert will also feature music by the orchestra’s previous composers-in-residence Anna Clyne and Samy Moussa, as well as Anna Thorvaldsdottir, who is beginning her own residency.
During the season, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will also be conducted by familiar stars Kent Nagano, Daníel Bjarnason, Manfred Honeck, Osmo Vänskä, Anja Bihlmaier, Pietari Inkinen and Eva Ollikainen. Stars of the future who will take to the stage include conductor Aleksandra Melaniuk, who will be making her debut with the HPO, violinist Lilja Haatainen and Emma Kajander, winner of the Lappeenranta Singing Competition.
Other guest soloists include mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, sopranos Aphrodite Patoulidou and Iris Candelaria, and pianists Rudolf Buchbinder, Andreas Haefliger, Kirill Gerstein and Fazil Say, who will perform his composition Mother Earth as a soloist in May. Say’s piano concerto will be heard in Finland for the first time.
The forthcoming season will also be a celebration for string players. Joining the HPO as soloists will be violinists Leila Josefowicz and Christian Tetzlaff, violist Antoine Tamestit, winner of the International Paulo Cello Competition Luka Coetzee, and Johannes Moser, who will interpret Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Cello concerto. The soloist from the orchestra's own ranks will be double bassist Adrian Rigopulos, who will premiere the work Alin, which he commissioned from composer Lotta Wennäkoski. Sauli Zinovjev's major orchestral work Taste of Metal will also receive its premiere. The spring season will also see the premiere of Awelings, a family concert with music by composer Antti Auvinen. The story is based on a children's book by Tuomas Kärkkäinen.
In the autumn season, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will head to Germany and Austria together with Chief Conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Principal Guest Conductor Pekka Kuusisto, and in early December, the orchestra will celebrate the 160th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius with Chief Conductor Emeritus Jorma Panula. The concert is also part of the 80th anniversary of the Society of Finnish Composers. The UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra in turn will be celebrating its 50th anniversary at the end of October with the joint concert All that jazz together with the HPO.
Digital brochure: https://ejulkka.grano.fi/hko_kausi_2025-2026/full-view.html
Tickets: Online from the HPO website www.helsinginkaupunginorkesteri.fi and from the Musiikkitalo box office.
Season tickets for autumn season on sale 14 May – 4 August 2024.
Single tickets for autumn season go on sale 12 August.