About Sibelius One

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Jean Sibelius, 1923
Jean Sibelius, 1923

Sibelius One is a non-profit-making private members society established in September 2014. Its objectives are to advance, improve, develop and maintain public education in and appreciation of the life and work of Jean Sibelius. Sibelius One is based in the UK but members come from all over the world, and Sibelius One is also committed to encouraging and supporting young people in their discovery and appreciation of Sibelius’s music. Sibelius One has been established and operates according to democratic and accountable principles.

Sibelius One publishes a full-colour six-monthly magazine and has an active web presence. Members are encouraged to contribute and participate in Sibelius One’s activities, and to suggest future projects.

Sibelius One organizes and supports concerts featuring Sibelius’s music, and members receive significant discounts at all such events. Our first concert took place at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in London on 10th June 2015 and featured Fenella Humphreys, violin, Anton Kukkonen, cello, and Sam Armstrong, piano. The concert programme can be downloaded here. The concert was given in the presence of Ambassador and Mrs Pekka Huhtaniemi, and we are grateful for the support of the Finnish Embassy in London and the Sibelius Society of Finland.

This website contains both a public area and a members’ area which will be built into a major information and reference source. Content is being added on a regular basis: biographical and background information about Sibelius, work lists and programme notes as well as news and reviews relating to concerts, books and events. Members are also entitled to participate in Sibelius One’s group booking at preferential rates at the annual International Sibelius Festival in Lahti.

The meeting at Hesan kamari, Ainola, at which Sibelius One was founded
The meeting at Hesan kamari, Ainola, at which Sibelius One was founded. Photo: © Leon Chia

Sibelius One’s constitution was ratified and the committee was elected at a meeting in Hesan kamari at Ainola in Järvenpää, Finland, on 4th September 2014. The committee currently consists of:
Folke Gräsbeck, President
Andrew Barnett
, General Manager
Janet Abbotts, Treasurer
Paul Greenwood, Secretary
Leon Chia, International Co-ordinator
Rob Ebbers, European co-ordinator
Anjali Dhar, Member

Folke Gräsbeck, President, studied at the Turku Con­servatory under Tarmo Huovinen and won the Maj Lind Competition in 1973, when he was seventeen. In London he had private lessons with Maria Curcio-Diamand. He gained a Master of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy in 1997, and became a Doctor of Music in 2008 (topic: ‘The Piano in Sibelius’s Youth Pro­duction’). Between 1985 and 2017 he was a lecturer and chamber pianist at the Sibelius Academy. He has performed in many coun­tries including the USA, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Japan and China. Gräsbeck was decorated with the Cross of Merit of the Order of the Lion of Finland in 2009 and received the Sibelius Medal in 2014.

Andrew Barnett, General Manager, is the author of a major biography of Sibelius for (Yale University Press, 2007). As advisor to the BIS Complete Sibelius recording project he has participated in many recordings of familiar and unfamiliar music by Sibelius. He has lectured on Sibelius frequently, notably at the ‘Sibelius in Korpo’ festival. He was a committee member and organizer of the Fifth International Jean Sibelius Conference in Oxford in September 2010, on which occasion he was awarded the Sibelius Medal.

Membership currently costs £15.00 per year (joint members [e.g. husband and wife] £20.00 per year; students/under 18s £5 per year), starting from the date of joining . To join, follow this link.

We will only use your email address to contact you. Please do what is necessary to ensure that emails from our domain sibeliusone.com do not get caught by any spam filter. We will only use your postal address to send you copies of our magazine, CDs and concert tickets where applicable.

Further information:
info@sibeliusone.com

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1 thought on “About Sibelius One

  1. FOR ANDREW BARNETT:

    Hello there Andrew,

    I am publicity coordinator for the Chester Philharmonic. Your mail sent via the contact form on our web site was very much appreciated. We are certainly looking forward to this concert when we will be privileged to host Pirjo Pellinen the Finnish Cultural Attaché along with the Sheriff of Chester and Chris Matheson MP. Sibelius is certainly one of my favourite composers and I find his 5th very, very emotionally moving.

    I have looked at your web site from the link you sent and it certainly is a help in publicising the event. I have placed a link to your site from ours also.

    Thanking you once again,

    Kind regards

    Tony Mitchell (Publicity for Chester Philharmonic)

    For some inexplicable reason this mail kept ‘bouncing’ on your private address, so I am sending it via the web site. Regards T.M.

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