Mon 19.11.2018 at 13 Music House, Rehearsal Room Paavo
Nothing is what it looks like,
everything is what it sounds like.
Among the unlimited range of styles in the concert, the latest music is right at home. The sound of the Avant String Quartet blends with the wide arsenal of Marzi Nyman, Arttu Takalo and Tero Toivonen.
The concert is part of a joint AUF concert series by Avant, UMO and FiBO.
Tickets 11€ (incl. service charge). Tickets sold by Ticketmaster.
Avant’s chamber ensemble performs on Sat 25.8. at 19 in Pukkila Church and Wed 3.10. at 19 in Kangasala Hall. The concerts are part of the AUF collaboration project between Avant, the New Music Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra.
Programme:
Bartók-Farina-Schumann-Tiensuu-Ellington-Ligeti
Performers:
Avanti! quartet:
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Jouko Laivuori, piano
Tickets 17,50/11 €, family ticket 22,50 €, series ticket to three AUF concerts in Eastern Uusimaa 43/28 €. Tickets are available at the Askola library, Hyvinvointikeskus Onni in Pukkila, Kipa bookstore in Mäntsälä, Mäntsälä municipal service point, Pukkila library, door-to-door sales and Ticketmaster. Only cash is accepted at municipal sales points and doorstep sales. Ticket enquiries: [email protected]. For more information on UMO and FiBO concerts, please visit their websites umo.fi and fibo.fi.
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Programme:
Bartók-Farina-Schumann-Tiensuu-Ellington-Ligeti-Pärt
Performers:
Avanti! quartet:
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Jouko Laivuori, piano
Tickets from Kangasala-talo 22/20/10 €, Lippu.fi 24,50/22,50/11,50 € + delivery charges (from 1 € www.lippu.fi)
Sunday marked the end of Avant’s 33. The summer concert was a success. The ticket sales target for the concerts was exceeded, and the feedback from both the public and the media has been positive.
The trio who planned the summer concert, long-time Avant-garde musicians Timo Ahtinen, Hanna Juutilainen and Jukka Rautasalo, created the programme with an Avant-garde approach, covering music from as wide a time period as possible. The festival’s home towns of Pernaja and Porvoo were also present in the selection of works. The XXXIII Suvisoito featured a total of 12 concerts in Pernaja, Porvoo Tuomiokerko, Pikkukerko and Taidetehta. The programmes included music from the 15th century to the present day. In addition to the festival fanfare composed by Jukka Tiensuu, the programme included three other premieres. As always at Suvisoito, one of the concerts was dedicated to children.
Launched in spring 2018, Pro Avanti! Association will continue the activities of the chamber orchestra Avant and the Suvisoitto Festival, which has been closed down due to financial difficulties. ry. Avanti! is looking to the future with confidence, even though its finances are significantly tighter than before.
So Avant’s work continues and planning for the next Summer Play is already underway. Swiss-born conductor Baldur Brönnimann is planning the XXXIV Summer Festival. The next Summer Festival will take place on 26-30 June 2019.
XXXIII Summer Concert 30.6. at 18:00: texts of the Kläätasku songs omitted from the manuscript programme and Schoenberg’s String Quartet No 2, parts Litanei and Entrückung, with texts by Stefan George (suom. Jan Granberg).
Heinz-Juhani Hofmann: Kylätasku songs (texts by Jussi Kylätasku)
1.
Put me in a porous soil
that I may burn with a small flame steadily to the end, I shall crack, crack, crack in a regular manner into my parts
and feed more than ever with my wages
when the earth is only porous, its breath warm and dry.
(Good News, p. 58)
2.
The subject of the poem is a plastic ear through which light shines steadily.
It’s hard to admit that you’re interested in what you don’t have;
From a certain angle, the junction of the neck and shoulder.
In a way, you become aware when love dies.
(Private entrepreneurs, p.13)
3.
I’m sitting in a smoky room; it’s raining. At least not inside.
I won’t be sad.
Dear friend, what are you waiting for: the same old crap?
A trip to the centre of the country for a little money, what are you waiting for
The gang is on the move, the world is changing, but society is being built to last. The world is maturing beautifully to a serene end, to a fitting starry sky, the cosmonaut aware of his minute when the capsule goes into a spiral;
In his shares of the working and unemployed, the poet alienates himself from Oulu in a semblance of harmony.
(Private entrepreneurs, p.11)
4. SONG
October is birdless, songless, the forest slows down in front of your eyes.
A drowned youngster can be heard through the snowless ice.
It looked so damn tall.
It’s at least ten feet tall. A blue-grey striped suit. One shoe loose, red ankle sock, V-patent collar, tie somewhat wrapped.
Counts heartbeats on a wristwatch.
(Private entrepreneurs, p.19)
Litany
Deep is the grief that doth shake me, I will enter again, O Lord, into thy house.
The journey has been long, the limbs are dull, the shrines are empty, the agony is full.
Thirsty tongue dying to cry. Hard was the quarrel, stiff is my arm.
Give rest to faltering steps, hungry gaume crumble your bread!
Weak is my breath calling to the dream, hollow are the hands, feverish the mouth.
Lend your coolness, put out the fires. Extinguish the hope, send the light!
The glowing embers in the heart are still open, A cry still awakes in the depths.
Kill the longing, close the wound! Take away my love, give me your happiness!
Rapture
I feel air from another planet.
I am pale through the darkness the faces that turned to me friendly a moment ago.
And trees and paths that I loved pale That I hardly know them any more And thou light beloved shadow-caller of my torments–
Are now extinguished in deep glow To suggest with a pious shudder the staggering disputing getobes.
I loose myself in tones, circling, weaving, surrendering to the great breath without wishing, to fathomless thanks and unnamed praise.
I am overtaken by an impetuous wind
In the frenzy of consecration where fervent cries plead In dust thrown praying women:
Then I see how fragrant mists hatch
In a sun-filled clear free
That only embraces on farthest mountains hatch.
The floor is white and soft as whey. I’m climbing over gorges immense.
I feel like I’m over the last cloud
In a sea of crystalline brilliance I swim– I am a spark only of the holy fire
I am a roar only of the holy voice.
Litania
Deep is the sorrow that darkens me, And again, Lord, I enter your house.
It’s been a long journey, the members are tired,
The trunks are empty now, it’s just a pain in the ass.
A dry tongue craves a splash of vodka.
It was a tough struggle, now my arm is numb.
Give peace to the weary steps, To the hungry mouth break a piece of your bread!
Weak breathing, crying out in sleep, Empty palms, feverish mouth.
Lend your cool, extinguish the flames, Redeem hope, give a ray of light!
Glowing widows, fluttering in the chest, Inside the deepest still a cry waits.
Kill the longing, stop the bleeding wounds! Take from me love instead of your happiness!
Exit
I can feel the airflow from other planets. Fading in the darkness are faces
that kindly turned to me.
And the trees and roads I love will fade so that I hardly know them and the bright beloved shadow-interpreter of my pains–
You’ve gone all out in a deep-blue glow to dampen the post-rapturous exclamation of elation to a pious shudder.
I break free to the sounds, spinning, spinning, endless praise and anonymous praise, a huge breath of hopeless surrender.
A furious breeze blows over me
in a holy din where the cries of worshippers thrown into the dust rush:
Then I see how the humid mist rises in a light-filled, bright freedom that reaches to the farthest mountain peaks.
The ground beneath quivers as soft and white as milk. I rise above the distant gorges.
I feel how on the last clouds
I swim in a sea of Christian glory–I am but a tiny flame of holy fire, just a breath of holy sound.
J.L.Runeberg:Andranatten http://www.svensklyrik.se/poeter/johan-ludvig-runeberg/andra-natten-2
Pro Avanti! Association has appointed Annika Mustonen as Executive Director of the Avant Chamber Orchestra and the Suvisoitto Festival. Ms Mustonen has held the position on a temporary basis since August 2017.
Annika Mustonen is a cultural producer from Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences and a musician (pop/jazz vocals) from
Prior to Avant, Mustonen has worked as a freelancer at several art events across the country, and as the executive producer of the pioneering We Jazz event in Helsinki in 2013-2015. He is also the producer of Jazz-Espa 2010-2018.
The new Executive Director knows what he is doing and enjoys Avant’s content-driven thinking. “Avanti! is an extremely interesting organisation, where music is made rigorously and from all eras. The most interesting thing is that music really is at the heart of everything we do. The works are always selected first and only then the performers. “, says Mustonen. He doesn’t abandon his own musicianship, but plays gigs when his main work schedule allows.
Launched in spring 2018, Pro Avanti! Association will continue the activities of the chamber orchestra Avant and the Suvisoitto Festival, which has been closed down due to financial difficulties. ry. Pro Avanti! “During the tumultuous 2017-18 season, Annika Mustonen managed the duties of Avant’s Executive Director with such Avanti! commitment and strong stress tolerance that it was an easy and pleasant task to appoint her as the permanent Executive Director”, says Pro Avanti! Association was an easy and straightforward decision to take on the role of Executive Director .
The trio of designers of the summer concert, long-time Avant-gardists Timo Ahtinen, Hanna Juutilainen and Jukka Rautasalo, have cultivated an Avant-garde approach that covers music from as wide a time span as possible, with old and new running strongly side by side. Pernaja and Porvoo are also present in the choice of works. The subtitle of the festival is Är det här nytt, Avanti? Early Music Summer Play.
The traditional summer festival is held in the medieval church of Pernaja. The programme includes music from the 15th century to the present day, most recently three works by Olli Virtaperko, including the premiere of The Gods of Hämälä commissioned by Jukka Rautasalo.
The rich programme commemorates Mikael Agricola (c. 1510-1557), born into a peasant family in Torsby, Pernaja, who was sent from his home village to the Vyborg Latin School in the late 1510s. There he adopted his Latin surname Agricola, meaning farmer. The works in the Pernaja church concert include several of Agricola’s texts.
The official opening concert of the Summer Concert on Thursday 28 June at 19:00 will be conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk. Recorder artist Eero Saunamäki will be the soloist.
The festival fanfare composed by Jukka Tiensuu for this year’s Suvisoito will resound in Porvoo’s Tuomiokirko on Friday at 12.All Friday concerts will be played on the Church Hill, in Tuomiokirko and in Pikkukirko, where compositions by children from Porvoo will be heard. Friday evening will end with Duke Ellington tunes in Tuomiokirko, with Anu Koms and Marzi Nyman.
Saturday’s programme includes two premieres, Jarkko Hartikainen’s EMBODIED for solo violin and Heinz-Juhani Hofmann’s Kylätasku songs. Hartikainen’s work will be played by violinist Eriikka Maalismaa, who also commissioned the work. Jussi Kylätasku, who died in 2005, lived and worked in Porvoo for many years. The song cycle based on his texts was commissioned by soprano Anu Koms.
As always, Suvisoito also has a programme for children. On Sunday 1 July, the Klasariklaara and the Jazz Pisk will be performing at the Art Workshop, along with Lotta Wennäkoski ‘s Spider-Mic, sung by Petri Bäckström. The concert will be conducted by József Hárs.
33. The closing concert of the Summer Concert will include Pehr-Henrik Nordgren’s HATE – LOVE for cello and string orchestra op. 71. Soloist is cellist Marko Ylönen . The opening piece of the concert is Orient occident by Iánnis Xenákis. The other soloists in the concert conducted by Sakari Oramo are string artist Ilkka Heinonen and soprano Anu Komsi.
The programme, performers, ticket prices and festival bus timetable for the Summer Music Festival can be found here.
Avanti! the chamber orchestra’s traditional Summer Music Festival is here to stay. The positive funding decision by the Ministry of Education was based on the support of the Chamber Orchestra and the festival’s home towns, as well as the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The city of Porvoo has been the home of Suvisoito since the first Suvisoito. The festival programme will be announced in mid-May.
The planners of this year’s Suvisoito have been Avant-garde since the very beginning. The trio of Timo Ahtinen, Hanna Juutilainen and Jukka Rautasalo have taken an Avant-garde approach to planning, covering music from as wide a time span as possible, with old and new running strongly in parallel. “What is old, what is new?”
Most of the concerts of the Summer Music Festival will be held at the Art Factory, but the whole of Friday 29.6. will be spent on Porvoo’s Church Hill and the evening concerts at the Tuomiokirko. As always before, the Suvisoito evening will be held in the medieval church of Pernaja on 27 June.
Avanti! is coming, are you ready?
The recent turmoil at Avant has of course affected the work of the designers, and Avanti! would not be Avanti! if it did not comment sharply on society and its oddities through art. It may well be that something Kafkaesque will emerge from the programme.
This year’s conductors are Sakari Oramo and Dima Slobodeniouk, and Anu Komsi is one of the festival’s soloists. New works by Olli Virtaperko, Jarkko Hartikainen and Heinz-Juhani Hoffmann will be premiered. The XXXIII Suvisoitto is also a festival of early music in Avant-garde style. “The programme includes new music, old music and music that has been forgotten and abused,” say the planners.
The Summer Concert programme will be announced on Wednesday 16 May, when ticket sales will also start. According to the design trio, the Suvisoito is made up of “past, present and future Avant-gardists and listeners who draw their vitality from culture and music.”
Avant’s Midsummer Call
The Summer Music Festival was founded in 1986. Porvoo, chosen as the festival city, naturally incorporated Avant into its identity: “The city of the river, the hills, two languages, two medieval squares, narrow streets, old houses, international trade, Runeberg, European fine arts, books, reality and symbols, and now Avant, warmly welcomes every music lover.”
33. The software of Suvisoito implements Avanti! thinking in its purest form. This year, the festival fanfare will ring out on Church Hill on Friday, celebrating more than 30 years of a boundless musical event.
Comment on the situation of the Avant Chamber Orchestra
On 9 March 2018, the Ministry of Education and Culture decided to recover a total of 500 000 euros in unjustified VOS subsidies from the Avant Chamber Orchestra. This decision effectively means the end of the orchestra’s activities.
We, the undersigned, would like to point out that the Ministry could have decided otherwise if it wished. Avanti! has been under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Education and Culture since the VOS system was set up. The orchestra has regularly and transparently submitted an activity report and audited accounts to the Ministry. These documents have apparently not been made available to the Ministry, as for twenty years the orchestra has not received any instructions or suggestions for corrections. Avanti! has itself identified the anomalies that have now arisen and has conscientiously contacted the Ministry.
We are deeply concerned about the way the Ministry of Education and Culture approaches the monitoring of the funding it allocates. Particularly now that the VOS system and its criteria are being reformed, we hope that the government will show particular attention to the implementation of the criteria, both artistically and administratively. We believe that by now recovering old state contributions from Avant, the Ministry is punishing an innocent orchestra for its own negligence.
If the government believes that Finnish music life is best served by the ministry covering up its own negligence by burying its embarrassing mistake and the orchestra that is the subject of the negligence, the decision may be legally valid, but it is a disgrace to the ministry’s actual mission.
We understand that the Ministry – knowing that the orchestra cannot repay the money – is forcing Avant into bankruptcy. The Ministry does not get its money back but the orchestra ceases to exist; everyone loses. The damage to the cultural life of our country is irreparable. The Finnish classical music scene is famous for its openness and open-mindedness. In creating and maintaining this atmosphere, Avanti! has been an essential factor in creating and maintaining this atmosphere.
During its existence, Avanti! has played more than 600 premieres. It regularly collaborates with the country’s leading performers and composers. The orchestra is known for its altruism and idealism. Now, by its official decision, the Ministry is dangerously putting the economy at odds with the spirit that carries our music into the future.
We hope the Ministry of Education and Culture will reverse its decision. After all, it is a question of whether form matters more than substance.
Berlin – Helsinki – Lahti – Los Angeles – Rovaniemi – Paris – Sydney – Stockholm – Tokyo – Vienna, 13 March 2018
Anssi Karttunen
Pekka Kuusisto
Magnus Lindberg
Hannu Lintu
Susanna Mälkki
Sakari Oramo
Kaija Saariaho
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Dima Slobodeniouk
John Storgårds
Lotta Wennäkoski
On 9 March 2018, the Ministry of Education and Culture decided to recover from Avant a total of EUR 500 000 in unjustified overpayments of state funding.
Chamber Orchestra Avanti! has been using the VOS reporting model since 1998, which, according to the recovery decision, does not meet the requirements of the current VOS legislation. The reporting model used by Avanti had overstated the number of man-years calculated.
Avant’s Board decided on its reporting method in 1998 after discussions with the Ministry of Education and Culture. The orchestra has followed the same reporting policy ever since. The rationale for this different reporting method from that used by other operators is that the State contribution model is not suitable as such for an operator such as Avant, which employs a large number of freelance musicians on an irregular basis but has to maintain a relatively large permanent staff of design and production personnel.
In early 2017, Avanti! developed its own financial management and reporting system. As a result of this development work, the association sought advice from the Ministry and it became clear that Avanti’s reporting does not meet the requirements of the current VOS legislation. This information was new and came as a surprise to Avant, and led to almost a year of research, which the Ministry has carried out in good cooperation with Avant.
Avant’s understanding remains that there was agreement with the Ministry on the system applied in 1998. In its recovery decision, the Ministry states that ‘it is possible, however, that the views expressed by the Ministry may have contributed to the development of the incorrect practice at the time‘. The Ministry also states in its decision that ‘. in this case there is no reason to doubt Avanti! association acted fraudulently and deliberately misreported personal expenses. The fact that the conduct came to light in the Avanti! ry’s own contacts “.
Avanti! feels that nothing has been brought to its attention that would give cause to revise the practice in force since 1998. In the context of the legislative change, Avanti! amended its rules in accordance with the guidelines. The written instructions on the collection of cost data in 2007 concerned, in Avanti’s view, the collection and reporting of data, not the principle that had guided Avanti’s reporting since 1998.
Avanti! feels that it has acted in accordance with the law and reported its financial figures as agreed. The Avanti Board of Directors decided on the reporting model to be followed in 1998 after very careful analysis.
The Ministry’s decision to recover the money is based almost exclusively on the law on the financing of education and culture, not on cultural policy considerations. The Ministry must order the recovery of the overpayment. But the law also states that if the amount of the benefit to be recovered is insignificant or if the recovery of the benefit or interest is considered excessive, the benefit may not be ordered to be recovered.
Avanti! considers that the recovery is unreasonable. The Ministry is reducing the amount to be recovered to EUR 500 000, but does not consider the partial recovery to be unreasonable, even though the decision poses an extremely serious threat to the continuity of Avanti’s activities.
All these years, the Ministry has had access to Avant’s annual reports and accounts. Avant’s auditor has provided Avant with a clean audit report for all the years of the association’s existence.
Avanti! has been a VOS-supported orchestra since the beginning of the legislation, and the state grant has been the basis of Avanti’s economic activity, enabling the orchestra to employ hundreds of top professionals in the field of art music every year. Avanti! has been a pioneer of new programming in our country, because the artistic starting point has been the repertoire, not the composition. Avanti has developed into an institution whose importance in Finnish musical and cultural life cannot be overstated. It has two main pillars: the orchestral activities and the annual Suvisoitto event, now in its 32nd year, organised in collaboration with the City of Porvoo.
Criteria set by law for receiving state aid Avanti! has been fulfilled throughout its operation. Avanti! has received a grant from the State for its orchestra and concert activities and for the Summer Play. The results speak for themselves.
Avanti! is one of the most prolific premiers of Finnish music in the last thirty-five years. Avanti! has given nearly six hundred premieres in its lifetime. It has literally been instrumental in the breakthrough to international consciousness of many composers, including Magnus Lindberg, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jouni Kaipainen and Kimmo Hakola. Through its composition courses and workshops, Avanti! has also trained the next generation of composers and premiered their works.
A significant number of internationally successful conductors have left Avant’s ranks: the founders Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste have been followed by Sakari Oramo, John Storgårds, Susanna Mälkki, Hannu Lintu, Tuomas Hannikainen, Tomas Djupsjöbacka, Dima Slobodeniuk and Klaus Mäkelä. The orchestra has also trained new musicians to join its ranks. On their international tours, Avanti! has been an important ambassador for Finnish new music.
Further information:
Arne Wessberg, Avanti! Chairman of the Association
p. 0400618800
arne.wessberg(at)elisanet.fi
Sat 5.5. at 14.00 Music House, Paavo Hall
In the first concert of the AUF series, Avanti! will play classics from the baroque, romantic, jazz and folk music genres. The concert will conclude with a steak dinner featuring György Ligeti’s String Quartet No 1.
Performers:
Avanti Quartet
– Anna-Leena Haikola, violin
– Eriikka Maalismaa, violin
– Tuula Riisalo, viola
– Mikko Ivars, cello
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Jouko Laivuori, piano
The concert is part of a joint AUF series by Avant, UMO and FiBO, whose theme for spring 2018 is “Classics of the World”. Top orchestras from different genres invite listeners to a day of concerts to discover a wide range of musical delicacies. Which concert has the most classics? Come and find out for yourself; a series ticket for three concerts costs just €13!
Tickets and other information: https://www.musiikkitalo.fi/fi/tapahtuma/avanti-kaikkien-aikojen-klassikot