Category Archives: News

Anglo-Finnish Society Spring Concert

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In the presence of H.E. the Ambassador of Finland and Mrs Huhtaniemi
Sunday 26th April 2015, at 4 pm
St Mark’s Church, Hamilton Terrace, London NW8 9UT

Laura Mikkola, piano · Tuomas Ylinen, cello

Programme:
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra
Piano arrangement by Peter Lönnqvist
Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata No. 3 in A major for Cello and Piano, Op. 69
Jean Sibelius: Malinconia, Op. 20
Johannes Brahms: Sonata in E minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 38

Tickets
Advance purchase internet price: £10 for adults, £5 for children under 18 and full-time students under 25.
Tickets can be purchased at https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/16088486095. Booking fee applies.
Cash on the door: £12 for adults, £5 for children under 18 and full-time students under 25.
www.anglofinnishsociety.org.uk

With the kind support of Finland Society (Suomi-Seura) and the Embassy of Finland

Click here for more information

Sibelius on original instruments

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Photo: © Sibelius One
Photo: © Sibelius One

 

A CD of Sibelius’s works for violin and piano and songs has been recorded at his home, Ainola, using the composer’s own violin and his own Steinway piano.

The recording features Satu Jalas (Sibelius’s granddaughter), violin, Lilli Paasikivi, soprano, and Folke Gräsbeck, piano.

The programme features a generous selection of Sibelius’s most popular works in these genres including the Romance in F major and Rondino for violin and piano, and songs such as Våren flyktar hastigt, Svarta rosor and Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte.

The CD will be released by the Ainola Foundation in June 2015. Further information will be published later.

Folke Gråsbeck has also recently recorded a Sibelius solo piano CD on the Ainola Steinway for BIS Records (BIS-2132).

Concert at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence (update)

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This event is now sold out

Fenella Humphreys (photo: © Ian Stark) / Sam Armstrong (photo: © Balazs Borocz/Pilvax Studio)
Fenella Humphreys (photo: © Ian Stark) / Sam Armstrong (photo: © Balazs Borocz/Pilvax Studio)

The  all-Sibelius concert at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in London on Wednesday 10th June 2015 at 6.30 pm, given by Fenella Humphreys, violin, Anton Kukkonen, cello, and Sam Armstrong, piano, is now sold out. (In fact, there is a waiting list for tickets!)

The concert is arranged by Sibelius One with the generous support and assistance of the Finnish Embassy in London.

Drinks and canapés will be served.

Tickets cost £12 (concessions and Sibelius One members: £8). If you have ordered tickets but not yet sent payment, please note that payment can be made to Sibelius One either
– by internet banking (sort code 54-10-27, account number 13655558) or
– by cheque payable to Sibelius One (send to: 6 Chichester Drive West, Saltdean, Brighton BN2 8SH)
As payment reference please use your name and the word ‘tickets’.
Tickets cannot be issued until payment is received. Tickets will be personalized so please make sure to provide the names and postal address of all those who will attend.

The address of the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence is 14 Kensington Palace Gardens,
London W8 4QP

A Window to the Finnish Mind – 26th March 2015

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Don’t miss the concert by the Aeon Duo (Essi Kiiski, violin and Eduardo Andrade) at the Finnish Church in London on Thursday 26th March 2015 at 7 pm. The concert focuses on Sibelius’s music for violin for piano, plus the world première of a work inspired by Sibelius composed by Eduardo Andrade. It is part of the official Sibelius 150 schedule of events and will be an exciting and innovative combination of music, photography and taste sensations.

Sibelius One members receive concessionary prices for tickets to this concert. To obtain the promotional code, click here.

The pieces in the concert are going to be performed alongside the seven winning pictures in the Photography Competition ‘The Essence of Finland’. The winners of the competition, whose photographs will be projected during the concert, are:
Janica Candolin – UK (217 votes)
Jenna Mäkinen – UK (154 votes)
Heidi Jakkula – Finland (91 votes)
Leon Chia
Henna Kylmälä
Eeva Williamson
Terhi Manuel-Garner

 

Two Choral Pieces Rediscovered

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The YL Male Voice Choir, conducted by Pasi Hyökki, will give the first performances of two newly discovered a cappella choral pieces by Sibelius on 11th April 2015 at the Helsinki Music Centre.

The pieces are a previously unknown, longer version of Terve, kuu (Hail, Moon), composed for the Suomen Laulu choir in 1901, and a complete but unpublished setting of Aleksis Kivi’s Suomenmaa from around 1898. A melody from the unpublished Suomenmaa was used as the last theme of Sandels, Op. 28.

The parts for Terve, kuu, with words from the Kalevala, were copied out before its première but after the copies were ready Sibelius decided to revise and shorten the piece. These parts, recently rediscovered by the Sibelius scholar Sakari Ylivuori, are the only source of the original, longer version. The parts had been in the possession of Mikko Jussi Näri, a sheep farmer.

The concert will also include the rarely heard male-choir version of Ej med klagan, written for the funeral of the painter Albert Edelfelt in 1905.

Other composers represented in the concert are Einojuhani Rautavaara, Jouni Kaipainen, Olli Kortekangas, Mikko Sidoroff and Juuso Vanonen.

Concert details and tickets: click here (in Finnish)

Sources:
HBL.fi
Helsingin Sanomat

Concert at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence

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Fenella Humphreys (photo: © Ian Stark) / Sam Armstrong (photo: © Balazs Borocz/Pilvax Studio)
Fenella Humphreys (photo: © Ian Stark) / Sam Armstrong (photo: © Balazs Borocz/Pilvax Studio)

There will be an all-Sibelius concert at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in London on Wednesday 10th June 2015 at 6.30 pm, given by Fenella Humphreys, violin, Anton Kukkonen, cello, and Sam Armstrong, piano.

The theme of the concert is ‘Sibelius and Family’, and the event takes place on the composer’s 123rd wedding anniversary.

Aino and Jean Sibelius (photo: © Santeri Levas / Finnish Museum of Photography)
Aino and Jean Sibelius (photo: © Santeri Levas / Finnish Museum of Photography)

The programme will include works for violin and piano: the Four Pieces, Op. 78 (including the famous F major Romance), E major Sonatina and Four Pieces, Op. 115. Cello pieces will include Malinconia, and all three performers will come together to end the concert with La pompeuse Marche d’Asis. Expect also some intriguing rarities and several UK premières.

The concert is arranged by Sibelius One with the generous support and assistance of the Finnish Embassy in London.

Drinks and canapés will be served.

Tickets cost £12 (concessions and Sibelius One members: £8) and can be ordered from gm@sibeliusone.com
Tickets will be personalized so please include the names and postal address of all those who will attend.
Payment can be made to Sibelius One either
– by internet banking (sort code 54-10-27, account number 13655558)
– by cheque payable to Sibelius One (send to: 6 Chichester Drive West, Saltdean, Brighton BN2 8SH)
As payment reference please use your name and the word ‘tickets’.

The address of the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence is 14 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QP

 

 

Alternative Sibelius

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The Alternative Sibelius series was launched at en event hosted by the Finnish Ambassador, Pekka Huhtaniemi, at his London residence on Friday 13th March 2015. Musicians who performed included Viola Uotila (kantele), Lauri Porra (electric bass), Yona (vocals) and the Jani Pensola Houseband, with Erkki Korhonen, director of the Sibelius Birth Town Foundation .

The Alternative Sibelius events in both England and Finland provide new perspectives on the music of this loved composer in his 150th anniversary year. In addition to music itself, this concert series emphasizes the importance of audience development and cooperates with such distinguished organizations as LSO Discovery, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and the Finnish Church in London.

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Erkki Korhonen presents the book ‘My Sibelius’ to Finnish Ambassador Pekka Huhtaniemi at the launch of the Alternative Sibelius series
For more information click here.

Source: ‘Alternative Sibelius’ information leaflet

Photo Exhibition at Helsinki Airport

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Finavia has opened a unique photography exhibition, ‘Sibelius & Images of Finland’ inspired by Sibelius 150th anniversary, at the airport art gallery.

The exhibition presents rare photographs of Sibelius at his home, Ainola, as well as the documentary film ‘Jean Sibelius at home’.

Ville Haapasaari, airport director, says that Finavia wanted to recognise the anniversary of the birth of the Finnish master composer in an impressive manner.  ‘For many international passengers, Helsinki Airport is the first and sometimes only point of contact with our country. The airport could even be called the calling card of Finland.  These kinds of exhibitions are a good way of highlighting Finnish culture and art to an international audience’, Haapasaari said  at the inauguration of the exhibition.

Unique photographs of Finland and Helsinki from 1920s up to 1960s
The exhibition at the airport presents the variety of the output and the significant life work of three Finnish artists: Heikki Aho, Björn Soldan and Claire Aho. Sibelius photos are part of a larger exhibition with different five themed exhibitions totalling 230 photos. In addition to the Sibelius exhibition, Aho and Soldan’s themed exhibitions ‘Views of Helsinki in the 1930s’ and vintage art photographs from Centre Pompidou’s ‘The light of the North’ collection are exhibited.

Claire Aho’s photos take the viewers to Helsinki in 1968, and the fashion, advertisement and magazine photos in the ‘Studio Works’ themed exhibition recall the nostalgic mood of the 1950s.

Aho and Soldan’s output has opened new perspectives on Finnish everyday life, history and the industrialisation of  society; they have affected the image we have of the modern Finland. Heikki Aho’s daughter Claire Aho started as a documentary film-maker in the late 1940s. Claire Aho is also a pioneer of Finnish colour photography.

‘Sibelius & Images of Finland’ will be open until the end of 2015. Admission is free 24/7 to all passengers departing or arriving via the gate area 32–38.

For additional information, please contact:
Finavia Corp, Media Desk tel. +358 20 7082002, comms@finavia.fi
The exhibition brochure can be downloaded at Finavia’s web-site:
Home page of Aho & Soldan
Home page of Claire Aho

Source: Finavia Press Release, 3.3.2015

New on this site

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Sibelius One members may access the new article The Sibelius Sound by Michael Roháč by following this link.
If you aren’t yet a member, we’d love to welcome you: click here to join.

JSW News

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The ground-breaking critical edition Jean Sibelius Werke published by Breitkopf & Härtel is continuing. Most recently published is the Violin Concerto, ed. by editor-in-chief Timo Virtanen. This volume contains the two versions of the famous concerto (SON 622, EUR 252.00).

Plans for 2015 are as follows:

In March 2015 a volume of selected piano pieces will appear, drawn from the Sibelius Piano Works, ed. by Kari Kilpeläinen and Anna Pulkkis (EB 8855, EUR 15.90).

In April 2015 a special volume will be issued: a full-colour facsimile reproduction of Luonnotar (score and piano-vocal reduction) – a composition which counts among the most modern works by Sibelius. The editor is Timo Virtanen (SON 626, EUR 79.00 – introduction price valid until 8th December, 2015!).

A new ‘Breitkopf Study Score’ will feature the long-neglected orchestral work Skogsrået (The Wood-Nymph) (PB 5564). This will be its first publication apart from the volume of the Complete Edition, ed. by Tuija Wicklund.

Further volumes of the Complete Edition are scheduled in 2015:
– Piano Works 4 (Works without opus numbers), ed. by Anna Pulkkis (SON 623)
– Works for Male Choir a cappella, ed. by Sakari Ylivuori (SON 624)
– Scènes historiques I, Op. 25 and II. Op. 66, ed. by Kari Kilpeläinen (SON 625).

Source: Breitkopf & Härtel