Lahti International Sibelius Festival 2024

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Lahti Sibelius Festival 2024 artwork

A complete symphony cycle is the theme of the Lahti Sibelius Festival in its 25th anniversary year.

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Sibelius Festival will be held at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti from 29 to 31 August 2024, with Dalia Stasevska, chief conductor of the orchestra, as its artistic director. The festival will include a guest appearance by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra will open the festival with Symphonies Nos 1 and 2, while the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s guest concert will include Symphonies Nos 3 and 5 and Luonnotar, with Golda Schultz as soloist. The final concert on Saturday 31 August will feature Symphonies Nos 4, 6 and 7. There will also be a chamber music concert on Saturday afternoon.

The visual aspect of the festival is designed by Klaus Haapaniemi, one of Finland’s most internationally renowned designers.

Further information about the Festival and Sibelius One’s group booking: click here.

New Book about Sibelius’s Songs

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The Songs of Jean Sibelius: Poetry, Music, Performance is a new book by Gustav Djupsjöbacka, published by Boydell & Brewer.

To quote from the publisher’s website: ‘This is the first book to discuss the complete solo art songs of Jean Sibelius and to locate them in their musical, literary and artistic context. The book is organized around the poets Sibelius set to music and the literary themes associated with them, thus providing invaluable information for the scholar, student and performer. The musical and aesthetic contextualisation of the songs will help to enable new interpretations on the performance stage.’

Gustav Djupsjöbacka is a pianist, teacher, lecturer, music critic, broadcaster and former rector of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He completed his doctorate in music at the Sibelius Academy in 2006 with a thesis on Toivo Kuula’s solo song production. In November 2006 he was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Lion of Finland, and he was awarded the title of Professor by the Sibelus Academy in 2012.

436 pages, hardback, ISBN: 9781783277810, Price: £85.00
Ebook, pdf: 9781805431060, Price: £24.99
To purchase via the publisher’s website: click here.

January 2024 magazine coming soon

News

The January 2024 issue of Sibelius One’s magazine is now in the final stages of preparation.
Included in this issue:

  • A Day in Turku  Folke Gräsbeck
  • The Fifth  poem by Kornel Kossuth
  • ‘Fresh, colourful and utterly Finnish’ – The 1894 version of Karelia  Andrew Barnett
  • Many on the sea of life – Sibelius’s Op. 23 songs  Sheahan Virgin

Subscribers will be sent their copies of  the magazine as soon as it arrives from the printers. For more information, or to add the magazine to your subscrciption, please click here.

2024 New Year Word Square

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Our New Year 2024 teaser is a wordsquare. Hidden within it are 30 words associated with Sibelius: important people in his life, names of works or places of significance to him. Words may run in any direction (also backwards). How many can you find?

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Solution: click here

Further quizzes and teasers about Sibelius: click here

Generated by www.thewordsearch.com

Jean Sibelius. Life, Music, Silence by Daniel M. Grimley – Book Review by Veijo Murtomäki

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Jean Sibelius. Life, Music, Silence by Daniel M. Grimley - cover

Veijo Murtomäki, Professor emeritus of music history at the Sibelius Academy of the University of Arts Helsinki, reviews Jean Sibelius. Life, Music, Silence by Daniel M. Grimley (Reaktion Books, 2021)

‘Daniel M. Grimley is a musicologist whose expertise and deep understanding especially of Scandinavian and British music has been widely acknowledged thanks to his admirable books on Grieg, Nielsen, and Delius as well as his work as an editor of anthologies and as a writer of many peer-reviewed articles. Given his attachment to the music of Jean Sibelius, it is with a sense of expectation that one approaches his new book on Sibelius.’ Click here to read on…

New Breitkopf & Härtel Urtexts published

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Two further works by Sibelius have been published in Breitkopf & Härtel’s Urtext series, featuring the editions of the scores aleady issued in the JSW complete critical edition.

The new releases are a study score of the Fourth Symphony (PB 5695), edited by Tuija Wicklund (€18.90). A full-size score based on the JSW text is already available (PB 5694; €65.00).

The second release is a volume entitled ‘Impromptus’ (PB 5746) featuring the composer’s own three arrangements for string orchestra of his Impromptus, Op. 5 Nos 5 and 6, originally for piano: No. 5, an early version of Nos 5–6, and the revised version of Nos 5–6. It is edited by Pekka Helasvuo and Tuija Wicklund. Score (€25.90) and parts for the Impromptus are available separately.

Muse Ukraine; Indomitable Spirit – charitable concert

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Muse Ukraine concert poster

The Finnish Embassy is hosting a charitable concert in co-operation with British-Ukrainian Aid.

Date / Time / Venue:
13 September 2023, 19:00, Finnish Ambassador’s Residence,
14 Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 4QP, London

‘Muse Ukraine: Indomitable Spirit’ will highlight the musical and cultural heritage of Ukraine, as performed by Ukrainian-American violinist Myroslava Khomik and Finnish-British pianist Julia Wallin, who believe that the power of music can serve as the best communicative tool in most challenging times. The programme will include musuc by Sibelius and long-lost Ukrainian gems

All proceeds from the concert will be donated to British-Ukrainian Aid to support relief and rescue operations in Ukraine.

Tickets and more information: click here.