As our annual Friday silent film, the renowned
Avanti! chamber orchestra, led by world famous Canadian conductor Gabriel Thibaudeau, present Thibaudeau’s new composition of Rupert Julian classic The Phantom of the Opera (1925) at the Sodankylä Midnight Sun Film Festival on Friday June 16th. Lon Chaney, the man with a thousand faces, haunts the Paris Opera House as the deformed Phantom. As a rare treat, opera singer Reetta Haavisto performs the soprano solo.
Read more from MSFF web site.
Avanti! will accompany the Canadian conductor, one of the top conductors in the film world, in the main screening of the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä (14.-18.6.2017) on Friday 16 June (at 20:15). Gabriel Thibaudeaun under the direction of the fine music composed by by Rupert Julian for the film The Phantom of the Grand Opera (1925). Thousand faces Lon Chaney in the most famous of all classic melodrama film adaptations. The soprano solo, a special feature of the orchestration, is sung by Reetta Haavisto. Buy tickets for 25 € via this page.
This is one of the most beloved and iconic classics of silent cinema, where love turns to revenge and murderous hatred, and the real “beast” may well be the attitudes and prejudices of the dominant community. It is the mob that beats up the poor ghost and throws him into the river. The lynching mentality is the fate of the romantic, and some echoes of this may also have lived on in Lang’s M – The City Seeks a Murderer (1931), when Lorre, guilty of more serious crimes, was sentenced to death.
A thousand-faced virtuoso and specialist in horror roles, Lon Chaney (1883-1930) is startling in the most famous of classic horror-melodrama film adaptations as a maniacal, obsessive, faceless composer. Like the best monsters, Chaney’s unforgettable creation is also tragic, sensitive and moving, evoking pity as much as fear. What is ingenious, especially in the early part of the film, is the very sparing, almost foreplay-like teasing use of this, where the tension of the character’s entrance and the unmasking is played out at length. In a way, Chaney’s intensity already anticipates Brando’s electricity and every gesture, moment and scene in which he is present is pure magic.
Besides, the Paris Opera House is in itself the perfect setting for the film, with the Lumière brothers playing the whole thing in the neighbouring quarter in 1895 and everyone from Bogart to Hemingway and Rita Hayworth to James Bond sitting in Harry’s New York Bar next door.
Director Rupert Julian (1879-1943) was born in an exotic place like New Zealand and emigrated to the United States in 1911. His cinematic vision is at its strongest here, and the vertical dimension of the construction is particularly noteworthy, with the viewer sometimes high above the rooftops and the ghost seen sitting at the top of a tower, then descending into the labyrinths of the basement and the whirlpools of the underground river flowing beneath the opera house – and the only real difference between the two “Heaven and Hell” is the intervening field of dreams, the stage, where the freak composer has no official access, of course.
Julian’s bloody creation is so emotional that, despite its black and white, it conveys many other colours: red death, blue love and black current. The organ sounds its dirge and theatrical reels mingle with real-life masquerades in this moonlit tale in which – like in King Kong (1933) – the beauty finally slays the monster.
Text: Lauri Timonen
DIRECTOR: Rupert Julian
COUNTRY: USA/U.S.A.
YEAR: 1925
TIME: 1.35
LANGUAGES: en
SUBTITLE: The Phantom of the Opera
CATEGORY: Music, Silent movies with orchestra
Sat May 27th 2017 at 7 pm
Musiikkitalo, concert hall
Olari Elts, conductor
Karita Mattila, soprano
Karita Mattila was catapulted to international attention when she won the singing contest Cardiff Singer of the World in 1983. As chance would have it, Avanti! was founded the same year, and the paths of these two veritable phenomena of Finnish music have crossed later, too. In May, Mattila and Avanti! conducted by Olari Elts join forces in an end-of-season concert that will also see the premiere of a new orchestral work by composer Lauri Kilpiö. The piece has been commissioned by Pro Musica Foundation, which also supports the concert.
“The driving sonic forces of my upcoming orchestral piece are mostly timbres and textures, some of which are formed by noises of an indefinite pitch. Irrespective of this, my piece is not sound art but motive-driven music. What this means is that it is composed of a limited amount of musical entities that recur, develop, change and become juxtaposed in the course of the piece. Equally important to me is that my music has long arcs, intensity and moments of climax. Indeed, one could say that I aim at composing music that is symphonic in nature but without melodic themes.
Is my piece, then, a symphony? I do not know yet; we shall have to wait and see. But does this question even matter that much?” – Lauri Kilpiö.
The pieces to be performed by Mattila portray the feelings of love and longing in the lightness of spring. French composer Henri Duparc’s songs are filled with elegant saudade and sensuality. The damsel in Jean Sibelius’s song “Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte” falls victim to an infidel lover. In Rydberg’s “På verandan vid havet” the pregnant silence expresses omnipresent longing, whereas in “Våren flyktar hastigt” by Runeberg the mere memory of spring encourages to love. Contentment of the heart, then again, shines through Robert Schumann’s symphony “Spring”: for the that time newly-wedded composer the season is swarming with signs of romance.
NOTE: The concert program has changed. The information is updated on Jan 23rd 2017.
PROGRAMME:
Lauri Kilpiö: new work
Henri Duparc:
L’invitation au voyage (Charles Baudelaire)
Chanson triste (Jean Lahore)
Phidylé (Leconte de Lisle)
Jean Sibelius:
På verandan vid havet op. 38/2 (Viktor Rydberg)
Flickan kom från sin älsklings mote op. 37/5 (Johan Ludvig Runeberg)
Våren flyktar hastigt op. 13/4 (Johan Ludvig Runeberg)
Robert Schumann: Symphony no 1 B flat major “Spring” Op. 38
Andante un poco maestoso – Allegro molto vivace
Larghetto
Scherzo (Molto vivace)
Allegro animato e grazioso
The concert is produced with the support of Pro Musica Foundation.
Tickets 59,00 – 22,50 € from www.ticketmaster.fi or 55 – 20 € from Musiikkitalo’s ticket office
Sat 27.5.2017 at 19
Music House, concert hall
Olari Elts, conductor
Karita Mattila, soprano
Karita Mattila shot to international fame after winning the Cardiff Song Contest in 1983, when Avanti! was also founded. The musical phenomena of the boom have crossed paths ever since. In May, Mattila and Avanti, led by Olari Elts, will join forces at Helsinki’s Helsinki Music Centre in a concert supported by the Pro Musica Foundation, premiering a new work for orchestra by Lauri Kilpiö, commissioned by the Foundation.
“The sonic characters in my upcoming orchestral piece are mainly sounds and textures, sometimes built up from non-compositional noise. However, my work is not sound art, but motivic music. This means that the piece is based on a limited set of recognisable and strong musical characters, which are repeated, developed, transformed and juxtaposed in different ways during the composition. I also want my music to be long, intense and, at certain key points, strongly culminating. These are all, in fact, symphonic qualities in music. So perhaps you could say that I try to make music that is symphonic in nature, without melodic themes.
Is my orchestral work a symphony then? I don’t know yet, maybe not, let’s see. But does this question really matter?”-Lauri Kilpiö
The concert opens with 4’33” by John Cage , considered a classic example of non-musical or conceptual music. After the premiere, the concert continues with songs by the luminous soprano Karita Mattila, which play on the many notes of love: longing, betrayal, romance and happiness. French singer Henri Duparc’s songs are distinguished by a subtle longing and sensuality. Sibelius and Runeberg glorify young love in the song Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte, in which a girl is betrayed. In the Rydberg song På verandan vid havet, the tense silence expresses a yearning for eternity, while in the Runeberg song Våren flyktar hastigt, the mere memory of spring encourages love.
Relationship bliss can also be heard in Robert Schumann’s concluding four-movement symphony “Spring”, in which the newly married composer finds romantic omens in the season.
NOTE! The concert programme has changed, the information has been updated on 23.1. and 12.4.
PROGRAMME:
John Cage: 4’33”
Lauri Kilpiö: new work
Henri Duparc:
L’invitation au voyage (Charles Baudelaire)
Chanson triste (Jean Lahore)
Phidylé (Leconte de Lisle)
Jean Sibelius:
På verandan vid havet op. 38/2 (Viktor Rydberg)
Flickan kom från sin älsklings mote op. 37/5 (Johan Ludvig Runeberg)
Våren flyktar hastigt op. 13/4 (Johan Ludvig Runeberg)
Robert Schumann: Symphony No 1 in B flat major op. 38, “Spring”
Andante un poco maestoso – Allegro molto vivace
Larghetto
Scherzo (Molto vivace)
Allegro animato e grazioso
The concert is supported by the Pro Musica Foundation.
Tickets including delivery costs 59,00 – 22,50 € www.ticketmaster.fi or 55 – 20 € at the Musiikkitalo ticket office.
Fantastic music and a powerful stage production!
Opera Society Taite ry and Chamber Orchestra Avanti! will bring two short operas composed by Väinö Raition to the stage of the National Opera’s Alminsal: The Proposal of Väinämöinen from 1934-1936 will be performed for the first time in orchestrated form and The King of Lydia is a domestic operatic curiosity from 1937. Also included are excerpts fromRaition’s Asaria and Kruununha’s Syrup Factory.The music is fantastic and the staging is powerful.
The roles are played by e.g.
Annami Hylkilä, soprano
Juha Hostikka, baritone
Markus Nieminen, baritone
Ilkka Hämäläinen, tenor
Anu Hostikka, soprano
Tanja Kauppinen-Savijoki, soprano
Riikka Rantanen, mezzo-soprano
Performances at the Alminsal of the Finnish National Opera 29.9., 30.9. and 1.10.2017.
Fri 29.9.2017 at 18:00, premiere Buy tickets here
Sat 30.9.2017 at 18:00 Buy tickets here
Su 1.10.2017 at 15:00 Buy tickets here
Total duration approx. 1 h, no intermission
Normal price 36 €, pensioners 32 €, unemployed and students 18 €, prices include delivery charges. Buy tickets here
Music by Väinö Raitio
Text by Eino Leino
Music Direction by Tuomas Hannikainen
Direction by Johanna Freundlich
Set and costumes by Mark Väisänen
taite.fi
#neijonnälkä
Painting: light shades, detail, 2013, Urho Kähkönen
Avanti! has been a pioneer of new trends in Finnish music for more than three decades. In their PianoEspoo concert, the orchestra will premiere Sampo Haapamäki’s new concerto for quarter piano and Jukka Tiensuu’s recorder concerto. The soloists will be Eero Saunamäki, a keyboardist, and Elisa Järvi, a pianist who has been working with Haapamäki for years to develop the fourth string piano to provide a way for the composer’s increasingly varied chordal visions on keyboard.
SOURCE:
Charles De Lusse: Air à la Grecque (1760)
Jukka Tiensuu: Concerto for recorder n.s.
Sampo Haapamäki: Piano concerto for four movements n.s.
The concert is part of the PianoEspoo programme from 3 to 19 November 2017.
Tickets from Lippupiste, prices include delivery charges:
Normal price 33,50 €
Pensioners 27,50 €
Students, unemployed, conscripts, children 17,50 €
Buy tickets here
Elisa Järvi
Elisa Järvi, a pianist from Espoo, Finland, graduated as a Doctor of Music from the DocMus Artist Training Centre at Sibelius Academy in 2011. Her piano teachers include Margit Rahkonen, Hui-Ying Tawaststjerna, Konstantin Bogino, Juhani Lagerspetz and Karin Merle. Järvi has immersed himself in new music performance practices through courses at the Cologne Music Academy and the Darmstadt and Acanthes Summer Academies. He has also played electroacoustic music and various keyboard instruments from celesta to disc piano. Elisa Järvi has worked with numerous Finnish and foreign contemporary composers, premiered and recorded works. Together with the composer Sampo Haapamäki, she has been developing a new four-part piano keyboard. The instrument has already been used twice in concerts by MikroEnsemble, a seven-piece ensemble specialising in microtonal music.
Eero Saunamäki
Eero Saunamäki studied recorder and saxophone at the Sibelius Academy and graduated with A-levels in both instruments in 2010. Saunamäki has been the most active commissioner and premiere performer of new recorder music in Finland in recent years: he has premiered more than 20 contemporary works for recorder by Finnish and foreign composers, organised recorder concerts, participated in improvisational and cross-artistic productions and as a soloist in orchestras. Saunamäki works as a special woodwind player in the Guards Band, as a teacher at the Sibelius Academy, as a freelance musician and as a musician in light music ensembles. Saunamäki is also a founding member and chairman of the Finnish Recorder Society. He received grants for commissioning a recorder concerto from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Wihuri Foundation and the Rutzy Foundation.
Avanti! received a grant from the Finnish Composers “Sibelius Foundation, supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, to commission a composition by Sampo Haapamäki. The Sibelius Followers grants were awarded to member orchestras of the Finnish Symphony Orchestras Association who commissioned works from members of the Finnish Composers” Association. All works will be premiered during the 100th anniversary of Finland’s independence.
Tue March 14th 2017 at 7 pm
Porvoo Cathedral
Lauri Ahokas, conductor
Juho Laitinen, electronic cello
Rite returns! This time, Avanti! takes the much-lauded concert phenomenon to the atmospheric Porvoo Cathedral. Rite brings together old and new music and takes advantage of the solemn space and peculiar acoustics of the church milieu. The concert will culminate in concerto “Tarinaoopperabaletti” (Story Opera Ballet) for electronic cello, composed by Jukka Tiensuu for cellist Juho Laitinen.
Of well-known baroque-era names, the programme includes Henry Purcell’s “The Queen’s Funeral March” and Marin Marais’s piece “Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris”, which the audience will know from the biopic All the Mornings of the World.
The title “rite” does not only refer to and describe the programme but the form of the whole concert, as well. From to the flamboyance of baroque and its well-known pearls, the concert takes us to futuristic atmospheres of the 1900s, along with a number of rarely performed pieces from the 1950s. Capping off the concert will be Jukka Tiensuu’s concerto for electronic cello, premiered last spring.
Everything one needs in life one finds in the embrace of music.
Just the thing for cradle, for funeral, for resurrection.
Excitement, reassurance, jubilation, acquiescence.
Electrifying cellos, glorious trumpets. Dance and sighs and the thunder of bells.
Ancient and brand new – all in sweet symbiosis.
(Jukka Tiensuu)
PROGRAMME:
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: Kalaasi
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: Concerto for electronic cello and ensemble
The concert is part of Taidetehtaan Klassikot concert series.
Single tickets 27,50 € or Taidetehtaan Klassikot season ticket 78,50 € from www.lippu.fi
Tue 14.3.2017 at 19
Porvoo Cathedral
Lauri Ahokas, conductor
Juho Laitinen, electric cello
Avanti! returns with its acclaimed RIITTI programme to the atmospheric Tuomiokirkko in Porvoo. Taking advantage of the space and acoustics of the church, Avanti! combines new and old music. The evening will culminate in an electric cello concerto “Story Opera Ballet”, composed by Jukka Tiensuu for Juho Laitinen.
Among the well-known composers of the Baroque period, Henry Purcell’s “The Queen’s Funeral March ” and MarinMarais’s “Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont de Paris” from the biographical film “All the Mornings of My Life” will be performed.
As its name suggests, Avant’s Riitti concert makes use of ritual, both in terms of the works and their form. Ranging from the solemnity of the Baroque to the futuristic atmosphere of the 20th century, the concert includes baroque hits as well as rarely heard 1950s tape recordings. The concert will close with Jukka Tiensuu’s Electric Cello Concerto, premiered last spring.
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 glory of trumpets. Dance, sighs and the roar of bells.
The ancient and the new in a sweet symbiosis.
(Jukka Tiensuu)
PROGRAMME:
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: Kalaasi
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: Concerto for electronic cello and ensemble
The concert is part of the Taidetehtaan Klassikot series.
Tickets including delivery costs 27,50 €, Taidetehtaan Klassikot series ticket 78,50 € www.lippu.fi
Sun 12.2.2017 at 14:00
Music House, Paavo Hall
Clement Power, conductor
In the closing concert of Musica Nova, György Ligeti’s influence will be heard in the compositions of his most important pupils and his son. Avant will be conducted by British conductor Clement Power.
Lukas Ligeti’s “Curtain” brings together the legacy of European modernism and African rhythms. Inspired by the visual arts, the work explores the “painting on” and erasing of material over a melodic and harmonious ground in a manner reminiscent of animation artist William Kentdrige. A string quartet serves as the canvas on which Ligeti paints, creating a tension between the sounds of the quartet and those of the larger ensemble.
The final part of Unsuk Chin’s “cosmigimmicks”, Thall, is a tribute to György Ligeti. The title of the piece means “mask” in Korean. The centre of the piece, which is a musical pantomime, is a guitar playing a pseudo-melody of a few repetitive microtones. “The “melody” is transformed by the harmonies of the other instruments like the expression on the mime’s face.
Ligeti’s other important pupil, Benedict Mason, also bows to his mentor. “Hinterstoissener traverse” uses only one key, G. The extremely minimalist approach allows for a close examination of rhythm and dynamics.
The concert is part of the Musica Nova Helsinki festival. The festival is the largest contemporary music event in Finland, with conductor André de Ridder as artistic director in 2017.
PROGRAMME:
Benedict Mason: Hinterstoissener traverse (1986)
Unsuk Chin: cosmigimmicks (2012)
1. Shadow Play
2. Quad
3. Thall
Lukas Ligeti: Curtain (2015)
Concert duration 1h.
Tickets including delivery 28,00 / 17,50 www.ticketmaster.fi or 25 / 15 € at the Musiikkitalo ticket office.
Fri 9.12.2016 at 7:30 pm
Helsinki Music Centre, Sonore-hall
Dima Slobodeniouk, conductor
Klang 2016 sees Avanti premiere pieces by the composition students of the Sibelius Academy.
The programme consists of three pairs of compositions, each penned by two aspiring writers. While facing the challenge of overall coherence and ensuring that their piece is in unison with that of their pair’s, the composers have also a unique chance to explore the range of instrumentation possibilities that the large ensemble opens up. For seamless, vignette-like transitions, they will have to enter into a dialogue and have the readiness to meet each other halfway. Where does one’s identity begin and end, or can two become one?
Compositions:
Mioko Yokoyama – Walter Sallinen: new work
Saara Lindahl – Dante Thelestam: new work
Jaime Belmonte – Aleksejs Pegusevs: new work
Tickets 17,50 / 11,50 / 6,50 € from Ticketmaster or 15 / 10 / 5 € from the Music Centre’s ticket sales.