Tampere Biennale: Secret Flowers

A Japanese contemporary music theatre evening at Tampere Hall

The unique contemporary music theatre evening Secret Flowers is built around classical Japanese Noh theatre. This sequence of four contemporary works is a dive into the expressive world of Noh: the oldest still-active interdisciplinary tradition, centred on both the darker and brighter mysteries of humanity.

The evening is the creation of contemporary music theatre specialist Aleksi Barrière (b. 1989), who serves as both the dramaturg and director. The music will be performed by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, renowned for their high-quality and boundary-crossing concert productions.

Composer Toshio Hosokawa (b. 1955) brings the fragile aesthetic of Noh into the Western instrumental world in his string quartet Silent Flowers (1998). Noriko Baba (b. 1972), in turn, gives Noh singing a new context in her work Hagoromo Suite (2017), receiving its Finnish premiere.

The evening opens and closes with two world premieres by composer Juha T. Koskinen (b. 1972). The libretto for Prologue (to all stories) (2026) is by Aleksi Barrière, and the chamber drama The Woman on the Sixth Street (2026) is based on a libretto by writer Selja Ahava (b. 1974).

In The Woman on the Sixth Street, the Noh theatre character Lady Rokujō, abandoned by her lover, appears both in her original form and as a woman of our own time. These mirrored versions of the role are performed by Noh singer Ryoko Aoki and actress Petriikka Pohjanheimo.

Concert duration: 1 hour 15 minutes. No intermission.

After the concert, from 5.30 to 6 pm, a panel discussion will be held in the Small Auditorium, where Tampere Hall’s Artistic Director Suvi Leinonen will interview members of the artistic team.

Produced by: Tampere Hall, Music theatre collective La Chambre aux échos