Chamber Orchestra Avanti! has invited composer Sebastian Fagerlund to its 40th anniversary concert. Sebastian Fagerlund has been appointed artistic director of the 40th Summer Music Festival.
“I am delighted and honoured to be the artistic designer of the 2025 Summer Festival. For me, the Suvisoitto has always meant imaginative and enriching concert experiences and encounters. I look forward to planning the programme and next summer’s concerts.” commented Fagerlund on his choice.
As a composer, Fagerlund (b.1972) is known for his interest in large-scale forms and his music expressing fundamental questions and existential experiences. He has established himself as one of the most important European composers of his generation. Fagerlund’s works have been commissioned and performed by numerous major orchestras, conductors and musicians throughout the world. His output ranges from operas to chamber and solo works.
The musicians of Avant, at whose initiative the composer was approached, are delighted to have accepted his invitation and look forward to working with him. Avanti has a long history of collaboration with Fagerlund, both as a commissioner and as a premiere performer.
“Fagerlund’s way of working as a composer is to be more part of a team than an individual, which makes the player’s contribution feel more meaningful. His extensive knowledge of music promises good coverage for next summer”, comments Tero Toivonen, sound director of Avant’s curved horn.
Avant’s original clarinet sound director Heikki Nikula adds, “He’s a visionary composer, so I’m looking forward to a varied adventure from style to style.”
The first opera to be announced for the 40th anniversary of the Summer Opera is Émilie, a co-production between composer Kaija Saariaho and librettist Amin Maalouf, Kokonainen ry, Dialogia! festival ry and Avant Chamber Orchestra. Émilie, which premiered at the Lyon Opera in 2010, will be performed in a new version.The opera tells the story of the last days of Émilie du Châtelet, a French scientist. Its themes include the love between a man and a woman and the love of knowledge and truth. In Émilie du Châtelet, Saariaho was fascinated by her contradictions and her great achievements at a time when women were expected only to marry well.
Opera director Aleksi Barrière comments:
“Émilie du Châtelet’s life is about science, which is philosophy, and order, which is emotional. Perhaps she can indeed be the subject of a grand opera, which is also an intimate experience.”
32 artists will be on stage at the same time, including sopranos Pia Freund and Meeri Pulakka, harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson, dancers Ada Freund and Janne Marja-aho and the Avanti Chamber Orchestra conducted by Aliisa Neige Barrière. The opera is directed by Aleksi Barrière.
- The Summer Festival will be held in Porvoo 25.-29.6.2025
