Just in time for the International Sibelius Festival in Lahti, Okko Kamu’s cycle of Sibelius symphonies with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra for BIS Records has been released on 3 SACDs (special price): BIS-2076. Martin Nagorni’s video interview with Okko Kamu about the recording can be seen here:
Category Archives: News
Sibelius One Annual General Meeting 2015
Details of Sibelius One’s Annual General Meeting, to be held on Wednesday 2nd September 2015, can be found here. Please note that you need to be logged in as a member to view this page.
Sibelius Unwrapped in Southampton
són – Southampton’s new professional orchestra – is presenting its official launch concert with an all-Sibelius programme on at 3 pm on Sunday 29th November 2015 at Turner Sims, Southampton.
The concert will be conducted by Robin Browning and will feature David Owen Norris as presenter and pianist.
són (an old-English word meaning ‘sound’) is the name for a brand new classical music project. At its heart, són is a fresh and dynamic chamber orchestra – professional, versatile, inspiring. It is the first and only professional orchestra in Southampton – one of the UK’s most richly diverse and culturally flourishing cities. Until now, Southampton was the largest city in the UK without a resident professional orchestra. són’s concerts are planned to be a little different – yet always engaging, and tying in with other areas of the orchestra’s work – són | education and són | masterclass.
Programme:
Sibelius
Impromptu for strings (including original piano version)
Valse triste, Op. 44 No. 1
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 46
Andante festivo, JS 34b
Click here for more information.
Tickets £18, £17, £16.20, £9
(including complimentary tea & cake during the extended interval)
Click here for box office
Dima Slobodeniouk to be principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dima Slobodeniouk has been appointed as principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, starting in the autumn of 2016. Slobodeniouk will also be artistic director of the orchestra’s annual Sibelius Festival. The City Board of the Lahti Municipality Association made the appointment at a meeting on 17th August 2015. Slobodeniouk’s contract will run until the spring season of 2019.
Slobodeniouk remarks: ‘When people ask me whether I have always wanted to be a conductor, more and more often my answer is: No, I have not. Despite me, growing up in a family of orchestra musicians, I simply had no idea what it is like to be a conductor. Today, when the fact of me taking over a position of Music Director of Lahti Symphony Orchestra becomes a reality, I once again realise, that being a conductor is what I want and what I live for.’
Slobodeniouk sees the forthcoming collaboration as a wonderful chance to develop musical relationships with the orchestra and audiences both in Lahti and internationally. ‘I was lucky enough to be able to build and maintain a very open and fruitful relationship with Lahti Symphony Orchestra ever since I first conducted them in 2001 replacing Leif Segerstam. Today – this is a big honour and a challenge for me to create something new on the foundation of a great orchestra tradition in Lahti’, says Slobodeniouk. ‘I believe and hope, that with our music making we can influence people’s lives regardless of their age or social background. The unique thing about classical music is the fact that it does not have to be verbalised or explained. That way it can reach and touch anyone.’
Teemu Kirjonen, General Manager of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, says: ‘After the triumphant chief conductorships of Vänskä, Saraste and Kamu, we are looking forward to our time with Slobodeniouk with great enthusiasm. On the basis of what the orchestra has already achieved with him in the past few years, we may expect great things in the future.’ Slobodeniouk already enjoys a major international career and, Kirjonen believes, having him as chief conductor will be an excellent springboard for the further development of the orchestra’s artistic level, and for the continuation of its touring and recording activities.
Petri Komulainen, chairman of the committee representing the players in the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, says that he is very proud and excited at the new appointment, and describes the orchestra as being on the threshold of a new era. ‘Slobodeniouk has close ties to Finland, combined with an international career that is very much on the up. I’m convinced that he will manage to bring a new, energetic perspective to the orchestra’s work, and that his performances will appeal to an ever wider audience.’
Moscow-born Dima Slobodeniouk has made Finland his home for over two decades. A former student at Helsinki’s prestigious Sibelius Academy, he began his conducting studies in 1994 under the tutelage of Leif Segerstam and Jorma Panula. Currently music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, he is a regular guest conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Netherlands, RAI Turin and Stuttgart Radio Philharmonic Orchestras. Slobodeniouk collaborates with many of today’s composers, among them Kalevi Aho, Sebastian Fagerlund, Jörg Widmann and Lotta Wennäkoski.
Further information: Teemu Kirjonen / General Manager, Lahti Symphony Orchestra
tel. 00358 3 814 4452
Source: Lahti Symphony Orchestra, press release
Finnish Music Quarterly: Following Sibelius
Finnish Music Quarterly (FMQ) magazine has produced a special issue dedicated to the Sibelius 150 anniversary. In this issue (to quote the Editorial): ‘We take a look, among other things, at the political and politicised Sibelius and his role in shaping what came to be perceived as our national musical language. We also explore new approaches to individual works. Yet at the same time we aim to reach beyond the historical figure and the myth to address today’s world and the future. What should we do to nourish and nurture this musical legacy for following generations?…’
FMQ has been a showcase in English for Finnish musical culture since 1985, keeping track of what is happening in Finland. Readers of the magazine will find information about Finnish music past, present and future. The FMQ is published by Music Finland, and its partners are the Sibelius Academy, the Society of Finnish Composers and the Finnish Musicians’ Union.
Contents of the Sibelius issue:
- The freedom of song (on Soile Isokoski) – Hanna Isolammi
- ‘Utterly Finnish, peculiarly original’ (on the birth of ‘Finnish’ musical language) – Olli Heikkinen
- A visit from Mr Composer (on what happened when Jean Sibelius and Larin Paraske met) – Ilona Korhonen
- The responsibility of an artist (on Sibelius as political figure) – Veijo Murtomäki
- Patriotic soundtracks (on Sibelius’s music in propaganda and educational films) – Kaarina Kilpiö
- Paths for the Sibelius tourist (on Sibelius sights) – Tove Djupsjöbacka
- Taking note: Content with content – Lotta Wennäkoski
- ‘Struggling artist like the rest of us’ (on Sibelius viewed from outside the classical music tradition) – Andrew Mellor
- Sibelius’s music in focus (on recent Sibelius research) – Anna Pulkkis, Tuija Wicklund, Sakari Ylivuori
- Does Finland need a new Sibelius? (on how to be happy musically) – Tomi Mäkelä
- Art comes first (on the present and future of the Sibelius Academy) – Amanda Kauranne
- Notes & Letters: The unbearable lightness of uncertainty – Jussi Frederiksson
- Broader perspectives in teaching music (on distance-learning projects for children) – Elina Roms
- Augmented music (on Finnish combinations of music and new media) – Heidi Horila
Most of the articles can be read online; please open this link and click the year 2015, and you will find links to the single articles.
Members of Sibelius One may purchase printed copies of this special issue of FMQ for the price of £8.00 including postage. This offer runs until 30th August 2015, and the magazines will be sent at the beginning of September.
To order your copy, please send an e-mail to gm@sibeliusone.com.
Payment can be made via internet banking to Sibelius One’s account:
Sort code 54-10-27 / Account number 13655558
For international payments: Swift code NWBKGB2L / IBAN: GB88NWBK54102713655558
Internet banking payments must arrive by Sunday 30th August at the latest.
Payment can also be made by UK sterling cheque (sorry no international cheques) made payable to Sibelius One and sent to the Treasurer, Sibelius One, ‘Ainola’, 5 The Avenue, Basford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs. ST5 0ND. Cheques must arrive by Thursday 27th August at the latest.
Sibelius One ‘Symposium’ at El Toro in Lahti
The Sibelius One group will be continuing its long tradition of eating at El Toro (Mariankatu, south of the Market Square) after the concert on Saturday night, 5th Sepember 2015. Please contact a Sibelius One committee member early in the festival week to make sure you are included in our reservation.
More details and menu link: click here (NB this page is password protected. Those attending have been sent the password by e-mail)
Sibelius Study Day, London, 15th August 2015
Saturday 15th August, 10 am – 4 pm, at St Andrew’s Fulham Fields, London
Celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sibelius’s birth with a study day before the three BBC Proms devoted to his seven symphonies.
David Nice, whose Building a Library on the Fourth Symphony was broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s CD Review earlier this year, takes you on a lifetime’s journey from early, Tchaikovsky-inspired epic to the late, concise landscapes of the soul, fully illustrated by a wide range of recordings from the great Sibelius interpreters.
Come to St Andrew’s in Fulham before the first of the Sibelius symphonies Proms at the nearby Albert Hall. There will be an hour’s break for lunch between 1 pm and 2pm.
Fee: £50
Venue: St Andrew’s Fulham Fields,
Greyhound Road,
London W14 9SA
West Kensington, Barons Court
Book: Email david.nice@usa.net to confirm a place.
Peter Fischerbauer’s ‘Wiener Musikzimmer’
The Munich-born painter Peter Fischerbauer, in collaboration with the cellist Liina Leijala, is mounting an exhibition, ‘Wiener Musikzimmer – na Sumave / im Böhmerwald’ to mark the 150th anniversary of Sibelius’s birth. In retrospective he follows Sibelius’s study year in Vienna. Paintings in the exhibition are inspired by Sibelius Fourth and Fifth Symphonies.
The exhibition runs from 16th to 20th August 2015, each day from 4 pm until 8 pm./
Venue: Pavillon 1 Otto-Wagner-Spital, 1140 Wien, Baumgartner Höhe 1, Austria
Further information (in German): click here.
Ainola railway station
The closest railway station to Jean Sibelius’s home, Ainola, has been renamed Ainola to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The station was named Kyröla until 30th June 2015, and is situated between Kerava and Järvenpää on the line from Helsinki to Riihimäki. It takes approx. 20 minutes to walk from the station to Ainola.
This is not the first time that Sibelius and his world have featured on Finnish railways. From 1992 until 2010 a daily train from Helsinki to St Petersburg bore the name ‘Sibelius’.
A journey beyond the symphonies
Naxos has started to release a major series of recordings by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Leif Segerstam exploring Sibelius’s less familiar orchestral music.
The discs will be released at the rate of one per month until November 2015, and the repertoire includes a wide range of rarely heard music: original versions of theatre scores and some of Sibelius’s rarest independent orchestral pieces.
The programmes for the six discs are planned as follows:
8.573299
Overture in A minor; Kuolema (complete), Two Songs from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; King Christian II (complete)
Soloists: Pia Pajala, Waltteri Torikka
8.573300
Overture in E major; Scène de ballet; Belshazzar’s Feast; Cortège; Menuetto; Processional
8.573301
Pélleas et Mélisande; Musik zu einer Scène; Three Pièces, Op. 96; Morceau romantique sur un motif de M. Jacob de Julin
(Soloists: Pia Pajala, Sari Nordqvist)
8.573340
Jedermann; Two Serious Melodies; In memoriam
(with the Cathedralis Aboensis Choir. Soloists: Pia Pajala, Nicholas Söderlund, Tuomas Katajala)
8.573341
Swanwhite; The Lizard; A Lonely Ski Trail; The Countess’s Portrait
(Recitation: Riko Eklundh)
8.573511
Scaramouche
Leif Segerstam is a conductor, composer, violinist and pianist with a prominent international career. He received diplomas from the Sibelius Academy in violin and conducting, and studied at the Juilliard School in New York, where he was awarded a
conducting diploma. Segerstam has conducted in most of the world’s leading opera
houses. In 2004 Leif Segerstam was awarded the annual Finnish State Prize for Music and in 2005 the highly esteemed Sibelius Medal. He has gained wide acclaim for his many recordings with different orchestras. While pursuing his conducting career, Segerstam has also produced an extensive œuvre as a composer.
The Turku Musical Society, which later formed the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, was founded in 1790. As the oldest orchestra in Finland, the ensemble continues to develop and flourish under the baton of renowned conductors. Since 2012 its chief conductor has been Leif Segerstam.
See the e-card with more information by clicking here.
Source: Naxos