Avanti! Ensemble BarokkiKuopio 18.7.

On the trail of Agricola

Thu 18.7.2019 at 20.00

Kuopio Cathedral, Vuorikatu 17, Kuopio

A gambajouhiconsort ensemble with virtuoso soprano Tuuli Lindeberg, who will samba the worlds of Avant-garde improvisation to early music, will take us on Agricola’s epic journey to Europe, which brought the Reformation and the translation of the Bible to Finland. The evening’s works have their roots in Reform Germany and the brightest gems of the Piae Cantiones hymnbook.

Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano

Avanti! Ensemble:

Jukka Rautasalo, tambourine and music direction
Anthony Marini, tenor viola
Louna Hosia, bassogamba
Ilkka Heinonen, violone
Matias Häkkinen, harpsichord

Programme:

Pratsu – Senfl – Brahms – Resinarius – Walter – Franck
Songs from the Piae cantiones collection

The concert is part of the Kuopio Tuomiokirkko parish’s summer concert series.

Free admission, programmes 10/7e at the door 45min before the concert.

More information on the BarokkiKuopio website.

Avanti! Ensemble at the Kemiönsaari Music Festival in July

Avanti! Ensemble will perform at the Kemiönsaari Music Festival in July 2019. Ensemble’s various concert dates. More information about the festival and tickets on the Kemiönsaari Music Festival website.

A MAD SONG
MUSIC FROM 17TH CENTURY LONDON

Fri 12.7.2019
18.00 Café Vivan, Söderlångvik

Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano
Avanti! Ensemble:
Jukka Rautasalo, gamba & music director
Anthony Marini, violin & tenor viola
Ilkka Heinonen, horn & violone
Matias Häkkinen, harpsichord

William Brade: Satyr’s Dance

John Eccles: I burn, I burn!
Thomas d’Urfey’s play The Comical History of Don Quixote

Olli Virtaperko: Fantasia (2010/16)

Henry Purcell: Bess of Bedlam “From silent shades”Z370

Anon.: Mad Maudlin’s Search for her Tom of Bedlam(aka Bedlam Boys), from the collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 4 by melodic variationist Thomas d’Urfey (ed.)
_________________

Robert Johnson: Come away, Hecate (to Thomas Middleton’s play The Witch 1613)

Olli Virtaperko: Reposen Heikki’s jig from the series Folk music gambas (2013)

Trad. Irish ballad: Grim King of the Ghosts (aka The Lunatick Lover)
Johann Christoph Pepusch’s arrangement in an anonymous 17th century sheet music collection
(from the satirical opera The Beggar’s opera?)
__________________

Trad. English ballad: As Oyster Nan Stood by her Tub from the collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 5

Trad. finnish: Minä minä poiga nuori (by Ilkka Heinonen)
A. O. Väisänen recorded by Feodor Pratšu, a horn player, in the village of Koirinoja in Impilahti, Ladoga Karelia, summer 1916

Trad. in Irish: My Thing Is My Own (aka Trap, or the Young Lass / Lillibullero), version from the collection Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vol. 4

AT THE TIME OF AGRICOLA

Sat 13.7.2019
20.30 Västanfjärd’s new church

Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano
Avanti! ensemble:
Jukka Rautasalo, treble viola & music director
Anthony Marini, tenor viola
Louna Hosia, bass viola & horn
Ilkka Heinonen, horn & violone
Matias Häkkinen, harpsichord

Feodor Pratsu / Lauri Pulakka: Song

Ludwig Senfl: In May you can hear the Hanen kreen
Carmen in la
I’ve had a desire to Musica

Johannes Brahms: Of a noble kind WoO34/1

Ludwig Senfl: Ach Elslein
It sits before the forest

Henry Isaac: I must leave you

Balthasar Resinarius: Ise meiden (translated by Mikael Agricola) (Vater unser)

Johann Walter: Lasche now thy servant (with Fried and Freud)

Melchior Franck: Sille Nein on Jumala (Engl. Mikael Agricola) (So God loved the world)

Balthasar Resinarius: Come, God Creator, Holy Spirit (Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist)

Martti Luther / Stephanus Mahu: Wår Gudh Är oss een wäldigh borgh

Trad. / Feodor Pratsu: Kakkunašši / Omnis mundus jucundetur
Parvulus nobis nascitur / Jacques Obrecht: Rompeltier

Piae Cantiones: Personent hodie
Gaudete
Puer natus in Bethlehem

CANDLELIGHT CONCERT

Sat 13.7.2019
~22.00 Västanfjärd old church


Piae cantiones: Sum in aliena provincia & In vernali tempore
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano
Ilkka Heinonen, horn player

Gregorio Huwet: Fantasia
Petri Kumela, guitar

Konstantia Gourzi: “Evening at the window” op. 75

Henry Vieuxtemps: Capriccio “Hommage à Paganini” in C minor op. 55
Diyang Mei, viola

Maria Theresia von Paradis: Sicilienne
Diyang Mei, viola
Petri Kumela, guitar

Maurice Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
Hanna Juutilainen, flute
Petri Kumela, guitar

Robert Schumann: Mondnacht
Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano
Petri Kumela, guitar

 

Avant’s XXXIV Summer Play set Porvoo alight with musical colour – thanks to the audience, artists, supporters and all Avant’s friends!

The last notes of the Avant Garde Summer Festival 2019 played on Sunday evening, when Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony closed the great festival. Designed by Swiss conductor Baldur Brönnimann, the festival featured fourteen concerts, large and small, in Pernaja and Porvoo. The concerts were attended by a large number of music lovers: this year’s Suvisoitto attracted around 2 500 listeners.

Avantin 34. Music from the 16th century to the present day was performed by the festival’s international guests Wu Wei (sheng) and Jennifer Koh (violin), as well as by soprano cellist Piia Koms, folk artist Maija Kauhanen, tenor Taavi Oramo and the wonderful musicians of Avant. On Saturday evening, the atmosphere in the Avanti Hall was set off by bass Matti Salminen and artistic multi-talent M.A. Numminen. Concerts were held in the medieval stone church of Pernaja, in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory, in Porvoo’s cafés, at Borgå Gymnasium and around the Town Hall Square.

The summer concert was seen and heard in the media

The festival was featured in numerous media outlets in the Eastern Uusimaa region. Uusimaa magazine gave a spectacular coverage of the whole festival week. Helsingin Sanomat noted Wu Wei’s Finnish premiere of Jukka Tiensuu’s work Teoton at the festival’s opening concert on Thursday. “Wu Wei is a truly charismatic soloist,” Helsingin Sanomat wrote of the wonderful opening concert. The concert will be recorded by YLE: Yle Arena will be broadcasting the concert until the end of July, with interviews with conductor Baldur Brönnimann, sheng artist Wu Wei and composer Jukka Tiensuu.

Avant’s Summer Play will be back in 2020

The artistic content of the upcoming festival will be created by HK Gruber, an Austrian conductor, composer, singer, double bassist and now also the artistic director of the 2020 Avant Garde Summer Festival.

 

HK Gruber will be familiar to Avant fans from last autumn’s Frankenstein concert, where he was not only the composer but also the singer and conductor. HK Gruber studied composition at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and has played double bass with the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Gruber is also a singer-actor and founding member of the MOB-art & tone-ART artist collective. HK Gruber is also an internationally renowned and acclaimed composer.

A warm thank you on behalf of Avant! We hope you will join us again next summer!

Photos by Heikki Tuuli

Chamber Orchestra Avanti! is seeking a producer for an open-ended contract

Founded in 1983, the Avanti!chamber orchestra is a renowned and respected ensemble made up of some of the country’s leading musicians, known for its open-minded 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 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 job will start in August or September 2019, on a part-time contract (60%) and is valid until further notice. Exceptionally, for the period 1.10.2019 – 30.9.2020, the working hours will be 80-100% by contract and this will be recorded in the employment contract. If funding permits, the 80% working time may also be extended from 1.10.2020 by mutual agreement. The employment contract will include a probationary period of 6 months. Salary will be negotiated according to experience and education, we follow the collective agreement of the Taku Association.

Free application by 24:00 on Saturday 29 June 2019 to [email protected].

Inquiries Thu 20.6. at 10.30-12, Tue 25.6. at 14.30-16 and Wed 26.6. at 10.30-12 Executive Director Annika Mustonen, tel. 050 5810409.

Interviews will be held on 3-4 July 2019. Even if the interview date is not convenient, please apply anyway and indicate the scheduling obstacle in your application.

14.9.2019 Music of All Ages – three orchestras together at the Helsinki Music Centre

Helena Juntunen
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) and soprano Helena Juntunen perform Vivaldi, Ellington and John Adams on 14 September 2019 at the Helsinki Music Centre.
Three top orchestras – Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) – join forces in a unique joint concert with soprano Helena Juntunen. The concert will feature a delicious selection of the best of each orchestra, and the evening will culminate in a joint performance by the versatile musicians of John Adams and a Buster Keaton video installation. You’ve never experienced anything like this before! The concert is part of the AUF collaboration between Avanti!, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra since autumn 2017.
Programme:
Franco Donatoni: Concertino No 2
Antonio Vivaldi: Overture from the opera Dorilla in Tempe
Antonio Vivaldi: Sposa son disprezzata
Unsuk Chin: snagS&Snarls
Duke Ellington: Such sweet thunder
Jimmy Van Heusen: Polka Dots and Moonbeams
Harold Arlen: Stormy Weather
John Adams: Fearful Symmetries
Tickets and fees:

Buy tickets

Basic ticket: 18.00 € – 42.00 €
Discount groups: 11.50 € – 27.00 €

Prices include service charge

The nail polish fee: 2.00 €
Avanti! (ital. forward!) is a Finnish chamber orchestra founded by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Olli Pohjola in 1983. The composition of the orchestra varies between a string quartet and a symphony orchestra depending on the situation; the starting point is the music itself, not the composition of the orchestra.

UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra is a professional jazz and new rhythm music orchestra that performs in around 100 concerts and events every year. Since 1975, UMO Helsinki has released more than 50 albums and performed with international jazz stars as well as top names from Finland. The orchestra’s repertoire ranges from jazz to soul and classical music, surprisingly combining new and old.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019, the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) is known for its skilful performances, bold and innovative working methods and creative programming. Baroque music is at its core, but the orchestra also frequently tackles works from other periods, from early Baroque to early Romanticism. The FiBO also plays new music composed for the baroque orchestra and has premiered several works commissioned by the orchestra.

Composition workshop turns hundred-year-old films into visual music

The composition course Composition Workshop for professional composers is held annually at the same time as Avant’s Summer Music Festival. This year, seven composers from Europe, Asia and America are taking part. The course will be taught by composers Jukka Tiensuu and Tomi Räisänen.

As an important part of the course, each participant has been given the task of composing a new work during the spring, which will be performed by the chamber orchestra Avanti! at a concert in connection with the Summer Play on Friday 28 June at 16.00 under the baton of conductor József Hárs in the Factory Hall of the Art Factory in Porvoo. The concert is free of charge.

“The task is different every year, but it always aims to force the composers out of their comfort zone and create something they’ve tended to avoid before,” says Jukka Tiensuu, one of the course’s co-teachers. “Through this new kind of challenge, the hope is that composers will discover a new kind of creativity lurking within themselves – to the delight of us all.”

This year’s task was to compose a musical response to an abstract film from a hundred years ago, which itself represents abstract “visual music”. The identity of the films chosen by the students was not revealed, so as not to be influenced by their authors or other historical documentation.

Jukka Tiensuu

The ideal is for the composition alone to produce an experience similar to that of the original moving image. In the concert, these films will be presented in sync with the musical counterparts created for them.

The first composition course was held in 1987. Over the years the course has been taught by Magnus Lindberg, Jouni Kaipainen, Jukka Tiensuu, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Tomi Räisänen. The Composition Workshop Association was founded in 2006 to support the organisation of the course.

This year’s participants can be found on the Composition Workshop website.

Composition workshop: fresh sound music for a century of visual music
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 16.00 (free entry)
Place: Tehdassali, Taidetehdas, Porvoo

József Hárs, conductor
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!

Photos from the 2018 Composition Workshop by Heikki Tuuli

Summer Music Children’s Concert invites you to touch the music

Touch music_2

How does the music feel? How does music change when you touch it? Chamber Orchestra Avanti! welcomes all children and young people and their parents to a concert where they can move, feel and sense the music around them.

The Sunday afternoon of Porvoo’s Suvisoito will feature an inclusive concert for children and young people, where Avant’s versatile musicians will lead the audience on a path of music and creativity. Music responds to touch. The audience is not just the recipient, but becomes part of the music.

“For the children’s concert, we have also selected works that the composers wrote in their youth. Every composer was once a child,” says Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, a long-standing public relations professional and music educator who planned the concert. “Music frees the mind and helps us to travel to many places.”

The concert will feature works such as Jean Sibelius ‘ Vattendroppar by the young composer and parts of Franz Schubert’s first string quartet. The concert will encourage children and young people to reflect on their own creativity: every composer has written his or her first piece. Encouraged by the music, they can explore, examine and experiment with their own creativity.

The concert is best suited for children over four years old, as the programme includes participatory parts. However, all children, regardless of age, are warmly welcome to enjoy the music. There is no upper age limit for the concert.

Time: Sunday 30.6.2019 at 13.00 (duration about one hour)

Place: factory hall, Art Factory

Tickets for the children’s concert cost 15€ for one ticket or 50€ for a family ticket (4 persons) + delivery fee (from 1€ per order). Tickets for the summer concert are available on the Lippupiste website www.lippu.fi/avanti and on 0600 900 900 (1,98€/min. + pvm).

Violinist Jennifer Koh performs in Porvoo’s cafés and restaurants

American violinist Jennifer Koh is one of the international guests at this summer’s Suvisoitto Festival. In addition to the concert in Avanti Hall on Friday evening, she will perform in the centre of Porvoo. Saturday 29.6. at 14-16 .

Visitors to the Summer Concert will therefore have a unique opportunity to hear works commissioned by Koh for solo violin in intimate mini-concerts in Porvoo’s atmospheric cafés and restaurants. Admission to the pop-up concerts is free.

Afternoon with violinist Jennifer Koh

Schedule for Saturday 29.6.2019:

14.00-14.20 For example (Rihkamakatu 2, Porvoo)

15.00-15.20 Café Cabriole (Piispankatu 30, Porvoo)

15.30-15.50 Bistro Gustaf (Mannerheiminkatu 9, Porvoo)

* performance at KeaKafe at 14.30 has been cancelled!

 

Photos: For example

Jukka Tiensuu’s Theoton gets its Finnish premiere in Porvoo with sheng virtuoso Wu Wei

Wu Wei by Sanne Donders

The leading sheng virtuoso of our time, Wu Wei, will perform at the opening concert of the Porvoo Summer Festival, which will feature the Finnish premiere of Jukka Tiensuu’s Theoton, a concerto for sheng and orchestra. The concert will be conducted by conductor and artistic director of the festival Baldur Brönnimann.

Jukka Tiensuu’s Teoton was composed for Wu Wei in 2015. The work was premiered in Seoul by Ilan Volkov conducting the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. The work will now be performed for the first time in Finland at the opening concert of the Porvoo Summer Festival on Thursday 27 June 2019 at 19.00 in Avanti Hall. After the concert, we will enjoy improvisations by sound designer and musician Tuomas Norvio and Wu Wei. Avanti! Lounge is free of charge.

Wu Wei will also perform in Pernaja Church on Wednesday 26 June at the concert King Henry VIII meets Emperor Jiajing. The concert will feature songs from 16th and 17th century Europe performed by the Avant gambay ensemble and tenor Taavi Oramo.

The world’s leading sheng master

The sheng is a Chinese or Korean mouth organ made of bamboo, with a sound similar to a harmonica, and belongs to the ancestors of the accordion. According to legend, the sound of the instrument is reminiscent of the cry of a Phoenix bird. Written records of the sheng date back to the 13th century BC.

Sheng has been a player for both the people and the courts. It has been heard at the Beijing Opera and Buddhist ceremonies, as an ensemble and solo instrument. A kind of solemn archaicism characterises the sheng’s character and sound; it is at once a living relic of the past and a strange visitor from the future.

Wu Wei has played a pivotal role in the new role of the sheng as a musical instrument in contemporary Western music. He has premiered over 400 works, including more than 20 concerts. Wu Wei has also composed for his instrument. Wu Wei has brought a new sound to contemporary music that is also thousands of years old. In his hands, the sheng has become a musical instrument that unites East and West, combining traditions.

Programme

Opening concert of the Summer Music Festival: Drakar och danser

Thursday 27.6.2019 at 19.00, Avanti Hall

Johannes Schöllhorn: Anamorphoses, Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugues by

Frank Martin: Petite Symphonie Concertante (Adagio – Allegro con moto – Adagio – Allegretto alla marcia)

Jukka Tiensuu: Theoton, concerto for sheng and orchestra (Fever, Adrift, Game, Bliss)

Tickets and festival bus

Tickets for the summer concert are on sale on Lippupiste’s website www.lippu.fi/avanti and by calling 0600 900 900 (1,98€/min. + pvm). Festival pass enquiries directly from Avant’s office (contact details below). As usual, the festival bus will take you directly from Kiasma to the Art Factory and back after the concert. Bus tickets are also sold by Lippupiste. Bus timetables can be found here.

More information:

Avant’s office, tel. 050 581 0409

Photo by Sanne Donders