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Avant’s grand tour brought 33 concerts to Porvoo this summer – no corona infections traced to the events

Chamber Orchestra Avanti! organised a summer concert series and a five-day Summer Music Festival in Porvoo during the summer of 2021. In total, the events, which employed more than 150 music professionals, reached an audience of around 1,500, and the streaming concerts of Suvisoito attracted around 1,300 views. Despite the changing restrictions imposed by the authorities, the entire summer programme was carried out and the final audience exceeded the organisers’ expectations. Corona security was ensured.

The unique series of free concerts offered a diverse selection of concert programmes designed by musicians from all over Porvoo. Audience restrictions and security clearance requirements, especially for indoor venues, kept audience capacity quite low. As a result, almost all 13 concerts in the summer series were performed in duplicate.

The summer concerts featured music from the 1300s to the premieres of new works. The series started in early June at Bosgård Manor Bengi Canatan harp concert and ended at the end of August at the Kunsthalle Emil Holmström’s piano concerto. During the summer, the festival included a brass octet at the Kerkkoo youth club and French baroque music at the Svartbäck-Spjutsund archipelago church. Percussion music and Finnish tango were enjoyed at Porvoo’s Town Hall Square. One of the highlights of the concert series was Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting an orchestra concert in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory.

Safe encounters with music

All Avant events were carried out in accordance with up-to-date official guidelines and regulations on safety distances and other safety measures to prevent the spread of corona. A strong mask recommendation was in place at concerts and the audience was instructed on corona safety at registration and at concert venues.

For the free concerts in the summer concert series, pre-registration was used to collect contact information and to limit audience capacity. However, there have been no contacts from the authorities regarding the tracing of corona infections and the organisers are not aware of any cases of infection linked to events organised by Avant.

Thanks to supporters and the public

The Summer Concert Series and the Suvisoito were made possible by the City of Porvoo, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Arts Promotion Centre, Aktiasäätiö Porvoo and Svenska Kulturfonden. Avant’s eventful summer has contributed to the celebration of Porvoo’s 675th anniversary.

 

A warm thank you to all our supporters, partners and friends of Avant for this summer!

 

Read more about the summer concert series here.

To read the Summer Music Festival post-event press release, click here:

Avant’s unique summer concert series in Porvoo will come to an end in August. However, there are still many great concerts to come for music lovers of all kinds.

Esa-Pekka Salonen, who is often seen conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and top European orchestras, will also spend time in Finland this summer, something the Avant-garde are very excited about. One of Avant’s founding members, Salonen will conduct the Finnish premiere of the conductor-composer’s Saltat Sobrius on Sunday 15 August in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory. In a concert that evokes the Middle Ages, Avant’s wind ensembles will tackle a rarely heard Richard Strauss symphony for wind instruments and chamber ensembles will perform works by Anneli Arho and Guillaume de Machaut.

At Porvoo’s Town Hall Square, Avanti will be offering music on two occasions next week. On Thursday 5 August, the square will be taken over by the Daytime Dances, when bassoonist Erkki Suomalainen and violist Wu Pei-Yi will lead the audience into the atmosphere of Finnish tangos. On Friday 6 August, Avant’s percussionists Antti Suoranta, Antti Ohenoja and Walter Witick will take over the soundscape of the market square.

For children and child lovers, on Saturday 28 August there will be a concert called Touch the Music. Designed by public relations professional and music educator Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, this children’s concert will bring music within touching distance. Avant’s musicians will inspire children to draw and paint in this concert combining visual arts and music.

The summer concert series will culminate at the end of August on Sunday 29 August in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory, where piano virtuoso Emil Holmström will perform Sampo Kasurinen’s work Helvetinkone for disclavier piano. Maurice Ravel’s Scarbo from Gaspard de la nuit, described as the most difficult piano work in the world, will open the concert.

Safe access to music experiences

The summer of 2021 in Avant Garda has been exceptional in many ways. The summer concert series has already featured eight days of double concerts in Porvoo, offering a wide variety of concert experiences for small but all the more loving audiences. In addition, our Suvisoitto festival from 30 June to 4 July attracted an impressive number of listeners to a total of nine concerts, two of which were sold out. This busy summer has shown how important art is to both audiences and artists.

For future concerts, Avanti also strongly recommends wearing a face mask and maintaining good hand and cough hygiene. Audiences are also advised to keep a safe distance from other patrons in the lobby and in queuing situations. Seating in the hall is at safety intervals. Thank you for working with us to make events safe!

One exception for free concerts

Open-air concerts at the Town Hall Square are free of charge and admission is free. The Children’s Concert and Helvetinkone require advance booking due to limited capacity. An exception to the free summer concerts is the 15 August concert by Avant & Esa-Pekka Salonen, for which ticket sales start on Fri 30 July at 9am in Lippupiste’s online shop.

The summer concert series is made possible by the City of Porvoo, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Arts Promotion Centre, Aktiasäätiö Porvoo and Svenska Kulturfonden. The summer concerts are part of Porvoo’s 675th anniversary year.

Avant’s Summer Play brought an eight-concert festival programme to sunny Porvoo, designed by Austrian composer, conductor and chansonnier HK Gruber. The programme, postponed for a year, was announced when restrictions lifted in May made it possible to bring live music back to the public.

After a long break, the concert and especially the interaction with the audience has been a great experience for the whole orchestra. The number of tickets on sale was very limited compared to the total capacity. “We are extremely happy that the festival could be held safely. In terms of audience numbers, we met our target and the atmosphere was great – despite the exceptional times”, says Annika Mustonen, Avant’s Executive Director.

Avant’s XXXVI Summer Music Festival was held in Porvoo and Pernaja from 30.6.-4.7.2021.The programme, with the theme “Freaky Music”, included cheeky music for both large orchestra and smaller chamber ensembles. The conductors, in addition to Suvisoito’s artistic designer HK Gruber, were John Storgårds and Håkan Hardenberger, all of whom were also seen in captivating solo roles.

The Baroque concert in Pernaja Church was a musical journey to the 30-year war, accompanied by soprano Tuuli Lindeberg. The festival premiered Jouni Hirvelä’s violin concerto Rakka with Eriikka Maalismaa as soloist and the piano concerto by composer-pianist Mioko Yokoyama. Other soloists in the Suvisoito were pianist Mirka Viitala, accordionists Niko Kumpuvaara and Veli Kujala, banjoist Jarmo Julkunen and tuba player Petri Keskitalo. Saturday’s chamber concerts featured skilful performances by small ensembles. A real surprise act at the festival was violinist Pekka Kuusisto with his recital.

Some of the concerts were streamed

Due to limited audience capacity, Thursday’s opening concert Frankenstein!! and Sunday night’s closing concert were broadcast live online. The concerts will be available for two months on the orchestra’s YouTube channel.

Looking ahead to next summer

The XXXVII Avant’s Summer Play will take place 29.6.-3.7.2022 in Porvoo and the artistic design of the festival is the responsibility of Julia Wolfe.

Julia Wolfe (born 1958) is an American composer and professor of music at New York University. Wolfe has composed a significant number of works especially for strings, from quartet to full orchestra. The composer draws inspiration from folk, art and rock music, bringing a modern sensibility to each genre – while breaking down the walls between them. Wolfe was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2015 and was a 2016 MacArthur Fellow. Julia Wolfe is the founder and one of the artistic directors of the legendary New York-based music collective Bang on a Can.

“Freaky music” themed Suvisoitto XXXVI kicks off next week in Porvoo! After a long wait, it will be possible to listen to the fantastic HK Gruber-designed festival programme live at the concert venues. Avanti! wants to bring the festival atmosphere to home auditoriums as well.

We broadcast live online concerts on YouTube:

• Thursday 1.7. at 19, Frankenstein!! concert
  • HK Gruber, conductor & chansonnier
  • Eriikka Maalismaa, violin
  • Programme:
    Bernd Richard Deutsch: Dr. Futurity
    Jouni Hirvelä: Rakka (premiere)
    media
    HK Gruber: Frankenstein!! Pan-demonium for singer and orchestra to poems by H. C. Artmann

You can watch the concert here:

• Sunday 4.7. at 18, Closing concert
  • John Storgårds, conductor
  • HK Gruber, baritone
  • Pipoka Trio:
    Veli Kujala, accordion
    Jarmo Julkunen, guitar & banjo
    Petri Keskitalo, tuba
  • Programme:
    Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 27
    Markus Fagerudd: Stream & River Motion
    väliaika
    HK Gruber: Manhattan Broadcasts
    Kurt Schwertsik: Starckdeutsche Lieder und Tänze

Links to the webcasts will be published in this newsletter and on the individual concert pages.

Welcome to join us!

The audience capacity for all Avant Garda Summer Festival concerts has been increased thanks to the favourable situation. More tickets will go on sale tomorrow Friday 18.6. at 12 noon In the Lippupiste online store.

Please note that we will continue to follow the general guidelines on safety distances and hygiene. We recommend the use of a face mask.

* We have managed to increase the audience capacity of the concerts and more tickets will be on sale on friday 18.6 kl. 12. For sale via Lippupistes webbutik.

Please note that we follow the general instructions on safety and hygiene. Vi rekommenderar att använda munskydd.

The capital’s independent orchestras Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) will join forces again in an AUF collaboration. The September concert “Music for All – Three Orchestras Together Again” will break boundaries but combine different eras and styles. Together and separately, the orchestras will play works that combine old and new, light and serious. The concert will be conducted by Taavi Oramo, a multi-instrumentalist.

The crowning glory of the concert will be Sampo Kasurinen’s new premiere work, tailored for the AUF orchestras’ unique line-up. The composer promises a work that incorporates influences from jazz music, the baroque tradition and contemporary music: “My aim is to find a compositional whole that would bring the orchestras together rather than create stylistic contrasts.”

Baroque and jazz also collide in Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. Alongside original versions performed by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, you can hear how Baroque dances are turned into jazz by UMO Helsinki. The jazz arrangements are by Austrian composer Ursula Reicher.

The Avanti! quartet will take up Helena Winkelman’s string quartet Papa Haydn’s Parrot, which explores the themes of Haydn’s “Bird” quartet from an original and contemporary perspective. The musicians, drawn together from the ranks of the AUF orchestras, will also perform Arvo Pärt’s enchanting composition Fratres and Michael Torke’s Adjustable Wrench, in which instrumental combinations and energy are adjusted as if by turning a wrench.

“Music for All – Three Orchestras Together Again” in the Concert Hall of the Helsinki Music Centre on Tuesday 14 September at 19.00. Tickets go on sale on 16 June at 9.00 with limited quantities subject to security and safety at: https://www.ticketmaster.fi/event/295483

Chamber Orchestra Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), AUF Orchestras have been collaborating since 2017.