The theme of Avanti! Summer Sounds festival is Dreamlands and Dystopias – the main concert programme is now released
The theme of Avanti! Summer Sounds festival is Dreamlands and Dystopias – the main concert programme is now released
The 37th Avanti! Summer Sounds festival will again take over Porvoo as it runs at the Art Factory and its surroundings from June 28 to July 2, 2023. The main programme is now released and will be reinforced during the spring with forums and club events.
The 2023 festival is titled Dreamlands and Dystopias. The programme is curated by composer Unsuk Chin and Maris Gothóni, the Belgian National Orchestra’s head of artistic planning and a curator of multiple festivals. The two describe the programme:
”We feature music by many fearless artists who challenge limits and question borders, music that can be equally thought-provoking, playful, and stimulating. Our wish was to present a glimpse of the great variety of the music of our time, with composers originating from no less than nineteen countries, including some of the most acclaimed figures of our time’s music and new rising composers. The music chosen reflects the visionary potential of music in times of uncertainty, featuring equally dreamworlds and dystopic fears. .The concerts’ titles speak for themselves: ‘Dark Mirror’, ‘Musical Toys’, ‘Mimodramas and Horror Clowns’ , ‘False Memories’, ‘Twisted Pearls and Four Headed-Nightingales’, and ‘Strange Rituals’.”
We will hear both new music from contemporary composers and classic pieces. Ensemble sizes will range from solos to orchestras over 40 musicians strong. Avanti! will have sopranos Faustine de Monès and Tuuli Lindeberg, flautist Bjørnar Habbestad and pianist Mei Yi Foo as soloists. Bas Wiegers and Emilia Hoving will conduct the concerts.
The week will include almost 20 Finnish premieres and the world premiere of Antti Auvinen’s flute concerto, commissioned by Avanti! We will hear daily Finnish premiers of works from the following composers: Unsuk Chin, Claude Vivier, Alberto Ginastera, Silvestre Revueltas, Sunghyun Lee, Hans Abrahamsen, Ondřej Adámek, Gérard Pesson, Marko Nikodijevic, Andrew Norman, Mikel Urquiza, Luke Bedford, Vito Žuraj and Wolfgang von Schweinitz. Other composers include Joseph Haydn, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, John Zorn, Jukka Tiensuu, Michael Daugherty, Helmut Lachenmann, George Benjamin, Peter Eötvös, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Chris Paul Harman and Frederick Rzewski, among others.
A children’s concert has been a prominent part of Summer Sounds for years. This year Avanti! is producing a new version of the beloved folktale “The Emperor’s New Clothes” with the Red Nose Company, the first professional Finnish theatre group specialising in clownery. The music for the performance is composed and arranged by Marzi Nyman. The performance is bilingual in Finnish and Swedish.
The traditional Avanti! Club is again being held in the rustic Art Factory, Factory Hall. The event, titled Dark Mirror, includes music, an ecstatic club atmosphere in the summer night of Porvoo, and the Art Factory’s restaurant’s offerings to enjoy with friends.
Once again, this year’s festival includes a composition masterclass. The masterclass, taught by composers Jukka Tiensuu and Tomi Räsänen, ends in a concert where Avanti!’s musicians perform pieces composed by the participants. The participants get to work on their compositions with the musicians while getting important feedback in the process. The main venue of the festival is the Art Factory, Avanti Hall. Concerts are also held in the Pernaja Church and the Art Factory, Factory Hall.
The tickets to the Summer Sounds festival will go on sale on Monday, March 27, 2023, at lippu.fi
