There have been changes to the line-up for the Avant Garde Summer Play Festival. The artistic director of the festival, the Czech Ondřej Adámek, who will take place in Porvoo from 27 to 30 June 2024, has had to cancel his visit to Finland due to an unexpected situation. This situation does not affect the content of the festival’s programme, which has already been announced and will be presented.
Adámek played a central role in the Summer Music Festival programme, not only as the designer of the festival programme, but also as composer, conductor and musician. Adámek’s conducting duties will be taken up by the stars of the new generation of Finnish conductors, Aliisa Neige Barrière and Kristian Sallinen, both of whom have already made their debut as Avant conductors.
“I am very sorry that my planned visit to Avant and Suvisoitto will not take place this year – especially as the cancellation was due to circumstances beyond my control. I am very grateful that two talented young Finnish conductors, Aliisa Neige Barriére and Kristian Sallinen, will now take up the ensemble and orchestra concerts at Suvisoito. I wish them the best of success and hope that all musicians and audiences together will experience unforgettable moments at the festival. .“, commented Adámek
Aliisa Barrière began her conducting studies with Sakari Oramo at the Sibelius Academy of Music and Performing Arts in 2019. In addition to several Finnish orchestras, she has conducted the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, BIT20 Ensemble and the Danish Chamber Orchestra. This season he made his debut as guest conductor of the Orchestre de Paris and Ensemble Intercontemporain with Esa-Pekka Salonen, and at the Ojai Festival in California as conductor of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He is the Turku Music Festival’s artist-in-residence for 2024. Barrière can be called a second generation avant-garde musician. His mother Kaija Saariaho was one of the founders of Avant and he is also one of the former designers of Suvisoito.
Kristian Sallinen began his conducting studies as a student of Jorma Panula and now studies with Sakari Oramo at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts. In addition to national orchestras, he has made his debut with the Basel and BBC symphony orchestras. Kristian Sallinen began his musical studies at the age of five playing the violin, but later changed to the viola. He won third place at the Tampere National Viola Competition in 2017.
Both Barrière and Sallinen will have a demanding programme to lead. Both are taking up the challenge with enthusiasm and no lack of courage. There is little time to prepare and the works require intense dedication and study. Barrière will conduct the opening concert of the Summer Play at the Arts Centre on Thursday 27 June. The programme will feature works for human voice and orchestra by Ondřej Adámek. The soloists are Landy Andriamboavonjy (soprano) from France and Madagascar and Shigeko Hata (soprano) from Japan.
Sallinen will conduct the closing concert of the Summer Festival on Sunday 30 June, featuring Antonín Dvořák’s CzechSuite and the premiere of Pilar Miralles’ Brief Requiem for the Poets and Prayers. The concert and festival will culminate in Adámek’s violin concerto Follow me, with violinist Tami Pohjola as soloist.
