Category: News

Avantin 37. The summer concert filled Porvoo with contemporary American music. Composer Julia Wolfe and the festival’s international artist guests conductor Brad Lubman, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart, percussion virtuoso Colin Currie and Trio Mediæval offered unique musical experiences. The varied festival programme offered everything from church concerts to vocal works and large orchestral concerts in the Avanti Hall. Saturday’s Avanti! Club drew a packed audience to enjoy both music and refreshments.

The “Body Language” themed festival kicked off with a traditional and magnificent concert in Pernaja church on Wednesday. The actual opening day in Porvoo was dedicated to the music of artistic designer Julia Wolfe – in the daytime concert Trio Mediæval, Mark Stewart and the musicians of Avant performed a stirring Steel Hammer musical story. The evening’s “Cruel Sister” concert showed how the string orchestra bent from the delicate Samuel Barber’s Adagio to the stormy Michael Gordon’s Weather One. In addition to the concerts at the Art Factory, the Avant-garde spread out into Porvoo’s Old Town.

Friday started off with a sunny Town Hall Square, where Mark Stewart got the audience into the music. From the square, the journey continued uphill to the Cathedral, where a large crowd gathered to enjoy chamber music from the Avanti! quartet and Avant’s musicians under the direction of József Hárs. On Saturday, the hot VPK Hall was the venue for the premiere performances of four composition students. On Thursday, the launch of new audio works for the Western Riverside was the first time the works inspired by Porvoo were heard. The composers behind the works are Maija Hynninen, Jennah Vainio and the team of Minna Leinonen and Jussi Suonikko.

The biggest crowd-pleasers of the festival were Saturday night’s sold-out Avanti! Club, Sunday’s sold-out and hilarious Mark Stewart-led children’s music workshop and Sunday’s closing concert. All the concerts were warmly received and the atmosphere throughout the festival was the most upbeat. The hunger for music was palpable – and Avanti! responded with a tray of American musical delicacies.

A time of thanks

Thank you to Avant’s friends, artist guests, musicians, the whole team and all our valuable partners. Thanks especially to the City of Porvoo for the deeper cooperation.

The festival was made possible by the City of Porvoo, the Ministry of Education and Culture, Porvoo Aktiasäätiö, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and Svenska Kulturfonden. We thank our supporters!

Listen to Friday’s concert

The orchestral concert “Big, Beautiful, Dark, and Scary” will be broadcast on Yle radio on Friday 1 July and can be heard on Yle Arena for 30 days after the concert.

The live broadcast from the Avanti Hall of the Porvoo Art Factory was delivered by Ainomaija Pennanen. The broadcast included interviews with artistic director Julia Wolfe, conductor Brad Lubman and composer Maija Hynninen.

See you at next year’s Suvisoito!

Unsuk Chin and Maris Gothóni are in charge of the programme for next year’s Summer Play!

South Korean Unsuk Chin’s music is performed regularly and worldwide by leading artists. He has been celebrated with a series of classical music awards, including the 2017 Sibelius Prize.

Maris Gothóni, a Finnish-Australian music administrator, is currently the artistic planning director of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway.

Unsuk and Maris have been working together for 15 years as concert curators. They currently direct the artistic programming for the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Korea and the Weiwuying International Music Festival in Taiwan.

Avantin 38. Summer Play in Porvoo 28.6.-2.7.2023

This summer, Avant’s Suvisoito will be a blast of contemporary American music – a programme designed by composer Julia Wolfe brings a record number of international guests to Porvoo

The 37th Avant’s Summer Festival will be held in Porvoo from 29.6.-3.7.2022. With the theme “Body Language” The artistic director of the festival is Julia Wolfe, one of the most important American composers of our time.artist.

Wolfe has emerged in the 2000s with works that combine American folklore, genres from rock to minimalism, pervasive energy and unique compositions. A cross-section of his compositions will be heard in Suvisoito, culminating in the closing concert riSe and fLY. Drumming his body and percussion in the work is the legendary Colin Currie. Wolfe, who lives in New York, is known as one of the founding composers of Bang on a Can, an artist collective dedicated to contemporary music, together with Michael Gordonin and David Lang with. The composers of the strongly American concert programme include, among others, Wolfe’s students. Anna Clyne and Shelley Washington.

These composers of the “post-minimalist” era are set against a backdrop of György Ligeti, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, John Adams and John Luther Adams works. From further back in history Samuel Barberin Adagio for strings and Aaron Copland’s Spring of the Appalachians, which in their day laid the foundations for American art music that was open, unafraid of emotion and genre. Even further afield, Fanny Mendelssohn has been called Wolfe’s godmother, Bach and Beethoven, paragons of energetic and forward-looking music.

Avant will be guest conductor and will be joined by Brad Lubman, one of the leading performers of contemporary American music. In addition to Colin Currie, guest soloists include Bang on Can All stars guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart and the Norwegian Trio Mediæval. The conductor will also be one of Avant’s trusted partners, the captivating József Hárs.

The whole of Porvoo rings – the West Bank sound artwork is unveiled

The Suvisoitto will kick off on Wednesday evening in Pernaja church and the Avant-garde will also take over the old town of Porvoo during the festival. This time, the fanfare will ring out at Town Hall Square on Friday 1 July at 12 noon, from where it will continue to Porvoo Cathedral for a free chamber music concert. On Saturday, the young composers of the future will emerge, and their new works, created during the Composition Workshop course, will finally be premiered at VPK-talo at 13:00 in a free concert.

As part of Suvisoitto, a sound art work will be unveiled on the West Coast, as part of a new Porvoo art programme combining urban development and art. Among the first art projects to be unveiled is a sound artwork created in collaboration between Avant and the City of Porvoo’s cultural services. Short works composed for the smart lighting columns on the beach will be heard through their loudspeakers By Maija Hynnnis, Jennah Vainio and the partner Minna Leinonen and Jussi Suonikko. The opening of the sound artworks will take place in Jokiranta on Thursday 30.6. at 12 noon.

Avanti! congratulates the 10th anniversary of the Art Factory

Once again, Porvoo’s Art Factory will be the base for the summer festival, and the Avantines will also be proudly celebrating its 10th anniversary. The old factory building was dusted off before the festival, from the year it was founded in 1986 until the first decade of the 2000s, when the decision to renovate the factory into a cultural centre finally came to fruition. Opened to the public in 2012, the Art Factory’s concert hall was renamed Avanti Hall, an undeniable recognition of the close relationship between Suvisoito and the city of Porvoo that has deepened over the years.

A new look for Suvi

Avant’s Summer Play has been given a new and unique visual identity by illustrator Lille Santanen. The look of the Suvisoito has been created with her own typography, which is one of Santase’s most distinctive features. Santanen describes his illustration style as organically playful.
– “During the sketching phase of the Summer Play look, I thought that the illustrations would be placed in their own positions in the areas delimited by the grid. However, it turned out that the parts of the illustration do what they like and place themselves in the grid as they please. Summer Play sounds like an event where this can happen to performers and guests.”

Tickets for Avant’s XXXVII Summer Play: “Body Language” are on sale now at Lippupiste outlets and at www.lippu.fi. Concert programmes can be found at: https://avantimusic.fi/suvisoiton-ohjelma/.

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This year, Avantis Summer Music will be filled with lively American contemporary music – a programme planned by composer Julia Wolfe will bring a record number of international guests to Borgå

Avantis Sommarmusik will be held for the 37th time, in Borgå 29.6.-3.7.2022. The festival will focus on the theme “Body Language” and the artistic planning is the responsibility of Julia Wolfe, en av de mest betydande amerikanska tonsättarna just nu.

Wolfes stjärna steg during the 2000s with music that combines American folklore, various styles from rock to minimalism, overwhelming energy and unique compositions. Sommarmusik bjuder på ett tvärsnitt av hennes kompositioner och kulminerar i avslutningskonserten med riSe and fLY, where legendariska Colin Currie trummar på både kropp och slagverk. Wolfe is based in New York and is known as one of the founders of the artists’ collective Bang on a Can, which has produced all kinds of music, together with Michael Gordon and David Lang. The concert programmes have a strong American flavour and, in addition to these names, there are also Wolfe’s songs Anna Clyne and Shelley Washington.

As a background to these themes from a “post-minimalist” era, the network of György Ligeti, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, John Adams and John Luther Adams. Går vi längre bakåt i historien hittar vi Samuel Barber Adagio for stråkar and Aaron Copland’s Vår i Appalacherna, which in the past formed the basis of American art music, characterised by openness in relation to both phenomena and genres. Ännu längre bak i historien hittar vi Wolfes faddrar Fanny Mendelssohn, Bach and Beethoven, the forerunners of energetic and progressive music.

Guest conductor for Avanti! är Brad Lubman, en av de centrala namnen inom amerikansk samtida musik. Bland solistnamnen ingår förutom Colin Currie gitarristen och multiinstrumentalisten Mark Stewart från Bang on a Can All Stars samt norska Trio Mediæval. Bland dirigentnamnen finns också en av Avantis trogna parhästar, den fascinerande József Hárs.

All of Borgå klingar – ljudkonstverk vid Västra åstranden

Onsdag kväll tjuvstartar Sommarmusik i Pernå kyrka ja Avantigänget rör sig även i Gamla stan i Borgå under festivalens gång. Fanfaren skallar på Rådhustorget fredag 1.7. kl. 12 och därefter blir det en avgiftsfri kammarmusikkonsert i Borgå domkyrka. On Lördag, the festival will give space to young composers – the music they created for the composition medja course will be performed in a free concert in the FBK-huset at 11.00. 13.

As part of Sommarmusik, a ljudkonstverk on Västra åstranden, a part of Borgå’s arts programme that combines new urban development with art, will also be published. One of the first art projects is an art network created in cooperation between Avanti! and Borgå city cultural services. From the högtalare on smartlyktstolpar vid stranden kommer man att höra korta verk komponerade enkom för detta av Maya Hynninen, Jennah Vainio same workplace Minna Leinonen and Jussi Suonikko. Vernissage för ljudkonstverken blir det vid Åstranden torsdag 30.6. kl. 12.

Avanti! congratulates 10-year-old Konstfabriken

Sommarmusik has been based at Borgå Konstfabrik for a long time, and Avantigänget is celebrating its 10th anniversary with pride. The festival was held annually in the old factory building from the first festival summer in 1986 until the first quarter of 2000, when the decision was taken to renovate the factory and turn it into a cultural centre. The new Konstfabriken was opened to the public in 2012 and the concert hall was named Avanti-salen, an obestridligt statement of the close relationship between Sommarmusik and the city of Borgå, which was renewed at the end of the year.

Summer music gets a new profile

Avantis Sommarmusik has been given a new visual profile by illustrator Lille Santanen. I den ingår en egen typografi, ett av av Santanen kännetecken. Hon kallar sin illustrationsstil organiskt lekfull.

– Då jag skisserade upp Sommarmusiks profil tänkte jag att illustrationserna skulle placera sig på egna avgränsade platzser inom rutsystemet. Men medan jag arbetade märkte jag att illustrationsdelarna gjorde precis vad de hade lust till och placerade sig inom rutfältet hur de ville. Sommarmusik låter som ett evenemang, där detta kan hända även musiker och besökare.

Avanti XXXVII Summer Music: “Body Language”. Tickets for the festival will be sold via Lippupiste’s sales outlets and the website www.lippu.fi. Konsertprogrammen finns här: https://avantimusic.fi/suvisoiton-ohjelma/.

Chamber Orchestra , founded in 1983 Avanti! is an ensemble of some of the country’s most prominent musicians, renowned and respected for its unprejudiced 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 an open-ended contract for a skilled and experienced

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 to work 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 starts on 1.8.2022 or as agreed. The contract is full-time (100%) and valid until further notice. The contract is for a probationary period of 6 months. Salary will be negotiated according to experience and education.

Free applicationsmust be submitted electronically by 23.59 on 2 June 2022 at the latest to [email protected]. Note: The application deadline has been extended!

Inquiries:
Annika Mustonen, Managing Director, tel. 050 5810409

Avanti! is participating for the second time in Art Testers, Finland’s largest cultural education programme. The concert “Avanti!” by an orchestra that adapts to many styles and forms. meets the Art Testers” starts its 10 concert tour on 5 April from Seinäjoki. Next week, the art testers will meet in Kouvola, Mikkeli and Lappeenranta. With a total of 10 concerts, Avanti will enable more than 4800 eighth-graders and their teachers to experience art.

Among the unlimited range of styles in the concert, the latest music is right at home. In the new arrangements and compositions, the sound of Avant’s string quartet merges with Marzi Nyman’s electric guitar, Arttu Takalo’s vibraphone and Tero Toivonen’ s French horn. The compositions of the concert are largely the work of the soloist trio. The string quartet includes violinists Maija Linkola and Mikaela Palmu, violist Tuula Riisalo and cellist Iida-Vilhelmiina Sinivalo.

In addition to the concert, the art experience is deepened through pre- and post-concert activities. After the visit, young people will also evaluate their art experience using an app created especially for them.

What are the Art Testers?

Taidetestaajat is Finland’s largest cultural education programme, which every year takes all eighth-graders in Finland to visit one or two high-quality art sites around Finland. The core objective of the activity is to provide young people with art experiences and tools to form an informed opinion about their experience, and to develop the Finnish art scene’s expertise in designing and implementing content for young people.

The project is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Svenska kulturfonden and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. Taidetestaajat is coordinated by the Finnish Association of Children’s Cultural Centres.

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Avanti performs on April Fools’ Day on Friday 1.4. at 19.30 at the Dance House in the renovated Pannuhall. The concert is not a sham, but it’s no ordinary one either. Although the intention is to sell a pig in a poke, there is something to be revealed about the show.

Mioko Yokoyama “ s piano concerto, scored in Suvisoito 2021, has not yet been heard in Helsinki, and Sampo Kasurinen” s dystopian Helvetinkonek demands a second performance. Yokoyama, who is completing her second degree in Finland, will play the solo part in her concerto, while Kasurinen’s Helvetinkone will be played by Emil Holmström.

The concert will be conducted by young conducting talent Kristian Sallinen. A pig, Magnus Lindberg’s new work, The Mystery Musician, and a variety of surprises and freaks remain in the bag. Take a risk and surrender to Avant!

Ticket sales

Tickets for the concert at the Dance House are on sale via the new Tix sales system. Tix is an online shop where users can easily purchase a pdf ticket delivered to their email inbox without any extra delivery charges. The creation of a user account is optional. Tickets can also be purchased on the spot at the Cable Factory’s Glass Yard sales point and at the Konttor.

Ticket prices: 30 € for a basic ticket / 25 € for a pensioner / 15 € for other discount groups
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Conductor trainee Kristian Sallinen makes his Avant debut

Kristian Sallinen (b. 2001) is a Finnish conductor and violist. Sallinen studies orchestral conducting at the Sibelius Academy in the conducting class under Professor Sakari Oramo. Sallinen has conducted the Helsinki, Vaasa and Kuopio City Orchestras, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Central Ostrobothnia Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Sinfonietta.
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Founded in 1983, Avanti! is a chamber orchestra known and respected for its open-minded repertoire, featuring some of the country’s leading musicians. 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 contract will start in February 2022 and will be full-time (100%) for an indefinite period. The contract will have a probationary period of 6 months. Salary will be negotiated according to experience and education, we will follow the Taku Association’s salary recommendation.

Free application by Tuesday 25 January 2022 at 23.59 by e-mail to [email protected].

Inquiries Mon 10.1. at 13-14.15, Tue 11.1. at 9.30-11, Mon 17.1. at 10-11 or Thu 20.1. at 13-15 Executive Director Annika Mustonen, tel. 050 5810409.

Interviews will be held from 2-4 February 2022. Even if the interview date is not convenient, please apply anyway and mention the scheduling obstacle in your application. Interviews will be held at the Helsinki Cable Factory, subject to interest rate hedging, if interest rate pandemic restrictions allow.
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