Fri 7.11.2025 at 19 | Bulevardi 31
Continue readingDisobedient Art Festival: Ode to a dictator
Avant’s Summer Music Festival plays in Porvoo until Sun 30.6 – photos from the festival
The Suvisoitto Festival is currently playing in Porvoo! The 2019 festival, themed City of Music, consists of more than ten concerts in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory, in the cafés and streets of Porvoo and in the church of Pernaja. Below you can find some festival vibes photographed by Heikki Tuul.
Photos by Heikki Tuuli
Chamber Orchestra Avanti! is seeking a producer for an open-ended contract
Founded in 1983, the Avanti!chamber orchestra is a renowned and respected ensemble made up of some of the country’s leading musicians, known for its open-minded repertoire. In addition to our winter concert series, commissioned concerts and concerts abroad, we produce the annual Suvisoitto festival in Porvoo. Avant’s artistic director is clarinetist Kari Kriikku.
Avanti! is looking for a skilled and experienced person for an indefinite employment contract.
A PRODUCER who
is responsible for the practical concert production of Avant concerts and the Suvisoitto Festival, for the score and music acquisition for productions, as well as for the scheduling, organisation and development of the rehearsal space. The Producer will contribute to the development of the orchestra’s activities, working alongside the Executive Director.
To perform your duties successfully, you must
- initiative and strong organisational skills
- good oral and written Finnish and English language skills, other language skills would be an advantage
- good digital skills
- previous experience in similar tasks
- a good knowledge of music, music life and music organisations
- the ability to learn and a “can do” attitude
- the fearlessness to take on practical tasks
- good interpersonal and communication skills
- the ability to cope with pressure and a sense of humour, working irregular hours on a regular basis
In-depth knowledge of classical music, financial and marketing communication skills and/or an appropriate university degree would be an advantage.
The job will start in August or September 2019, on a part-time contract (60%) and is valid until further notice. Exceptionally, for the period 1.10.2019 – 30.9.2020, the working hours will be 80-100% by contract and this will be recorded in the employment contract. If funding permits, the 80% working time may also be extended from 1.10.2020 by mutual agreement. The employment contract will include a probationary period of 6 months. Salary will be negotiated according to experience and education, we follow the collective agreement of the Taku Association.
Free application by 24:00 on Saturday 29 June 2019 to [email protected].
Inquiries Thu 20.6. at 10.30-12, Tue 25.6. at 14.30-16 and Wed 26.6. at 10.30-12 Executive Director Annika Mustonen, tel. 050 5810409.
Interviews will be held on 3-4 July 2019. Even if the interview date is not convenient, please apply anyway and indicate the scheduling obstacle in your application.
14.9.2019 Music of All Ages – three orchestras together at the Helsinki Music Centre
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) and soprano Helena Juntunen perform Vivaldi, Ellington and John Adams on 14 September 2019 at the Helsinki Music Centre.
Three top orchestras – Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) – join forces in a unique joint concert with soprano Helena Juntunen. The concert will feature a delicious selection of the best of each orchestra, and the evening will culminate in a joint performance by the versatile musicians of John Adams and a Buster Keaton video installation. You’ve never experienced anything like this before! The concert is part of the AUF collaboration between Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra since autumn 2017.
Disobedient Art Festival: Ode to a dictator
Fri 7.11.2025 at 19 | Bulevardi 31
Continue readingComposition workshop turns hundred-year-old films into visual music
The composition course Composition Workshop for professional composers is held annually at the same time as Avant’s Summer Music Festival. This year, seven composers from Europe, Asia and America are taking part. The course will be taught by composers Jukka Tiensuu and Tomi Räisänen.
As an important part of the course, each participant has been given the task of composing a new work during the spring, which will be performed by the chamber orchestra Avanti! at a concert in connection with the Summer Play on Friday 28 June at 16.00 under the baton of conductor József Hárs in the Factory Hall of the Art Factory in Porvoo. The concert is free of charge.
“The task is different every year, but it always aims to force the composers out of their comfort zone and create something they’ve tended to avoid before,” says Jukka Tiensuu, one of the course’s co-teachers. “Through this new kind of challenge, the hope is that composers will discover a new kind of creativity lurking within themselves – to the delight of us all.”
This year’s task was to compose a musical response to an abstract film from a hundred years ago, which itself represents abstract “visual music”. The identity of the films chosen by the students was not revealed, so as not to be influenced by their authors or other historical documentation.
The ideal is for the composition alone to produce an experience similar to that of the original moving image. In the concert, these films will be presented in sync with the musical counterparts created for them.
The first composition course was held in 1987. Over the years the course has been taught by Magnus Lindberg, Jouni Kaipainen, Jukka Tiensuu, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Tomi Räisänen. The Composition Workshop Association was founded in 2006 to support the organisation of the course.
This year’s participants can be found on the Composition Workshop website.
Composition workshop: fresh sound music for a century of visual music
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 16.00 (free entry)
Place: Tehdassali, Taidetehdas, Porvoo
József Hárs, conductor
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
Photos from the 2018 Composition Workshop by Heikki Tuuli
Summer Music Children’s Concert invites you to touch the music
How does the music feel? How does music change when you touch it? Chamber Orchestra Avanti! welcomes all children and young people and their parents to a concert where they can move, feel and sense the music around them.
The Sunday afternoon of Porvoo’s Suvisoito will feature an inclusive concert for children and young people, where Avant’s versatile musicians will lead the audience on a path of music and creativity. Music responds to touch. The audience is not just the recipient, but becomes part of the music.
“For the children’s concert, we have also selected works that the composers wrote in their youth. Every composer was once a child,” says Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, a long-standing public relations professional and music educator who planned the concert. “Music frees the mind and helps us to travel to many places.”
The concert will feature works such as Jean Sibelius ‘ Vattendroppar by the young composer and parts of Franz Schubert’s first string quartet. The concert will encourage children and young people to reflect on their own creativity: every composer has written his or her first piece. Encouraged by the music, they can explore, examine and experiment with their own creativity.
The concert is best suited for children over four years old, as the programme includes participatory parts. However, all children, regardless of age, are warmly welcome to enjoy the music. There is no upper age limit for the concert.
Time: Sunday 30.6.2019 at 13.00 (duration about one hour)
Place: factory hall, Art Factory
Tickets for the children’s concert cost 15€ for one ticket or 50€ for a family ticket (4 persons) + delivery fee (from 1€ per order). Tickets for the summer concert are available on the Lippupiste website www.lippu.fi/avanti and on 0600 900 900 (1,98€/min. + pvm).
Avanti! Club: Tara Jovana Valkonen
Sat 13.12.2025 at 18 | Avant Hall, Cable Factory
Continue readingViolinist Jennifer Koh performs in Porvoo’s cafés and restaurants
American violinist Jennifer Koh is one of the international guests at this summer’s Suvisoitto Festival. In addition to the concert in Avanti Hall on Friday evening, she will perform in the centre of Porvoo. Saturday 29.6. at 14-16 .
Visitors to the Summer Concert will therefore have a unique opportunity to hear works commissioned by Koh for solo violin in intimate mini-concerts in Porvoo’s atmospheric cafés and restaurants. Admission to the pop-up concerts is free.
Afternoon with violinist Jennifer Koh
Schedule for Saturday 29.6.2019:
14.00-14.20 For example (Rihkamakatu 2, Porvoo)
15.00-15.20 Café Cabriole (Piispankatu 30, Porvoo)
15.30-15.50 Bistro Gustaf (Mannerheiminkatu 9, Porvoo)
* performance at KeaKafe at 14.30 has been cancelled!
Photos: For example
Jukka Tiensuu’s Theoton gets its Finnish premiere in Porvoo with sheng virtuoso Wu Wei
The leading sheng virtuoso of our time, Wu Wei, will perform at the opening concert of the Porvoo Summer Festival, which will feature the Finnish premiere of Jukka Tiensuu’s Theoton, a concerto for sheng and orchestra. The concert will be conducted by conductor and artistic director of the festival Baldur Brönnimann.
Jukka Tiensuu’s Teoton was composed for Wu Wei in 2015. The work was premiered in Seoul by Ilan Volkov conducting the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. The work will now be performed for the first time in Finland at the opening concert of the Porvoo Summer Festival on Thursday 27 June 2019 at 19.00 in Avanti Hall. After the concert, we will enjoy improvisations by sound designer and musician Tuomas Norvio and Wu Wei. Avanti! Lounge is free of charge.
Wu Wei will also perform in Pernaja Church on Wednesday 26 June at the concert King Henry VIII meets Emperor Jiajing. The concert will feature songs from 16th and 17th century Europe performed by the Avant gambay ensemble and tenor Taavi Oramo.
The world’s leading sheng master
The sheng is a Chinese or Korean mouth organ made of bamboo, with a sound similar to a harmonica, and belongs to the ancestors of the accordion. According to legend, the sound of the instrument is reminiscent of the cry of a Phoenix bird. Written records of the sheng date back to the 13th century BC.
Sheng has been a player for both the people and the courts. It has been heard at the Beijing Opera and Buddhist ceremonies, as an ensemble and solo instrument. A kind of solemn archaicism characterises the sheng’s character and sound; it is at once a living relic of the past and a strange visitor from the future.
Wu Wei has played a pivotal role in the new role of the sheng as a musical instrument in contemporary Western music. He has premiered over 400 works, including more than 20 concerts. Wu Wei has also composed for his instrument. Wu Wei has brought a new sound to contemporary music that is also thousands of years old. In his hands, the sheng has become a musical instrument that unites East and West, combining traditions.
Programme
Opening concert of the Summer Music Festival: Drakar och danser
Thursday 27.6.2019 at 19.00, Avanti Hall
Johannes Schöllhorn: Anamorphoses, Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugues by
Frank Martin: Petite Symphonie Concertante (Adagio – Allegro con moto – Adagio – Allegretto alla marcia)
Jukka Tiensuu: Theoton, concerto for sheng and orchestra (Fever, Adrift, Game, Bliss)
Tickets and festival bus
Tickets for the summer concert are on sale on Lippupiste’s website www.lippu.fi/avanti and by calling 0600 900 900 (1,98€/min. + pvm). Festival pass enquiries directly from Avant’s office (contact details below). As usual, the festival bus will take you directly from Kiasma to the Art Factory and back after the concert. Bus tickets are also sold by Lippupiste. Bus timetables can be found here.
More information:
Avant’s office, tel. 050 581 0409
Photo by Sanne Donders