The programme booklet of the Idyllistä Katastrofiin concert has now been published.
You can read the digital booklet in English, Swedish and Finnish here: https://avantimusic.fi/ohjelma/
Buy tickets for yourself here.
Avanti! and the Finnish League for Nature Conservation have started a cooperation in the form of the Idyllistä to disaster concert. Avanti’s biggest concert of the autumn will take place on 8 November at 19:00 in Merikaapelihall and all ticket proceeds from the concert will be donated to climate work through the Finnish League for Nature Conservation.
Commenting on climate change, the programme around this theme starts idyllically and moves towards disaster. The Avant Symphony Orchestra under the baton of József Hárs, baritone Tommi Hakala and the Otaniemi Kaiku male choir under Tapani Länsiö take to the stage. The concert will also feature interesting expert talks by Mikael Fortelius , Professor Emeritus of Evolutionary Palaeontology at the University of Helsinki, and Hannele Korhose, Research Professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Finnish League for Nature Conservation through its work against climate change. Tickets for the concert are priced in four different categories, from which the audience can choose the amount that suits them best. Ticket prices range from €10 to €250, so that everyone has the opportunity to attend the concert and at the same time support the work against climate change. Ticket sales are now open. Join us to hear the music and words about the current state of the climate and do some good at the same time!
“Global warming can still be halted and its adverse effects adapted to. But it will require unprecedented social change. At the moment, we are heading towards a climate catastrophe. It threatens everything we love. Everyone is welcome to join us in working for a viable planet,” says Hanna Aho, conservation expert at the Finnish League for Nature Conservation.
Tommi Hakala has collaborated with numerous conductors and has performed major roles in opera productions at home and abroad, and has performed actively around the world. In this concert, Hakala will interpret two recitatives and an aria from Joseph Haydn’s oratorio Creation.
The ambitious and versatile male choir Otaniemi Echo, together with the Avant Orchestra, will perform Albert W. Ketelbey’s orchestral work In Monastery Garden. Other composers in the concert include Sibelius, Adams, Scriabin and Scielsi.
Tickets on sale at: https://tixfi.fi/fi/avanti/buyingflow/tickets/12219/7638
Avanti! is organising a major climate change concert at the Cable Factory’s Sea Cable Hall on Tuesday 8.11.2022.The programme, which comments on climate change and is based around the theme, starts idyllically and moves towards disaster. The Avant Grand Symphony Orchestra under József Hárs, baritone Tommi Hakala and the male choir Kaiku from Otaniemi under Tapani Länsiö will take to the stage. The concert will also feature interesting expert talks by Mikael Fortelius, Professor Emeritus of Evolutionary Palaeontology at the University of Helsinki, and Hannele Korhose, Research Professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
The proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Finnish League for Nature Conservation through its work against climate change. Avanti! has priced the concert tickets in four different categories and the audience will have the opportunity to choose the most suitable one. Come and take responsibility and hear unique tunes and words about the climate.
Tommi Hakala has collaborated with numerous conductors and has performed major roles in opera productions at home and abroad, and has performed actively around the world. In this concert, Hakala will interpret two recitatives and an aria from Joseph Haydn’s oratorio, Creation.
The ambitious and versatile male choir Otaniemi Kaiku, together with the Avant Orchestra, will perform Albert W. Ketelbey’s orchestral work In Monastery Garden. Other composers in the concert include Sibelius, Adams, Scriabin and Scielsi.
Ticket sales:
You can choose the amount you want to donate: 10 € (student, conscript, under 18) / 20 € / 50 € / 150 € / 250 € (incl. snacks in the VIP area)
What? Avant’s Climate Concert – From Idyllic to Catastrophe
When? 8.11.2022 at 19.00
Where? Merikaapelihalli, Kaapelitehdas, Kaapeliaukio 3, 00180 Helsinki
Tickets: buy tickets here
The autumn season kicks off on 16 September, when Avanti! quartet goes on tour with the Red Nose Company. The Red Nose Company’s co-production Aleksis Kivi, which premiered at the National Theatre in spring 2022, will tour to Finnish theatres and will have its first premiere on 16 September at the Turku City Theatre. During the autumn, the tour will be seen in Turku, Tampere, Lahti and Jyväskylä City Theatres.
The AUF collaboration with the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), which has been ongoing since 2017, will continue this autumn. This time the orchestras will be joined by Rajattoman, who is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In a concert at the Music Hall on 20 September, the new and old musical worlds will meet in London, the homeland and New York. The concert’s moods range from intimate and delicate moments to uproarious communal music-making.
The children’s concert series Touch the Music, which started at Suvisoito in Porvoo, now continues in Helsinki. Long-time audience engagement professional Tuula Jukola-Nuorteva, visual artist Liisa Ikävalko and Avant’s musicians bring music within touching distance. During the autumn, children will be able to paint and feel the music while Avant’s musicians create an atmosphere with their music. The first musical painting session will take place on 2 October in the Ahti Sonninen Hall of the Music Academy of Eastern Finland. Admission is free, but advance registration is requested via our website. The concert series will continue in November. Information about the concerts will be updated on the Avant website.
Kaija Saariaho turns 70 this year and Avanti! will be present at the birthday party. 15.10. A gala concert will be held in the Music Hall, the first part of which will feature pieces by Saariaho and young composers performed by the Zagros Ensemble. In the second half of the concert, Avanti!, conducted by Aliisa Neige Barriere, will perform Saariaho’s Aile du Songe with Kaisa Kortelainen as soloist, Graal Theatre’s John Storgårds as soloist and Leevi Räsäsä’s new work Don´t tell Mama. The year culminates with the Finnish premiere of Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone, when Avanti! and the Paris-based musical theatre group La Chambre aux echos join forces. The work will be conducted by Saariaho specialist Clement Mao-Takacs and directed by Aleksi Barriere. For composer Kaija Saariaho, the Passion is her most personal and therefore most important stage work. The work will be performed twice at Musiikkitalo on 29 and 30 December.
The autumn will also include a festival atmosphere to the tune of Avant. The closing concert of the Sipoon Voices Festival on Sunday 9 October will feature Petri Kumela as guitar soloist. The concert will be conducted by József Hárs. The programme includes George Crumb’s Dream Sequence, Louise Farrenc’s Nonetto in E flat major, Op. 38 and Antti Auvinen’s Andalusian Panzerwagen Jazz. The concert concludes with Richard Wagner’s Siegfrieds Tod und Trauermarsch, arranged by Emil Holmström.
On 8 November, an Avant concert will take place in the Cable Factory’s Sea Cable Hall, with a programme based around environmental protection themes. In addition to music, the concert will feature talks by Mikael Fortelius, Professor Emeritus of Evolutionary Palaeontology at the University of Helsinki, and Hannele Korhose, Research Professor at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
As of 1 August 2022, Tuomo Huhdanpää, Master of Music, will take over from Annika Mustonen, Avant’s Executive Director, who is on family leave.
Huhdanpää, who has also played percussion in Avant himself, has for the past year been the artistic director of the Vivo Youth Symphony Orchestra. A familiar face from many art music festivals, he was also recently involved in Avant’s Suvisoitto.
“I’m looking forward to working at Avant and I’m particularly excited by the versatile nature of Avant and the fact that I get to work with some great top musicians,” said Huhdanpää.
As Acting Executive Director of Avant from 1.8.2022, Huhdanpää can be contacted by email at firstname.lastname(at)avantimusic.fi or 0505810409.
The Aleksis Kivi play, which will premiere on 17 February 2022, is part of the National Theatre’s 150th anniversary programme. The co-production between the National Theatre, Red Nose Company and Avant Chamber Orchestra will tour to theatres all over Finland in the autumn, with the participation of the City Theatres of Jyväskylä, Lahti, Kuopio and Turku and the Tampere Workers’ Theatre.
The Red Nose Company’s Aleksis Kivi is a comedy about the man who became a monument. For the first time, musicians will appear on stage alongside the acting duo Timo Ruuskanen and Tuukka Vasama. The Avant Chamber Orchestra’s string quartet includes Eriikka Maalismaa, Terhi Paldanius, Tommi Asplund, Olga Reskalenko, Santtu Podzniakov and Joasia Cieślak, led by Niko Kumpuvaara on accordion. The music is arranged by Marzi Nyman.
The performance will be co-directed with the actors by Linda Wallgren, whose Kivi interpretations have recently been seen in Turku and Lahti. The script has been created in collaboration with Eva Buchwald, dramaturg at the National Theatre.
The Red Nose Company and Avanti!
Avanti! was chosen as Red Nose Company’s partner because the attitudes and practices of the partners seemed to be mutually supportive. Experimentation is allowed and the programme can include surprises. Tuukka Vasama, Executive Director of the Red Nose Company, feels a clear affinity with the people of Avant.
– Avant’s musicians are bold, open-minded and flexible. Top professionals who play with a good boogie. Our performances always include improvisation, so Niko Kumpuvaara’s role as the quartet leader is also important. Niko’s experience with different musical styles and different configurations comes in handy here. I’m really looking forward to playing our joint performance with the band for the audience,” Vasama smiles.
Avant’s Artistic Director Kari Kriikku is also excited about the collaboration. Kriikku believes that theatre-makers and musicians have a lot to share and that a joint project will inspire both parties.
– Red Nose Company’s venture into the world of Aleksis Kivi feels interesting and bold, but also somehow comfortably familiar. Avanti! has made similar moves in music. Theatre fascinates both me and our musicians. I am sure that the people of Avanti will thoroughly enjoy the production,” Kriikku sums up.
Finnish national themes also present in music
Music is an important part of the Aleksis Kivi performance. The music ranges from classical music to popular music favourites. Arrangements for string quartet are by the boundary-breaking Marzi Nyman.
– Our work is centred around the Finnish national theme. We bring out the more lyrical side of Kivi’s texts and feel that through music we can bring out the musical qualities of Kivi’s language. We are helped in this by Marz’s arrangements, which also conjure up Sibelian echoes in contemporary music,” says Vasama.
WORKING GROUP
Actors Timo Ruuskanen and Tuukka Vasama
Accordion, music direction Niko Kumpuvaara
String Quartet (Chamber Orchestra Avanti!) Eriikka Maalismaa / Terhi Paldanius / Tommi Asplund (violin), Olga Reskalenko / Santtu Podzniakov (viola) / Joasia Cieślak (cello)
Text and dramaturgy Eva Buchwald, Timo Ruuskanen, Linda Wallgren and Tuukka Vasama
Directed by Timo Ruuskanen, Linda Wallgren and Tuukka Vasama
Dramaturg Eva Buchwald
Set and costume design Tarja Simone
Lighting design Ville Virtanen
Camouflage design Petra Kuntsi
Music arranged by Marzi Nyman and Niko Kumpuvaara
Duration approx. 2 hours (including intermission)
AGE ADVICE:
For adults, 13 years and up. Suitable for junior high school and high school students.
PERFORMANCE DAYS AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE 2022 (weekdays at 19:00, Saturdays at 14:00)
Thu 17.2. | Sat 19.2. | Thu 3.3. | Tue 8.3. | Tue 15.3. | Wed 23.3. | Tue 29.3. | Fri 22.4. | Mon 25.4. | Thu 28.4.
Ten performances at the National Theatre. The performance will go on tour from the Kansallisteatter to various parts of Finland. The tour will start in autumn 2022. The co-production also includes Jyväskylä City Theatre, Lahti City Theatre, Kuopio City Theatre, Tampere Labour Theatre, Turku City Theatre and the chamber orchestra Avanti!
More information about the show on the Red Nose Company website
The concert has been moved from spring to Friday 18 September 2020. To allow for safety gaps, the audience will be divided into three performances at 13, 14:30 and 16.
To allow for safety gaps, the audience will be divided into three performances and the concerts will be held at 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00. All customers must exchange their tickets for new seats free of charge at the Music Hall ticket office or by calling 020 7070 437 Mon-Fri 9-11 on weekdays. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Please contact Musiikkitalo as soon as possible to confirm your new seat for the performance at the time of your choice. Seats will be allocated as they become available and old tickets will not be accepted. Serial ticket holders will also need a new ticket for this concert.
The duration of the concert is 1 hour, no intermission.
With pleasure, Avanti! – Feeling Free
18.9.2020 at 13.00, 14.30 and 16.00
Music House, Paavo Hall
The joint concert of three top orchestras – Chamber Orchestra Avant, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and Finnish Baroque Orchestra FiBO – at the Helsinki Music Centre on Tue 15 September will undergo changes to ensure a safe concert experience for the audience, musicians and staff alike.
The concert’s intermission and pre-registration will be cancelled. The concert starts at 19:00 and ends at approximately 20:30.
UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra’s repertoire will be changed and the size of the orchestra will be reduced to allow for a performance without intermission and to allow for safety clearances for the musicians in the backstage area. The Avant and FiBO programmes will remain unchanged. Read more details about the programme below.
The seating in the auditorium is on a safety row, with only a very limited number of concert tickets sold in the hall. For this reason, anyone who has previously purchased a ticket will need to exchange their ticket. Customers can exchange their tickets for new seats free of charge by visiting or calling the Music Hall ticket office.
More information about the event
Security instructions for the Music Hall
How does a recycled refrain sound on a foley artist’s kiosk, what does Vivaldi sound like in a minimalist remix version and what links can be found between the works in the concert and the world of cinema?
UMO Helsinki Duo and film music from two eras
The original repertoire of the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra will change. Instead of a big band ensemble, the duo Kasperi Sarikoski (trombone) and Seppo Kantonen (piano) from UMO Helsinki will perform film music from two different eras.
The UMO Helsinki Duo will open the concert with Bob Telson’s Calling You (1987) from the film Bagdad Cafe. Originally recorded by Jevetta Steele and later covered by Celine Dion, Natalie Cole, Paul Young and others, this delicate ballad is reborn in a union of trombone and piano.
From bazaar ballad to 1920s jazz with Black and Tan Fantasy (1927) by Duke Ellington and James “Bubber” Miley. This early Ellington work, in which Miley’s melodic ideas are unleashed, was later used in the short film Black and Tan.
Chamber Orchestra Avanti! and the world’s first foley concert
Sami Klemola’s composition Jack and the Specifics is written for foley artist and chamber orchestra. The composer explains: “Exploring the interfaces and points of contact between the arts has long been an interest of mine. The combination of the sound arts, sound art (broadly speaking) and concert music, creates interesting friction situations, with the friction that forms at the interfaces providing energy, intensity and new directions for my compositional work.”
The work is reportedly the first time that the solo parts of a concerto have been written for a foley artist, in this case Heikki Koss. Kossi is 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. Heikki Kossi performs foley sounds live in concert. There is a strong visual element as he brings along a huge kiosk full of stuff to produce the sounds. The piece also features dancer Emmi Pennanen.
Finnish baroque orchestra combines past and present
The distance between the past and the present is short – sometimes a hair’s breadth. A more familiar version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will be an ear-opener for baroque lovers as the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO) concludes the concert with Max Richter’s Four Seasons Recomposed, premiered in 2012. It models the Four Seasons concertos as minimalist remixes. Sometimes Vivaldi and Richter walk in lockstep, sometimes Richter jerks the music into an insightful angle or stretches it through repetition into cosmic baroque landscapes. The result of recolored harmonic bases and surfaces reminiscent of electronic sound mats is deafening and intelligently executed ambient Vivaldi. Antti Tikkanen and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra’s interpretation of the work will take FiBO to Central Europe next year, corona conditions permitting.
The concert is part of the AUF collaboration between the Avanti! chamber orchestra, the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra since autumn 2017.
Programme:
UMO Helsinki Duo: Kasperi Sarikoski & Seppo Kantonen
Bob Telson: Calling You (1987)
Duke Ellington & James “Bubber” Miley: Black Tan Fantasy (1927)
Chamber Orchestra Avanti!
Tomas Djupsjöbacka, conductor
Heikki Kossi, foley artist
Emmi Pennanen, dance
Sami Klemola: Jack and the Specifics (2017)
The Forest
Man in the Cabin
The Crash
Intermezzo
Friction
Underwater
Message deleted
Tom, Jack and bipolar Jerry
Machina
Cadenza
Exit
Still life
Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO)
Antti Tikkanen, violin
Max Richter: Four Seasons Recomposed (2012)
Spring
Summer
Autumn
Winter
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.