Watch the Little Summer Orchestra’s FOG concert conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at 19:00 live from your home sofa.
See the programme here.
Summerfest XXXIV programme
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[ps2id url=”#keskiviikko”]Wednesday[/ps2id][ps2id url=”#torstai”]Thursday[/ps2id][ps2id url=”#perjantai”]Friday[/ps2id][ps2id url=”#lauantai”]Saturday[/ps2id][ps2id url=”#sunnuntai”]Sunday[/ps2id]
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Wednesday 26.6.2019
King Henry VIII meets Emperor Jiajing
Time: Wednesday 26.6.2019 at 19.00
Place: church of Pernaja
Performers Wu Wei (sheng), Jukka Rautasalo (music director and treble viola), Anthony Marini (tenor viola), Maija Lampela (bass viola), Anna Rinta-Rahko (violone) and Taavi Oramo (tenor)
Duration about 1h 40min
Berlin-based sheng artist Wu Wei will be one of the international guests of the festival. The sheng, or mouth organ, is a thousand-year-old wind instrument, especially in China and Japan, from which the accordion and the harmonium, more familiar to many, have later descended. Wu Wei performs sheng music from China in Pernaya Church. The Avant gambay ensemble and tenor Taavi Oramo will perform songs from 16th and 17th century Europe. They will perform compositions by King Henry VIII of England, among others.
Programme:
Music from 16th and 17th century Europe by King Henry VIII, Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke and Ludwig Senfl, and music from 16th century China for sheng instrument performed by Wu Wei.
Tickets: 32€/ 27€/ 16€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
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Thursday 27.6.2019
Opening fanfare
Time: Thursday 27.6.2019 at 13.00 and 18.40 (free entry)
Venue: the Art Factory Lobby (Please note the new venue and two performances! Due to inclement weather, the performance has been moved indoors.)
Duration about 10 min
On Thursday, the traditional opening fanfare will take place in the Art Factory lobby at 13 and 18.40. This summer’s opening fanfare will be composed by Tomi Räisänen.
Afternoon with Valle Rosenberg
Time: Thursday 27.6.2019 at about 13.15 after the opening fanfare
Location: Porvoo Town Hall, 2nd floor (Please note that the concert hall is unfortunately not accessible to all.)
Duration about 45 min
Eriikka Maalismaa (violin), Riitta-Liisa Ristiluoma (viola) and Mikko Ivars (cello)
The concert series opens with a concert by the Avant String Trio at Porvoo Town Hall, where the paintings of the Porvoo Expressionist artist Valle Rosenberg (1891-1919) are combined with music from his era.
Programme:
Erkki Melartin: Jousitrio op 133 (Andante, Andante funebre, Presto, Finale)
Anton Webern: Movement for string trio (Ruhig fließend) op. Post
Jean Cras: Jousitrio (lent, animé, très animé)
Tickets: 32€/ 27€/ 16€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
Opening concert of the Summer Music Festival: Drakar och danser
Time: Thursday 27.6.2019 at 19.00
Venue: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Duration about 1h 45min
Baldur Brönnimann, conductor
Wu Wei, sheng
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
The opening concert of the Summer Music Festival will feature Wu Wei and the sheng instrument. The Finnish premiere of Jukka Tiensuu’s work Teoton will take place in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory. The works in the concert are music seen through Baroque glasses. Johannes Schöllhorn’s arrangements create a fascinating perspective on the music of J.S. Bach.
Programme:
Johannes Schöllhorn: Anamorphoses, according to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of Fugues
(Contrapunctus 10 a 4 alla Decima – Contrapunctus 6 a 4 in Stylo Francese – Contrapunctus 9 a 4 alla Duodecima)
Frank Martin: Petite Symphonie Concertante (Adagio – Allegro con moto – Adagio – Allegretto alla marcia)
Emil Holmström, piano
Matias Häkkinen, harpsichord
Päivi Severeide, harp
***
Johannes Schöllhorn: Anamorphoses, according to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of Fugues
(Canon in hypodiapason (Canon alla ottava) – Canon per augmentationem in contrario motu 3)
Jukka Tiensuu: Theoton, concerto for sheng and orchestra (Fever, Adrift, Game, Bliss)
Tickets: 40€/ 32€/ 20€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
Avanti! Lounge with Wu Wei and electronic artist Tuomas Norvio
Time: Thursday 27.6.2019 at 20.45 or when the Avanti Hall concert ends (free entry)
Place: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Duration 45min
Wu Wei, sheng and Tuomas Norvio, electronics
The opening evening of the Summer Play continues in the warmth of the Porvoo Art Factory, where after the concert we will enjoy improvisations by sound designer and musician Tuomas Norvio and sheng artist Wu Wei. The evening club is free of charge. The festival bus to Helsinki will leave around 21.45.
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Friday 28.6.2019
Shopping Angels
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 at 12.00
Place: the Borgå Gymnasium
Duration about 1h
Baldur Brönnimann, conductor
Piia Komsi, vocals and cello
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
In Vinko Globokar’s La Ronde, a work based on improvisation, musicians are caught in a vicious circle of social and musical problems. The performers do not know how the piece begins, let alone how it ends.
Cellist and coloratura soprano Piia Komsi will perform Sky shopping – Hommage à Brahms by Jovanka Trobojevic, a long-time resident of Yugoslavia. In this breathtaking work, the soloist simultaneously performs the vocal and cello parts in a piece of instrumental theatre.
Swedish-based composer Djuro Zivkovich’s visit to Suvisoito is significant, as the music of this internationally acclaimed composer has rarely been performed in Finland. The work in this concert won him the prestigious Grawemeyer Prize in 2013. All the composers in this concert are from the former Yugoslavia.
Programme:
Vinko Globokar: La Ronde
Jovanka Trbojevic: Sky Shopping – Hommage à Brahms
Djuro Zivkovic: On the Guarding of the Heart
Tickets: 27€/ 22€/ 14€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
Composition workshop: fresh sound music for a century of visual music
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 16.00 (free entry)
Place: factory hall, Art Factory
Duration 1h
Performers: József Hárs, conductor
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
As part of the Summer Music Festival programme, a Composition Workshop concert by young composers will be held in the Factory Hall of the Art Factory. Under the direction of master composers Jukka Tiensuu and Tomi Räisänen, the composition students have created compositions for old avant-garde lyric films.
Strange Strings
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 at 19.00
Venue: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Duration about 1h 30 min
Baldur Brönnimann, conductor
Jennifer Koh, violin
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
American violinist Jennifer Koh will close Friday. She will perform György Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, a new music classic, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann in Avanti Hall. Jennifer Koh has commissioned and premiered numerous works for violin. Also on the programme is Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony for twenty-three solo instruments, which represents Schreker’s signature sparkling and exotic, boldly perfumed sound.
Programme:
Richard Strauss: Introduction to the opera Capriccio
György Ligeti: Violin Concerto (Praeludium: Vivacissimo luminoso, Ari – Hoquetus – Choral: Andante con moto, Intermezzo: Presto fluido, Passacaglia: Lento intense, Appassionato: Agitato molto)
***
Franz Schreker: Chamber Symphony for twenty-three solo instruments (Slow, floating – Allegro vivace – Adagio – Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Quite moving – Slow, floating)
Tickets: 40€/ 32€/ 20€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
Avanti! Lounge with Jennifer Koh
Time: Friday 28.6.2019 20.30 or when the concert in Avanti Hall ends (free entry)
Place: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Duration about 35min
Jennifer Koh, violin
Violinist Jennifer Kohi’s evening club and improvisation can be enjoyed after the Friday evening concert in the warmth of the Art Factory with a glass of wine. Koh will perform pieces such as Missy Mazzoli’s Kinski Paganini and other works for violin that she has commissioned. Admission to the concert is free. The festival bus to Helsinki leaves at around 21.30.
Programme: Missy Mazzoli: Kinski Paganini and other solo vocal works commissioned by Jennifer Koh.
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Saturday 29.6.2019
Maija Kauhanen – Raging bike
Time: Saturday 29.6.2019 at 13.00 (free entry)
Place: the courtyard of Kappalaisen’s house
Duration about 1h
Maija Kauhanen (kantele, vocals, percussion)
On Saturday afternoon 29.6. you can start the day with kantele artist and folk musician Maija Kauhanen in the courtyard of Kappalainen’s house. Strong vocals, heart-wrenching stories, a raw kantele and groovy percussion – the weaving heartbeat of polyrhythms and strong beat combined with hypnotic melodies create a unique soundscape with just one musician. The concert is free of charge.
Afternoon with violinist Jennifer Koh
Time: Saturday 29.6.2019 at 14.00-16.00, free entry
Place: cafés and restaurants in Porvoo city centre
Jennifer Koh, violin
Violinist Jennifer Koh gives intimate mini-concerts in cafés and restaurants in downtown Porvoo. Experience the art of the top American violinist up close.
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)
NOTE! The concert at KeaKafe at 14.30 has been cancelled.
Humppavanti! freaks out Matti Salminen & M.A. Numminen
Time: Saturday 29.6.2019 at 19.00
Venue: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Matti Salminen and M.A. Numminen and Avant’s musicians
Come and join Humppavant’s Saturday crew! The bar is open and a dance floor has been arranged in the Avanti Hall of the Art Factory.
Anything can be a hop. There has always been hops, long before the Humppa-Veikas. Hops are eternal. According to the Bible, the music was invented by Tubal, the son of Cain, and according to tradition, hops are named after the sound of the tuba. Not only is it one and the same, but it is also full of tuba.
Nothing is sacred to a hop fan, including the hop. Humppavant’s hops are any kind of music, as long as they are played as hops. Kullervo Linna’s legacy is that humming knows no limits to instrumental imagination. Humppa is not a style or a genre of music. Humppa is an attitude.
Humpah is a hot cultural capital that has attracted renowned artists. The cry in the suburban pubs is already: – Satan, now they’re taking our hops away. The hump will not become art, even if a prestigious contemporary music orchestra tackles it with the legitimacy of “anarchist-surrealist” humour or “creative madness”. Humppa will drive anyone crazy, but it keeps its feet firmly on the ground. At least for a few moments.
The festival bus to Helsinki will leave about 15 minutes after the end of the concert.
Tickets: 40€/ 32€/ 20€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
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Sunday 30.6.2019
Children’s concert: touch the music
Time: Sunday 30.6.2019 at 13.00
Place: factory hall, Art Factory
Duration about 1h
Performers: the musicians of Avant
On Sunday, Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, a long-time audience engagement professional and music educator, and Liisa Ikävalko, a glass artist and visual arts teacher, have designed a concert for children where music comes within touching distance of children.
Tickets: 15€ one ticket / family tickets (4 persons) 50€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
Closing concert: dancing with Ludwig
Time: Sunday 30.6.2019 at 18.00
Venue: Avanti Hall, Art Factory
Baldur Brönnimann, conductor
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
As composer Brett Dean read Beethoven’s famous Heiligenstadt Testament, he was struck by the quietly intense soundscape of Beethoven’s imaginary quill pen manically writing on parchment paper. It was from this vision that Dean began to build his work, which he named Testament, the composer’s second Beethoven-themed work. György Ligeti’s folkloristic work Concert Romanesc culminates the folk music theme of Suvisoito. Ludwig van Beethoven’s third symphony “Eroica” will conclude this summer’s festival.
Programme:
Brett Dean: Testament
György Ligeti: Concert Românesc (Andantino – Allegro vivace – Adagio ma non troppo – Molto vivace)
***
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 3 in E-flat major op. 55 “Eroica”
Allegro con brio
Marcia funebre: Adagio assai
Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio
Finale: Allegro molto
(NOTE! Contrary to previous information, the closing concert will feature Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”, not No. 6 “Pastoral”.)
Tickets: 40€/ 32€/ 20€ + delivery fee (from 1€ per order)
The festival bus to Helsinki will leave about 15 minutes after the end of the concert.
Avantin 34. Suvisoitto is supported by the City of Porvoo, the Arts Promotion Centre, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Svenska Kulturfonden and the Porvoo Aktiasäätiö.
The XXXIII Summer Festival was a success, with conductor Baldur Brönnimann as artistic designer for next year’s Summer Festival
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.
Baldur Brönnimann
Conductor Baldur Brönnimann has made a name for himself as an interpreter of new music. He is Principal Conductor of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the National Orchestra of Porto
In his list of nine wishes for what he would like to see happen in classical music in 2018, Brönnimann mentions, among other things, greater risk-taking: “We have a vast amount of recorded data on the interpretation of works, which can be a barrier to personal approaches. Classical music needs more raised eyebrows.” He also challenges orchestras to have the courage to bring music they believe in into their programmes. “There is quite enough populism around us today. Let’s at least keep it out of the concert halls.”
Avantin 33. Summer concert will take place, programme to be announced on 16.5.
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.