Category: News

Choreographer Petri Kekon’s latest work “Stop – the dark substance of art” sheds light on the hidden dark side of artistry with five dancers and five musicians. This powerful union of music and movement will premiere at the Lumee Media Centre on 13 May 2016. The work will also premiere a composition by Jovanka Trbojevic, interpreted by Avant’s Wind Quintet.

Studio Stage, Media Centre Lume, Helsinki, Finland

Fri 13.5.2016 at 19
Sat 14.5.2016 at 19
Tue 17.5.2016 at 19
Thu 19.5.2016 at 19
Fri 20.5.2016 at 19
Sat 21.5.2016 at 19

Petri Kekoni Company
Avanti!
Petri Kekoni, choreography, concept and production
Jovanka Trbojevic, composition

Dancers:
Meeri Altmets, Tanja Illukka, Pekka Louhio, Saku Koistinen and Eero Vesterinen

Musicians:
Helmi Malmgren (cl), Angel Molinos (bcl), Harri Joy (bsn), Erkki Suomalainen (cbsn), Alexis Routley (horn)

Understanding requires a pause. Rhythm requires a break. Often it is the pause that makes the movement visible and allows us to gather the information we have previously seen in our minds. Few, however, are able to give the pause the value it deserves.

“What happens when nothing moves, no ideas are born, the artist has stopped? You can’t show this state to the outside world – the artist must always be an energetic, creative and inspiring person. Yet art requires pauses in order to evolve, just as dynamic movement requires pauses in order to create continuity. When does a movement end and when does the next one begin? The space between these events – the waiting space – is what we hunt for. The pause seeks to turn the pause, this ‘dark matter’ of art, into light.”

“When does the movement end and the next one begin? It is the space between these events – the waiting space – that we are hunting for. It is claimed that space is held together by a so-called dark matter, the composition of which we do not know. Could the various degrees of physical and mental stasis be the force that holds art together – its ‘dark matter’” – choreographer Petri Kekoni

 

Tickets 25/15€ – buy tickets here!

www.kekonico.fi

 

“Through rites of passage, a group of people repeatedly renews their sense of self and of belonging, while reinforcing the social nature of individuals,” said the anthropologist Émile Durkheim. The same can be said of Avant’s Riitti concert, which reaches from the solemnity of the Baroque to the futuristic celebrations of the 20th century. They prepare the listener for the birth of Jukka Tiensuu’s new electric cello concerto.

Mon 18.4.2016 at 19
Temppeliaukio Church

Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
Juho Laitinen, cello
Tomas Djupsjöbacka, conductor

Giacinto Scelsi: Quattro pezzi per tromba sola I
Henry Purcell: The Queen’s Funeral March
Pierre Henry: Variations pour une porte et un soupir: 4. Eveil
Jukka Tiensuu: Kalasi
Pierre Henry: Variations pour une porte et un soupir: 8. Comptine
Henry Purcell: Pavane & Chacony
Otto Luening: Low Speed
Giacinto Scelsi: Quattro pezzi per tromba sola II
Marin Marais: Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris
Jukka Tiensuu: Story Opera Ballet: Concerto for Electric Cello and Ensemble n.d.

In the embrace of music, everything a person needs. From nursery rhyme to funeral and resurrection. Excitement, calm, celebration and abandonment. The electricity of the cello. The brilliance of trumpets. The dance, the sighs and the bells. A sweet symbiosis of the old and the new. (Jukka Tiensuu)

Tickets from Lippupiste 27,50€/17,50€
Click here to go to the ticket office!

Avanti! will visit Ismo Eskelinen’s “Guitar World – Global Guitar” concert series at Verkatehta on 19 March 2016.

In Guitar World, the harmonic and precise polyphony of Western music meets the improvisational virtuosity of classical Asian music. In this second concert, the journey takes us far to the East. The concert, based around India and China, features Ghatam Karthick and the chamber orchestra Avanti! Eero Hämeenniemi’s work for guitar and ghatam will be premiered, along with the Finnish premiere of Tan Dun’s Concerto for Six.

For more information and tickets: http://www.verkatehdas.fi/tapahtumat/324

Guitar World – Global Guitar Ismo Eskelinen: India and China

Eero Hämeenniemi (1951 – ): Wood and Clay, work for guitar and ghatam, premiere
Tan Dun (1957 – ): Concerto for Six, Finnish premiere

Ghatam Karthick, ghatam
Ismo Eskelinen, guitar
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!

Chamber Orchestra Avanti! begins its spring season with two European performances. HumppAvanti! performed in Germany as a guest of the renowned Kölner Philharmonie (Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra) on 16.1. with bass Matti Salminen and M.A. Numminen as soloists. will perform in Denmark as orchestral guest of the new NJORD Biennale. The programme includes the premiere of a new chamber arrangement of Kaija Saariaho’s “La Passion de Simone” oratorio.

The concert in Cologne was a true HumppAvant, which M.A. Numminen’s storyline made understandable to the German audience. Cologne is also Matti Salminen’s former hometown, and during the exhilarating evening, the audience was able to hear compositions by M.A. Numminen and Unto Mononen as well as Schubert and Wagner in the style of HumppAvant. Numminen and Salminen duetted “Satumaa”, for example.

The NJORD Festival, taking place for the first time in Copenhagen from 28 January to 1 February 2016, is a new biennial focusing on Nordic contemporary art. Kaija Saariaho will be the guest composer for the event and her works will be performed by Avanti! on two evenings. Avanti! will perform for the first time in Denmark.

At the opening concert on Thursday 28.1. Avanti! and the French group La Chambre aux échos will perform a new chamber version of Saariaho’s “La Passion de Simone” oratorio, directed by Aleksi Barrière. The conductor is Clément Mao-Tacacs, who will also conduct the concert on 29 January. In addition to Saariaho’s “Lichtbogen” (1986) and “Notes on Light” (2006), the concert will feature Niilo Tarnanen’s “Schwebe” (2013) and the premiere of “Stringed Spaces II” by the Danish composer Hans Peter Stubbe Teglbjaerg. Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg will be the soloist in the concert. The concert will be broadcast by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

Chamber Orchestra Avanti! will perform in Hämeenlinna in Finland on 19 March, in Helsinki in Temppeliaukio Church on 18 April and in Arabia’s Lume Theatre in Petri Kokoni Company’s new dance production on 13-21 May.The spring concerts will be updated on our website soon.

The programme for the 31st edition of the Suvisoitto Festival, which will be held in Porvoo from 29 June to 3 July, will be published in March. Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk is in charge of the festival’s programming.

Fast and cheap from Helsinki directly to Porvoo and back.
Departures from Helsinki in front of Kiasma from Mannerheimintie charter bus stop, return from Porvoo in front of Taidetehta.

GO BACK
Thu 25.6. 17.30 Kiasma – Kunstehdas 21.15 Kunstehdas – Kiasma
Fri 26.6. 16.30 Kiasma – Kunstehdas 22.15 Kunstehdas – Kiasma
Sat 27.6. 16.30 Kiasma – Kunstehdas 22.15 Kunstehdas – Kiasma
Sun 28.6. 16.30 Kiasma – Kunstehdas 20.15 Kunstehdas – Kiasma

One-way trip 10 €, including service charge.

Tickets at the ticket office and directly from the bus if there are seats left.

Avant’s Suvisoitto will once again be visiting restaurants in Porvoo. Come and see what the music tastes like in an idyllic restaurant setting! The concerts are free of charge.

Fri 26.6.

approx. at 13.30, For example (Rihkamakatu 2)
Clarinet Trio

ca. 14:00, Restaurant Timbal (Jokikatu 43)
Bassoon Trio

approx. 15.30, Café Cabriole (Piispankatu 30)
Pasi Eerikäinen, violin and Emil Holmström, piano

Sat 27.6.

approx. 16:00, Wanha Laamanni (Vuorikatu 17)
Käyrätorvikvartetti

Sun 28.6.

approx. 13.30, Restaurant Fryysarinranta (Jokikatu 20)
Kati Kuusava and Anna-Leena Haikola, violin, Tuula Riisalo, viola and Sami Mäkelä, cello

 

Maija Kylkilahti, who has been Avant’s Executive Director since 2012, will take over as the Helsinki Festival’s classical music producer on 1 August and has been replaced by Maati Rehor, Master of Music. Rehor has been working in the music industry for 20 years, first as a musician and vocal teacher, then in various production positions, including at the Sibelius Academy, for concerts, tours and festivals, as well as in productions for domestic and international professional events. Rehor joins Avanti from the position of Executive Director of the Finnish Jazz Federation, a position he has held since 2008.

Avanti warmly welcomes Rehori to the team!

 

Programme and ticket information: programme of the Summer Festival

“Art is a language that everyone understands. It connects people, countries and nations. Art should be everyday. The right to art belongs to everyone. The autonomy of art must not be compromised.” Raija Vahasalo, Member of Parliament.

Watch Avant’s video commentary on Vahasalo’s reflection .