Category: News

Avant’s 32nd in a row. The summer concert starts on Wednesday 28 June and runs for five days until Sunday 2 July. The festival will feature a total of 14 concerts, most of which will take place at the Porvoo Art Factory. This year, the festival can also be followed live online and on the radio. The festival programme has been designed by composer Lotta Wennäkoski.

Watch the summer concert from the comfort of your own home via internet and radio

This year, the concert experience will be available online and on the radio, as well as live. One of the main concerts of the Suvisoito, the concert on Friday 30 June at 19:00, will be streamed and can be followed live on Avant’s website. The streaming is the first of its kind in Suvisoito’s history and has been made possible thanks to the cooperation with Aktiasäätiö Porvoo. It will be quite a visual experience, as the two-hour concert will feature juggling as well as the world premiere of a piece composed for foley artist and chamber orchestra.

Yle radio also broadcast Suvisoito concerts. The opening concert on Thursday 29 June at 19:00 will be broadcast live on Yle Radio 1. The closing concert on Sunday 2 July will be rebroadcast on the same channel on Wednesday 5 July at 19:03.

World’s first foley concert, premieres and Finnish premieres

The world premiere of Sami Klemola’ s composition Jack and the Specifics for foley artist and chamber orchestra will take place at Suvisoito. This is reportedly the first time that the solo parts of the concerto have been written for a foley artist, in this case Heikki Koss, a sound artist who creates soundtracks for films, including footsteps and creaking doors. Kossi has worked on dozens of Finnish films and has also enjoyed international success. He created soundscapes for animated films such as Little Prince (2015) and Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled (2017), which recently won the Cannes Film Festival.

– Collaboration with Sami Klemola and Avant is tantalising. The moments we’ve shared so far have been confusing and have given rise to a huge sense of inspiration. I feel that I have never done anything like Klemola’s work before,” Kossi says.
– Kossi makes foley sounds live in a concert situation. There is a strong visual element, as he brings a huge kiosk full of stuff with him to produce the sounds, Klemola told Rondo magazine in an interview earlier this spring.

Suvifanfaari, the festival opener, will also be premiered. Lotta Wennäkoski , who compiled this year’s programme, says she composed the fanfare with the medieval castle courtyard in mind.

The week will feature a wealth of Finnish premieres, including works by Agata Zubel, André Tchaikovsky, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gloria Coates, Rozalie Hirsi, Tristan Murai and Minna Leinonen.

Young composers forge new music in the Summer Music Week Composition Workshop, and the results will be heard at a free concert in the Grand House of Culture on Friday 30 June.

The diverse programme was designed by composer Lotta Wennäkoski

This year, the festival’s programme is very varied. This means not only a variety of styles, but also diversity: in addition to the more “conventional” instrumentalists, juggler Sakari Männistö and the aforementioned foley artist Heikki Kossi will also perform as soloists. There will be distinguished foreign guests, including Polish soprano composer Agata Zubel and German flutist Kersten McCall of the prestigious Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Another interesting concert will be Emma Salokoski ‘s interpretation of Eva Dahlgren’s songs from the album Jag vill se min älskade komma från det vilda . The concert will also include new Finnish orchestral arrangements of Salokoski’s own songs, including Under the Water and Omani Dream.

The full programme is available at www.avantimusic.fi/suvisoiton-ohjelma/

Lotta Wennäkoski, this year’s artistic director of the Summer Festival, is a busy woman at the moment. She can easily be called one of the hottest Finnish composers. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has commissioned Wennäkoski to write an orchestral work for the BBC Proms, the world’s largest classical music festival. Wennäkoski is also working on commissioned compositions for the 90th anniversary of the Radio Symphony Orchestra for Independence Day and for the Helsinki City Orchestra.
– Putting together the summer festival has been an extraordinary pleasure, not least because I have been following Avant as a listener since the 1980s. Later, I have had the great pleasure of getting to know this unique group of musicians through my own music, and now I have a festival designed for them,” says Wennäkoski.

Free concerts and free entry for those born in 1986

The free city concerts launched last year, which have been very popular, will continue in the centre of Porvoo. The concerts are small-scale and accessible events, a taste of the full festival programme – and, of course, guaranteed Avanti! quality. The aim is to bring Suvisoitto to all Porvoo residents and tourists alike.

Founded in 1986, Suvisoitto invites all its contemporaries born in 1986 to join the summer festival by giving a free ticket to an orchestral concert of their choice.
– We want to offer thirtysomethings in their thirties a break from everyday life. If you were born in 1986, contact our office and get a free ticket to an orchestra concert of your choice,” encourages Maati Rehor, Avant’s Executive Director. For more information click here.

Tickets and festival buses

Tickets are on sale in advance at Lippupiste. They will also be sold at the door of the concert venues before the concerts. Festival buses will run from Helsinki to the Porvoo Art Factory and back on the concert days. More information about tickets and buses.

Avanti! will accompany the Canadian conductor Gabriel Thibaudeau, one of the top conductors in the film world, in the main music performance of the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä (14.-18.6.2017) on Friday 16.6., with his fine music for Rupert Julian’s film The Phantom of the Grand Opera (1925). The thousand-voiced Lon Chaney is a stunner in the most celebrated of film adaptations of the classic melodrama. The soprano solo is sung by Reetta Haavisto.

Buy tickets for €25 via this page.

Read more >

Opera Society Taite ry and Chamber Orchestra Avanti! will bring two operas composed by Väinö Raition to the stage of the National Opera’s Alminsal in September-October. In addition, there are parts of Raition’s Asaria. The music is fantastic and the stage setting is powerful. The performances will take place in the Alminsal of the Finnish National Opera on 29.9., 30.9. and 1.10.2017 and tickets are on sale now. Read more here.

Avanti!’s spring 2017 concerts will feature a diverse selection of new and classical music as well as baroque hits. The concert season culminates with the Spring Enchantment concert, headlined by the dramatic soprano Karita Mattila. The concert will open with the premiere of a new orchestral work by Lauri Kilpiö.

Avanti!’s spring programme includes three concerts: the crowning concert of the Musica nova festival in February in the spirit of György Ligeti, the acclaimed Riitti concert in March at the Tuomiokirko Church in Porvoo, and the Spring Enchantment concert in May at the Music Hall.

SPRING LUMOUS 27.5.2017, Music Hall Concert Hall

On the last Saturday in May, Karita Mattila will be the soloist in the Spring Enchantment concert at Helsinki Music Centre. Mattila shot to international fame after winning the Cardiff Song Contest in 1983, when the chamber orchestra Avanti! was founded. Now the paths of these booming musical phenomena cross again.

The concert, supported by the Pro Musica Foundation, will premiere a new orchestral work by Lauri Kilpiö, one of the most interesting composers of his generation. The work was commissioned by the Pro Musica Foundation.

“The sonic characters in my upcoming orchestral piece are mainly sounds and textures, sometimes built up from non-compositional noise. However, my work is not sound art, but motivic music. I am extremely happy to have been commissioned by the Pro Musica Foundation to carry out a large, demanding and very inspiring compositional project together with the Avanti! orchestra,” says Kilpiö.

The concert will open John Cagen composed by 4’33”, which is considered a classic example of non-music or conceptual music. After the premiere, the concert will continue with songs by the luminous soprano Karita Mattila, who will play the many tones of love: longing, betrayal, romance and happiness. French singer Henri Duparc’s songs are distinguished by a subtle longing and sensuality. Sibelius and Runeberg glorify young love in the song Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte, in which a girl is betrayed. In the Rydberg song På verandan vid havet, the tense silence expresses a yearning for eternity, while in the Runeberg song Våren flyktar hastigt, the mere memory of spring encourages love.

There’s also a touch of romantic bliss in Robert Schumann ‘s “Spring” symphony, in which a newly married composer finds romantic omens in the season.

The concert will be conducted by Olari Elts.

NOTE! Changes and additions have been made to the concert programme. The information has been updated on 23.1. and 12.4.

Spring season starts in the spirit of György Ligeti

MUSICA NOVA: IN THE SPIRIT OF LIGETI 12.2.2017, Paavo Hall, Helsinki Music Centre

The musical legacy of Hungarian-born avant-garde composer György Ligeti will be heard in the opening concert of Avanti!’s spring season, In the spirit of Ligeti, on 12 February. For the general public, Ligeti’s music is best known for Stanley Kubrick’s cult films 2001: A Space Adventure and Eyes Wide Shut. In the closing concert of Musica nova, György Ligeti’s influence can be heard in the compositions of his most important pupils and his son.

Lukas Ligeti’s Curtain brings together the legacy of European modernism and African rhythms. Inspired by the visual arts, the work explores the “painting on” and erasure of material over a melodic and harmonious ground in a manner reminiscent of animation artist William Kentdrige. A string quartet serves as the canvas on which Ligeti paints, creating a tension between the sounds of the quartet and those of the larger ensemble.

The final part of Unsuk Chin’s cosmigimmicks , Thall (mask), is a tribute to György Ligeti. The centrepiece of the piece, which is a musical pantomime, is a guitar playing a pseudo-melody of a few repetitive microtones. “The “melody” transforms itself according to the harmonies of the other instruments, like the expression on the mime’s face.

Ligeti’s other important pupil, Benedict Mason, also bows to his mentor. Hinterstoissener traverse uses only one note, G. The extremely minimalist approach allows a close examination of rhythm and dynamics.

The concert is part of the Musica nova Helsinki festival programme and will be conducted by Clement Power.

Praised Riitti concert to be heard at the Tuomiokirko in Porvoo

RITE 14.3.2017, Porvoo Cathedral

First heard in April 2016 in Helsinki’s Temppeliaukio Church, the concert Riitti will be continued to rave reviews. Avanti! returns to the atmospheric Tuomiokirkko in Porvoo on 14 March with a highly acclaimed programme. Taking advantage of the space and acoustics of the church, the concert will combine new and old music.

Among the well-known composers of the Baroque period will be Henry Purcell’s The Queen’s Funeral Marchand Marin Marais’ Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris, from the biopic All the Mornings of My Life .

As the name suggests, Avanti!’s Riitti concert will make use of ritual, both in terms of the works and their form. Ranging from the solemnity of the Baroque to the futuristic atmosphere of the 20th century, the concert includes not only Baroque hits but also rarely heard 1950s tape recordings. The concert will culminate in the ‘Story Opera Ballet’, a cello concertocommissioned by soloist Juho Laitinen from Jukka Tiensuu.

“New music is important to me. I don’t just mean recently composed works, but sounds in general that awaken new aesthetic, philosophical and ethical experiences. The commission is not only an act of cultural policy, but also a tool to seek out these awakenings,” says Laitinen.

The concert is part of the Taidetehtaan Classics series and will be conducted by Lauri Ahokas.

The programme for Musica Nova Helsinki 2017 has been published. In the closing concert of the festival, on Sun 12 February 2017, György Ligeti’s influence will be heard in the compositions of his most important pupils and son. Avant will be conducted by British conductor Clement Power.

The full programme for Avant’s spring season will be published soon!

Avant’s autumn season includes three completely different packages. There will be a themed orchestra concert at the Cable Factory, an early music club concert, and a new music concert Klang at the Music Hall.

See all concerts and ticket information here.

Avanti! continues his series of political concerts, and in September he will perform for the first time in a long time at his home in the Cable Factory. The theme of the concert takes a humorous but serious look at the relationship between the welfare society and art. “Welfare Art-Poor Welfare Art” plays at the Merikaapel Hall on Tuesday 20 September at 19:00.

Conducted by conductor Jaakko Kuusisto , Avant’s soloists include singers Johanna Rusanen, Petri Bäckström and Jaakko Kortekangas.

The concert asks whether art can help when the welfare state is in a bad way. Culture is being cut, but the art of care is being invested in. Can welfare music be played in a minor key, should it be harmless and simple? Or is it independent and free art that is welfare?

See more information about the concert here.
Tickets 27,50/17,50€ www.lippu.fi

Composer Lotta Wennäkoski is planning the XXXII Avanti! Summer Concert. The 2016 Summer Play attracted around 3000 people to a total of fourteen concerts or events in Porvoo and Pernaja.

Lotta Wennäkoski was the artistic designer of the Tampere Biennale in 2008-2010 and the seasonal composer of the Tapiola Sinfonietta in 2010-2011. Her compositions have been widely performed in Finnish and international concert halls and festivals, including Helsinki Festival, Musica Nova, Märzmusik Berlin, Warsaw Syksy, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Other Minds. Wennäkoski has also composed commissioned works for the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.“The invitation to be the artistic designer of Suvisoito came as a flattering surprise. It is a great opportunity for me to design a festival that will feature chamber, orchestral, contemporary and classical music. What a lot you can invent!” says Wennäkoski.

The Suvisoito, which ended on Sunday 3 July, was designed by Dima Slobodeniouk, a Finnish conductor born in Moscow. Over the five days, a total of 14 concerts or events were organised in Porvoo and Pernaja, including six free events around Porvoo. In total, the festival attracted around 3000 people. The festival buses again transported the audience from Helsinki to Taidetehta and back.

The main sponsors of the festival were the City of Porvoo, Aktiasäätiö Porvoo, Neste, Porvoo Art Factory and Svenska kulturfonden.

Avanti! thanks its audience and supporters, and wishes a happy summer to all its friends!

Avanti! XXXI Suvisoitto – Just be / Wed-Sun 29.6.-3.7.2016, Porvoo and Loviisa

This year, the artistic design of Avant’s Suvisoito is the responsibility of Suvisoito concertmaster and conductor Dima Slobodeniouk. The five-day music event features 14 concerts and events that invite you to relax and be surprised in summer in Porvoo. New free city concerts will bring Suvisoito right to the heart of Porvoo.

Moscow-born Finnish conductor Dima Slobodeniouk is a very familiar partner for Avant and this is his eighth Summer Overture. For this year’s Suvisoitto, Slobodeniouk has chosen to bring music that acts as a counterbalance to the constant hustle and bustle.

“Nowadays we are in a hurry and things have to happen immediately. Fortunately, art and creativity do not fit this mould (fashion), and that is why art is necessary. We all need space to think, feel, act and just be. This year’s Summerfest programme is a kind of unspoken message: an invitation to come and be present and enjoy the space and the moment in music,” Slobodeniouk says, describing the Just be programme.

Dima Slobodeniouk is currently Artistic Director of the Galician Symphony Orchestra and in autumn 2016 he will also become Principal Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Lahti International Sibelius Festival.

Free concerts lower the threshold to participate in Suvisoitto

The opening concert on 30 June will feature the German Jörg Widmann as both clarinet soloist and composer.

“Jörg Widmann is a phenomenal clarinettist and a brilliant composer whose works are commissioned and premiered by almost all the top orchestras and soloists in Europe and beyond. We are delighted to have him as clarinettist and composer for the opening,” said Slobodeniouk. Widmann’s music will also be heard at the closing concert of the Summer Festival on 3 July. The opening concert will also feature the glass harmonica, popular in the 17th century, which is making a comeback, and its contemporary verrophone.

Chloë Hanslip, the young violinist who delighted the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Dima Slobodeniouk in March, will play the European premiere of Michael Hersch’s Violin Concerto on Saturday 2 July and the closing concert on 3 July, as soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Other soloists include Christa Schönfeldinger, glass harmonica, and Gerald Schönfeldinger, verrophone, of the Vienna Glass Armonica Duo, Avanti! Päivi Severeide, harp, and Mika Väyrynen, accordion, and Ismo Eskelinen, who will be the soloist in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Transit Guitar Concerto, premiered earlier on Friday 1 July. The Madrid-based flamenco group Camerata Flamenco Project will also perform at the same concert. In addition to Dima Slobodeniouk, the conductors of the Suvisoito will be Olari Elts and Andres Kaljuste.

Martti Suosalo, Seela Sella and Vuokko Hovatta, among others, will take to the stage of the Culture House Grand when the characters of the popular play The Nightingales perform Anna-Mari Kähärä’s hilarious compositions in a children’s concert on Saturday 2 July. The Grand will also once again host a composition workshop for young composers. The club concert on Saturday evening 2 July at the Zum Beispiel restaurant will bring together Camerata Flamenco Project and Anette Åkerlund, a singer representing the Finnish Roma singing tradition.

Suvisoitto is expanding further into the heart of Porvoo with a new four-concert series. “We want to bring Suvisoito to all Porvoo residents. The city concerts are small-scale and accessible events, but with guaranteed Avanti! quality musical content. The festival is being developed under the theme” Porvoo’s own orchestra “, and the low-threshold day concerts will provide an opportunity to deepen the relationship with the audience while respecting the concert tradition,” says Maati Rehor, Avant’s Executive Director, who is preparing her first Suvisoitto. Admission is free to the city concerts and to the Friday night Night Play at the Arts Centre on 1 July.

The festival buses will take concert-goers from Helsinki to the concerts in Taidetehta and back.

See the full programme: https://avantimusic.fi/suvisoiton-ohjelma/

Chamber Orchestra Avanti!

Chamber Orchestra Avanti! was founded in 1983 by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, flutist Olli Pohjola and conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The orchestra’s aim is to provide the highest quality of music-making between enthusiastic and skilled musicians. Avant’s open-minded and flexible composition has made it possible to hear repertoire in Finland that would otherwise go unheard. The orchestra’s artistic director is clarinetist Kari Kriikku.

Avanti! offers music for the open-minded and takes its listeners on bold choices: the familiar seems fresh and new, the new soon familiar. Avanti! moves freely through different eras and genres, with a variety of line-ups and an uncompromising commitment to quality.

Avanti! Summer music

The annual summer festival Avanti! Summer Play was founded in 1986. The Summer Play is a cross-section of Avanti’s activities: new music of the Avanti! generation is in some ways the main focus, but the musical timeline ranges from baroque to premieres. The city of Porvoo has also long associated the arrival of musicians with its cultural heritage. Artistic directors of the Summer Festival have included violinist Pekka Kuusisto, conductor Hannu Lintu and composer Kaija Saariaho.

The main sponsors of the festival are the City of Porvoo, Neste and Aktiasäätiö Porvoo.

***

EVENT INFORMATION

Avanti! XXXI Summer Play

Wed-Sun 29.6.-3.7.2016, Porvoo

The venues are Pernaja Church, Porvoo Art Factory, Culture House Grand (Porvoo), Restaurant Zum Beispiel (Porvoo) and Porvoo Gymnasium. Updated information at www.avantimusic.fi.

TICKETS ON SALE FROM 31.3.2016

– Tickets for concerts €10-35 (including service charge). Reduced prices for children (0-16 years), students, pensioners, conscripts, conscripts and unemployed persons.
– Festival Pass 160/125 € (incl. service fee) includes tickets to all paid concerts.

– More information on tickets: https://avantimusic.fi/liput/

– Tickets in advance at Lippupiste, www.lippu.fi or call 0600 900 900 (€1.98/min + pvm, open daily 7-22). 2.7. tickets for the club concert can be bought in advance at the restaurant Zum Beispiel.

FESTIVAL BUSES

– Festival buses run from Helsinki to Taidetehta and back.

– For more information and timetables: https://avantimusic.fi/festaribussi/