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)
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.
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.
A concert will take place on Sunday 26th July 2015, at 7.30 pm, at the Colour House Theatre at Merton Abbey Mills, Wimbledon, London, featuring a varied collection of Sibelius chamber music rarities in addition to his famous ‘Voces intimae’ string quartet.
The concert forms part of the series ‘Sunday Evening Music Among Friends’, now in its nineteenth year, a monthly series of informal chamber concerts in which both seasoned professionals and gifted young players perform the music they love. The concert lasts about ninety minutes including the interval, when you can enjoy a free drink next door in the historic Wheelhouse. The series is noted for its friendly informal atmosphere as well as the highest standard of performance of a wide range of repertoire.
The programme is as follows:
Nielsen: At the Bier of a Young Artist
Sibelius: Vattendroppar, JS 216, for violin and cello
Sibelius: Moderato – Allegro appassionato in C sharp minor, JS 131, for string quartet
Sibelius: Lullaby, JS 222, for violin and kantele
Tchaikovsky: Andante cantabile
Sibelius: Duo, JS 66, for violin and viola
Sibelius: String Quartet in D minor, ‘Voces intimae’, Op. 56
The performers will be Anya Birchall and Rebecca Totterdell (violins),
Toby Hawks (viola/kantele) and Kate Leigh (cello).
Tickets cost £14, or £10 for concessions.
Sibelius One members will receive the concession price.
Further information and directions: click here.
This concert is included in the official Sibelius 150 calendar of events.
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’.
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
In Hämeenlinna, the town where Jean Sibelius was born, the regional water company (HS-vesi) wanted to join in with the Sibelius 150 communal effort and, literally speaking, ‘leave their mark on the ground’. They had to renew about 150 of the Hämeenlinna town centre’s drain covers, and suggested that instead of the ‘usual’ ornaments, why not have the iron covers cast with something related to 2015? A different silvery grey metal alloy was also chosen that acquires an interesting patina in the long term, instead of regular iron that eventually rusts away. The life expectancy of the covers should take the city up to the 200th Sibelius anniversary festivities!
The approach was a combination of genuine appreciation and tongue-in-cheek humour.
The covers are designed by Markku Piri, who writes: ‘I did a simple editing of the visual symbol for this Sibelius year, of the stylized passion flower emblem with the outward flying swan [Hämeenlinna is the only region in Finland where the passion flower thrives in the wild]. So, when folks now walk about Hämeenlinna and look up, they’ll see hundreds of timely flags, and when they look down, they cannot escape the 150-year Sibelius mark either!’
Source: Markku Piri
Flinders Quartet (photo: © Nicholas Purcell)
The Flinders Quartet (Helen Ayres and Shane Chen, violins; Helen Ireland, viola; Zoe Knighton, cello) is presenting a Sibelius Festival at Kew Court House, Melbourne, Australia. The Quartet has already won acclaim for its Sibelius performances in 2015, and this festival continues its ground-breaking traversal of Sibelius’s string quartet music in a project that is introducing Australian audiences to this extensive body of rarely played music. The Flinders Quartet will also be a distinguished guest at the 2015 ‘Sibelius in Korpo’ festival in the Turku archipelago (17th–19th July).
Saturday 4th July, 3 pm
Quartet E flat major, JS 184
Four Themes
Andante festivo, JS 34a
Quartet A minor, JS 183
Saturday 4th July, 7 pm
Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4
Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159 (with Stefan Cassomenos, piano)
Sunday 5th July, 1 pm: In Conversation: Sibelius Himself
Zoe Knighton, Sibelius expert Geoffrey Hayes and raconteur Barry Jones
Sunday 5th July, 3 pm
Molto moderato – Scherzo, JS 134
Adagio in D minor, JS 12
Fugue for Martin Wegelius, JS 85
Quartet in D minor, ‘Voces intimae’, Op. 56
The first concert organized by Sibelius One featured Fenella Humphreys (violin), Anton Kukkonen (cello) and Sam Armstrong (piano) in a selection of Sibelius’s chamber music for solo instrument, duo and trio. The event, eagerly anticipated, was enthusiastically received by a capacity audience. The programme focused on works with special personal significance for Sibelius and on music written for or inspired by members of his family: his wife Aino, his brother Christian and his daughter Kirsti. Three of the pieces were UK premières (Andante molto in B minor for cello and piano, Polka ‘Aino’ for piano and En glad musikant for solo violin).
The concert took place at the Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in London on 10th June 2015 (Sibelius’s 123rd wedding anniversary), in the presence of Ambassador and Mrs Pekka Huhtaniemi. Also present was Erkki Korhonen, director of the international ‘Sibelius 150’ project.
The Finnish Ambassador’s Residence in London, on one of the most prestigious residential streets in the world, was built in 1850–51, and has been home to the Finnish Ambassador since 1955.
Sibelius One is grateful to Ambassador and Mrs Huhtaniemi, the Finnish Embassy in London and the Sibelius Society of Finland for their generous practical and financial assistance.
——————— Programme ———————
Vattendroppar [Water Drops], JS 216, for violin & cello
Four Pieces, Op. 78, for violin & piano
Andante molto in B minor (1888–89) for cello & piano First UK performance
Sonatina in E major, Op. 80, for violin & piano
Malinconia, Op. 20, for cello & piano
[Polka] ‘Aino’ in C minor (1902–05) for piano First UK performance
Souvenir, Op. 99 No. 3) for piano
Four Pieces, Op. 115 (1929) for violin & piano
En glad musikant [A Happy Musician], JS 70, for violin solo First UK performance
La pompeuse marche d’Asis, JS 116, for piano trio
More detailed information is now released for the fourteenth Sibelius in Korpo Festival, to be held on 17th–19th July 2015. This year’s theme is ‘Intimate Voices’. The festival’s artistic director is Folke Gräsbeck.
Friday 17.7.2015 at 8 pm at Korpo gård: Pre-Concert Talk
by Andrew Barnett (General Manager of Sibelius One)
Friday 17.7.2015 at 9 pm at Korpo gård: Evening Concert
Flinders Quartet / Folke Gräsbeck, piano
JEAN SIBELIUS:
Molto moderato – Scherzo in E major for string quartet, JS 134 (1885)
String Quartet in E flat major, JS 184
Four Themes for string quartet
Adagio in D minor for string quartet, JS 12
Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159
Saturday 18.7.2015 at 1 pm at the Sibelius Statue, Korpo village
Welcome speeches by Petri Kirkkomäki (festival director) and Geoffrey Hayes
Vocal ensemble from the Brahe Djäknar choir
JEAN SIBELIUS:
Venematka, Op. 18 No. 3
Ej med klagan, JS 69 (arr. Nils-Eric Fougstedt)
Saturday 18.7.2015 at 2 pm at Korpo Church: ‘Voces intimae’
Flinders Quartet
JEAN SIBELIUS:
String Quartet in A minor, JS 183
Fugue for Martin Wegelius, JS 85
String Quartet in D minor, ‘Voces intimae’, Op. 56
Saturday 18.7.2015 at 6 pm at Kommunalgården i Korpo: ‘The Maiden in the Tower’
Hedvig Paulig, soprano / Monica Groop, mezzo-soprano
Dan Karlström, tenor / Jussi Merikanto, baritone
Florakören and Brahe Djäknar choirs, cond. Ulf Långbacka
Folke Gräsbeck, piano
JEAN SIBELIUS:
Six Songs, Op. 50 Merikanto/Gräsbeck
Längtan heter min arvedel, Op. 86 No. 2 Paulig/Gräsbeck
I systrar, I bröder, I älskande par! Op. 86 No. 6 Paulig/Gräsbeck
Sångarlön, Op. 86 No. 5 Karlström/Gräsbeck
Törnet , Op. 88 No. 5 Karlström/Gräsbeck
Siltavahti, JS 170b Karlström/Gräsbeck
Svarta rosor, Op. 36 No. 1 (1899) Karlström/Gräsbeck
Vänskapens blomma, JS 215 Groop/Gräsbeck
Hertig Magnus, Op. 57 No. 6 Groop/Gräsbeck
Songs, Op. 72 Nos 3–6 Groop/Gräsbeck
Tanken, duet, JS 192 Paulig/Groop/Gräsbeck
Jungfrun i tornet (The Maiden in the Tower), JS 101 (1896), opera in one act
(arr. for soloists, mixed choir and piano by the composer)
Sunday 19.7.2015 at 9.45 am at Kommunalgården i Korpo
Douglas Sivén᾿s documentary film ‘Sibelius in Korpo’ (in English)
Sunday 19.7.2015 at 11 am at Kommunalgården i Korpo
Douglas Sivéns dokumentärfilm ‘Sibelius i Korpo’ (på svenska)
Sunday 19.7.2015 at 2 pm at Korpo gård: Pre-Concert Talk
‘Sibelius in Australasia᾽ by Geoffrey Hayes
Sunday 19.7.2015 at 4 pm at Korpo gård: Gala Concert
Flinders Quartet
Hedvig Paulig, soprano / Monica Groop, mezzo-soprano
Folke Gräsbeck, piano
JEAN SIBELIUS:
String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4 (1889–90)
Five Songs, Op. 37 Paulig/Gräsbeck
Serenad, JS 167 Groop/Gräsbeck
Den första kyssen, JS 57 (preliminary version) Groop/Gräsbeck
Jag ville, jag vore i Indialand (preliminary version) *World Première Performance* Groop/Gräsbeck
Im Feld ein Mädchen singt, Op. 50 No. 3 Groop/Gräsbeck
Små flickorna, JS 174 Groop/Gräsbeck
Autrefois, duet, Op. 96b Paulig/Groop/Gräsbeck
Andante festivo for string quartet, JS 34a