Visit Finland

Lahti International
Sibelius Festival 2023


Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dalia Stasevska (Photo: © Taina Räty)

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s 24th Sibelius Festival will be held at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti from 7 to 10 September 2023, with Dalia Stasevska, chief conductor of the orchestra, as its artistic director. The festival will include a guest appearance by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Harding.

The programmes for the orchestral concerts replicate original programmes conducted by Sibelius; the main chamber concert features works heard at an event to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. A family concert, ‘Melody Forest’, will also be included in the festival programme, on Sunday morning, 7 September.

Sibelius One Group Reservation

Ticket reservations are made via Sibelius One but no advance payment is required: you just pay for the tickets when you collect them from the ticket agency in the town centre. This is a no-cost service but you must be a member of Sibelius One to use it (click here for link to join). You may normally change or cancel your booking without charge simply by letting us know – but if you don’t inform us and fail to use seats booked in your name, you may be liable for the costs.

We reserve a block of concert tickets in the best available seats in the hall. From these seats you experience the acclaimed acoustics of the Sibelius Hall at their very best. Cheaper seats are also available, but those would be away from the main Sibelius One group.

Group members book their own hotel accommodation and travel from their home locations to Finland, as everybody’s requirements vary and many people like to spend a few extra days in Finland either before or after the festival. It is strongly recommended that you arrive at least one day before the first concert in case of flight delays.


Extra event for Sibelius One Members, 2023

As a curtain-raiser to the Sibelius Festival we are planning a day in Turku on Wednesday 6 September. The programme is as follows (details to be conformed closer to the event):

— Wednesday morning: travel from Helsinki (bus is best because of upgrade work on the railway, leaving around 10 am).
Lunchtime: Restaurant Grädda, which has historical links to the Sibelius Museum
After lunch: guided walk (Folke Gräsbeck as guide) visiting locations in Turku with a special connection to Sibelius.
— Visit to the Sibelius Museum.
Evening: concert at the Sibelius Museum (opening concert of their season, to feature some Sibelius).
Wednesday night in Turku (we can help with hotel reservations).
Thursday morning: travel to Lahti.
If you would like to be included on the Sibelius One group’s list for tickets and/or in our day in Turku, please contact Andrew Barnett by e-mail (click here) no later than 31 July 2023 (current members only).

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s Sibelius Festival 2023


Thursday 07.09. at 19.00, Sibelius Hall
NORFOLK
Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Pohjola’s Daughter
King Christian II, Suite
The Swan of Tuonela
Finlandia
Valse triste
The Oceanides


Friday 08.09. at 19.00, Sibelius Hall
STOCKHOLM
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Harding, conductor
Maria Dueñas, violin
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 7
Violin Concerto


Saturday 09.09. at 13.00, Kalevi Aho Hall, Lahti Music Institute
HELSINKI – CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT
Castalian String Quartet
Emil Holmström, piano
Voces intimae, Op. 56
String Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4
Sonatina in E major for violin and piano, Op. 80
Kyllikki, Op. 41


Saturday 09.09. at 17.00, Sibelius Hall
ROME
Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Finlandia
Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite
Lemminkäinen’s Return
Symphony No. 2


Sunday 10.09. at 10.00, Lahden Pikkuteatteri
MELODY FOREST – FAMILY CONCERT
Jussi Makkonen, cello / Nazig Azezian, piano / Tapani Kalliomäki, recitation


Orchestra’s website: click here.

For further information please contact andrewbarnett@fireflyuk.net

Read our review of the 2016 Lahti Sibelius Festival: click here.
Read our review of the 2017 Lahti Sibelius Festival: click here.

Planning a visit to Finland?

If you’re planning a trip to Finland, Sibelius One is always happy to help its members with advice and recommendations about where to stay, what to see and what do do. Drop us a line at info@sibeliusone.com

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2 thoughts on “Visit Finland

  1. I attended the Sibelius 150th Birthday Festival in Lahti last year and loved it. I would like to explore a return for the Festival this coming September. I would also like to visit other parts of Finland, either before or after the Festival. Please send any relevant information.

    Thank you.

  2. Places to see in Finland

    Helsinki “white city of the north”
    Capital city of Finland where more than one fifth of Finns live
    Mostly built since 1815; no building higher than 10 stories
    Tourist Information office (Pohjoisesplanadi 19) sells 2/3 day public transport tickets.
    Ninety minute bus tour starting near Information Office gives orientation of interesting sites.
    1952 Olympic city: see Olympic Stadium and Youth Hostel there.
    Harbour (fish) market and ferry activity
    Suomenlinna Fortress 15 minutes ferry trip from Harbour
    Academic Bookshop and Stockmans Department Store
    City Square with Lutheran Cathedral, University, monument to Czar Alexander, Gov’t buildings
    Great Hall of the University where Sibelius premiered many of his works
    Russian Orthodox Cathedral built 1867
    Railway station, Finlandia Hall, new concert hall, several museums and art galleries
    Botanical Gardens.
    Rock Church carved out of quarried space and with copper roof
    Sibelius Monument (near an apartment he owned for a short while during WW 2)
    Seurasaari Open Air Museum (catch a bus to its entrance)
    Café Ursula, Seahorse Restaurant, Zetor, etc.
    Marshall Mannehheim Museum opened occasionally
    Direct train connection to St Petersberg, ferries to Talllin, Porvo, Turku, Stockholm

    Turku
    Previous capital of Finland with strong Swedish influence
    Most was burnt during the great fire of September 1827, but a small section remains as a museum, rebuilt
    !3th Century Castle
    13th century Lutheran Cathedral
    University city with Swedish ansd Finnish Universities
    Sibelius museum
    Youth Hostel which is a sailing ship
    Turku Archipelago with ferries and bridges includes Hafstrask and Korpo where young Sibelius wrote Trios

    Porvoo
    Less than one hour by bus from Helsinki but much older
    Also a ferry service exists between Helsinki and Porvoo
    Small cathedral (badly burnt in 2006 but faithfully restored)
    Traditional wooden town with town square, red painted boat-sheds and marina
    Home of Finland’s great poet, J L Runeberg which is now a museum
    His son was a sculptor and his busts are on display in his house next door

    Jarvenpaa
    About 35k from Helsinki; short trip by train or bus. On Hooked-on-cycling route
    Was the home town of Jean Sibelius and Finland’s first novelist, Aleksis Kivi and other artists
    Ainola home (1904-57) and grave of Sibelius: 3k from railway station and Sibelius statue.
    Visit the former home of landscape painter Peka Halonen friend and neighbour of the Sibelius’s

    Hameelinna
    Old military town on “Kings’ Road” with medieval castle
    Birthplace and schoolplace of Jean Sibelius and Juho Kusti Paasikivi, a Finnish President
    Beautiful Lakeside setting; (4 hour?) ferry trip (via sculptor Emil Wikström’s Visavuori studio) to Tampere trough locks.

    Tampere, Finland’s largest inland city, near the smaller Nokea
    Industry there founded by a Scott on the rapids which provided power to drive industry
    University

    Lahti
    100k north of Helsinki (by bus or train)
    3 Ski-jumps and ski museum. Radio museum.
    Sibelius Hall built 2000: location of annual Sibelius Festival, by Lake Vesijarvi and heritage boats.
    Nearby Sibelius wrote Fire on the Island, piano pieces, and Lemminlainen and the Maidens.

    Rauma
    A world heritage wooden town near Pori where there is a famous mausoleum and a jazz festival

    Savonlinna
    Beautiful lake district setting in the heart of Karelia
    Castle setting for annual opera festival (which Loreto has attended).
    Short distance from world’s largest wooden church at Kerimaki

    Koli and Lieksa
    In the heart of Karelia. Perhaps the most spectacular view in Finland is on the Koli Mountain (350 metres high) where Sibelius began his Symphony No. 4
    Kuhmo in east-central Finland close to the Russian border where an annual chamber music festival is held

    Rovaniemi:
    Starting point for Finnish Lapland
    Father Christmas tourist town on the Arctic Circle. See reindeers.

    Lovisa
    Spa town with marina on way to St Petersburg
    Young Sibelius visited grandmother and aunt here where he wrote Lovisa Piano Trio.
    Also on way to Vipuri/Viborg, former jewell of Finland taken by Soviets in 1943.

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