Birthday celebrations and new works in the Finnish summer

Several new works by Finnish composers will be presented at the Finnish summer festivals this summer. Jyväskylä Festival has commissioned a Horn Concerto from Kirmo Lintinen, and the work will be premiered at the festival on July 11, 2008. Oulunsalo music festival will feature a commissioned work by Arttu Takalo for Chamber Orchestra of Lapland and saxophonist Jukka Perko on August 5, 2008. Organ Night and Aria festival in Espoo has commissioned a work from Timo-Juhani Kyllönen to celebrate the 550-year-anniversary of the City of Espoo. Kyllönen's 'Missa Festiva' will be premiered on August 7.

Chamber music premieres will be heard even more widely in the Finnish summer. Jaakko Kuusisto's new string quartet 'Play III' will be premiered by Meta4 quartet in Sysmä Summer Sounds festival on June 29, 2008. Time of Music festival, dedicated to contemporary music, will feature two Finnish premieres by Olli Virtaperko and Kimmo Kuokkala on July 4, and three further premieres by Perttu Haapanen, Asko Hyvärinen and Riikka Talvitie on July 7. Matthew Whittall's 'Night, sleep, death, and the stars' will be first performed at the Crusell Music Festival in Uusikaupunki on July 19.

Kuhmo Chamber Music festival will present six new endings for Haydn's last string quartet op. 103 by Finnish composers (Ralf Gothoni, Juha T. Koskinen, Jaakko Kuusisto, Olli Mustonen, Jukka Tiensuu and Adam Világi), as well as the new String Quartet No. 11 by Pehr Henrik Nordgren, on July 25, 2007. In August, 'Divertimento for Cello Solo' by Olli Kortekangas will be premiered at Joroinen Music Days (Aug 3), and 'Scherzic' by Sebastian Fagerlund at Scherzic Oulunsalo music festival (Aug 6).

Several of the festivals also celebrate this year's birthday composers in their festival programme. Korsholm Music Festival has chosen Einojuhani Rautavaara, 80 years old in October, for its theme composer. Six works by Rautavaara will be performed at the festival. Kimito Island Music Festival has also included several of Rautavaara's work in its programme. A new work by Rautavaara, 'Summer Thoughts', will be premiered at the festival on July 11. Rautavaara's music, as well as some works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, 50 years on June 30, will be featured also in the Naantali Music Festival.

Avanti Summer Sounds festival has combined the birthday celebrations with a bunch of premieres. In a concert on Magnus Lindberg's birthday, June 27, Lindberg will be congratulated with altogether 13 premieres. New works have been composed by workshop students as well as Lindberg's colleagues Jouni Kaipainen, Tomi Räisänen and Jukka Tiensuu.

Selected performances

Naantali Music Festival, Naantali, 3.6.-15.6.

Jun 7
Esa-Pekka Salonen: Memoria
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Ballade for harp and string quintet

Jun 8
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Pelimannit
Stockholm Sinfonietta, cond. Okko Kamu

Organ Night and Aria Festival, Espoo, 5.6.-28.8.

Jun 12
Sebastian Fagerlund: Avtryck (Fp)
Maria Kalaniemi, accordion, String Orchestra Cappella, cond. Hannu Norjanen

Aug 7
Timo-Juhani Kyllönen: Missa festiva Op. 89 (Fp)
Päivi Nisula, soprano, Sauli Tiilikainen, baritone, Marianne Gustafsson Burgmann, organ, Novena ensemble, Finnish National Opera Orchestra, cond. Kari Tikka

Korsholm Music Festival, Korsholm, 11.-18.6.

Jun 11
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Canto III
Helena Juntunen, soprano, The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Juha Kangas

Jun 13
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Adagio Celeste
The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, cond. Juha Kangas

Jun 15
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Sonata for flute and guitar
Matti Närhinsalo, flute, Timo Korhonen, guitat

Jun 16
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cello Sonata No. 2
Marko Ylönen, cello, Martti Rautio, piano

Jun 17
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Variétude for solo violin, Op. 82
Katinka Korkeala, violin

Jun 18
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Hommage a Kodály Zoltán
Vaasa City Orchestra, cond. Jan Söderblom

Avanti Summer Sounds, Porvoo, 25.-29.6.

Jun 27, Happy Birthday!
Jouni Kaipainen: "...er ist ein guter Mensch...", op. 85 (Fp)
Tomi Räisänen: Magus Magnus (Fp)
Jukka Tiensuu: Sun Games (Fp)
New works by Jouni Hirvelä, Maija Hynninen, Markku Klami, Jaakko Kortesharju, Kimmo Kuokkala, Tiina Myllärinen, Ari Romppanen, Adam Vilagi, Roger Wanamo and Ying Wang (Fp)
Avanti, cond. Dmitri Slobodeniouk

Sysmä Summer Sounds, Sysmä, 27.6.-5.7.

Jun 29
Jaakko Kuusisto: String Quartet (Fp)
Meta4

Time of Music, Viitasaari, 3.-6.7.

Jul 4
Olli Virtaperko: Crystal (Fp)
Ensemble Nordlys

Jul 4
Kimmo Kuokkala: Nahal (Fp)
Tempera Quartet

Jul 7
Perttu Haapanen: New Work (cl solo) (Fp)
Asko Hyvärinen: Piece for harp solo (Fp)
Mikko Raasakka, clarinet, Lily-Marlene Puusepp, harp

Jul 7
Riikka Talvitie: New Work (Fp)
Juho Laitinen, cello, UMO Jazz Orchestra

Jyväskylä Festival, Jyväskylä, 8.-13.7.

Jul 11
Kirmo Lintinen: Horn Concerto (Fp)
Jukka Harju, horn, Symphonic wind band Sisu, cond. Atso Almila

Kimito Island Music Festival, Kimito / Kemiö 8.7.-13.7.

Jul 11
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Summer Thoughts (Fp)

Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Kuhmo, 13.-26.7.

Jul 25
New variations by Ralf Gothoni, Juha T. Koskinen, Jaakko Kuusisto, Olli Mustonen, Jukka Tiensuu, Adam Világi
Pehr Henrik Nordgren: String Quartet no. 11 op. 144
Tempera Quartet

Crusell Music Festival, Uusikaupunki, 19.-26.7.

Jul 19
Matthew Whittall: Night, sleep, death, and the stars
Hanna Kinnunen, flute, Lily-Marlene Puusepp, harp

Joroinen Music Days, Joroinen, 30.7.-3.8.

Aug 3
Olli Kortekangas: Divertimento for Cello Solo
Arto Alikoski, cello, Outi Nissi, piano

Oulunsalo music festival, Oulu area, 4.8.-10.8.

Aug 5
Arttu Takalo: [new work]
Chamber Orchestra of Lapland, Jukka Perko, saxophone, cond. John Storgårds

Aug 6
Sebastian Fagerlund: Scherzic
Atte Kilpeläinen, viola, Tomas Djupsjöbacka, cello

Merja Hottinen/Fimic
30 May, 2008