Lieu : Finlande

World Premiere of Tomi Räisänen’s Organ Concerto

Angela Metzger deserves to join the select group of organists who tour internationally as soloist with orchestra.  A space for a concert organ was originally designed for the main concert hall ...

Création mondiale à Helsinki sur l’orgue offert par Kaija Saariaho

Au Centre musical d'Helsinki, l'organiste Angela Metzger créé le Concerto pour orgue du compositeur finlandais Tomi Räisänen, sur l'orgue offert généreusement par Kaija Saariaho. Un espace pour un orgue de concert ...

Gerald Finley sings Lieberson’s heartbreaking Songs of Love and Sorrow

Peter Lieberson's Songs of Love and Sorrow are not only emotionally direct, sincere, and unpretentious, but also heartbreakingly effective. The American composer Peter Lieberson composed the Songs of Love and Sorrow in difficult circumstances. He ...

Santtu-Matias Rouvali dirige Pettersson et Sibelius avec le Philharmonique de Tampere

Santtu-Matias Rouvali dirige la Symphonie n° 5 de Sibelius à Tampere et met à son répertoire la Symphonie n° 7 d'Allan Pettersson. Dans les cinq dernières années, l'étoile du chef d'orchestre finlandais ...

Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts Pettersson and Sibelius with the Tampere Philharmonic

Under Rouvali's direction, Allan Pettersson's Symphony No. 7 felt like a connected series of very long phrases, each executed with a single breath. In the past half-decade or so, the star of the ...

Olari Elts in all-Russian program with the Finnish RSO

The Estonian conductor Olari Elts is a regular visitor to Helsinki and is often seen on the podium in front of both the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony ...

The Finnish RSO celebrates Magnus Lindberg

Any given Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra performance of Lindberg's music is both idiomatic and definitive.  Throughout his long and distinguished career as a composer of orchestral music, the Finnish RSO, Lindberg's hometown ...

Raretés chambristes au festival du lac Tuusula en Finlande par John Storgårds

Pour les festivals de l'été finlandais, les mélomanes ont l'embarras du choix : des festivals de tous les styles et de tous les formats sont organisés dans tout le pays ...

Intensity and commitment: John Storgårds and the Kamus Quartet play Pettersson

Pettersson requires superhuman concentration and virtuosity from the soloist and this is exactly what John Storgårds brought to the table. Like elsewhere in the classical music world, summer in Finland marks ...

Love at first sight : Nicholas Collon and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

After the second date, it looks like the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Nicholas Collon have a beautiful relationship ahead of them. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (FRSO) has had a ...

Coup de foudre à Helsinki : Nicholas Collon et l’Orchestre de la radio finlandaise

Après leur deuxième rendez-vous, il semble que l'Orchestre symphonique de la radio finlandaise et Nicholas Collon aient une belle relation devant eux. L'Orchestre symphonique de la radio finlandaise a connu un ...

Gustavo Gimeno in Britten and Shostakovich with the Finnish RSO

One of the most immediately appealing aspects of cellist Tomas Nuñez-Garcés' performance was his understated confidence and assured virtuosity. Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich were two of the greatest composers of ...

Osmo Vänskä’s Americana with the Helsinki Philharmonic

Soloist Jonathan Roozeman handled Barber's fearsome technical demands with ease, particularly the seemingly inhuman left-hand acrobatics required in the outer movements.  One of the highlights of the current Helsinki Philharmonic season is the focus ...

Relishing the extremes : Hannu Lintu in Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 with the Finnish RSO

Both Lintu and the orchestra pulled out all the stops in the sprawling final movement.  The winters are long and dark in Finland. Coincidence or not, Mahler's Symphony No. 6, the composer's ...

Intensité claire de Mälkki dans la n° 9 de Mahler à Helsinki

A Helsinki, la vision de Susanna Mälkki sur le dernier chef-d’œuvre qu'a pu achever Gustav Mahler se concentre sur un contrôle serré associé à une intensité claire et non sentimentale. A ...

In Helsinki, Mälkki’s cool-headed intensity in Mahler’s No. 9

Susanna Mälkki's take on Mahler's final completed masterpiece focused on tight control coupled with clear, unsentimental intensity. Nearing the end of her second year as music director of the Helsinki Philharmonic ...

Passionate and virtuosic : Tianwa Yang in Britten’s Violin Concerto

Yang brought a devilish and almost unhinged quality to the dancing second movement of Britten's Violin Concerto, which further highlighted her amazing virtuosity. The current Helsinki season has been almost an ...

The sea in many forms: the Finnish premiere of Matthew Whittall’s piano concerto

Matthew Whittall's new piano concerto, Nameless Seas, was effective in evoking not only literal but also metaphorical feelings of the sea. Respighi is best known for his ecstatically colorful symphonic portraits of Rome, which ...

Par excellence : Vilde Frang in Britten’s Violin Concerto

Vilde Frang may have some tough competition, but she could just be the interpreter par excellence of Britten's Violin Concerto.  In the past decade or so, frequent performances and new recordings of Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto seem to ...

Top class : Renée Fleming and Sakari Oramo at the Helsinki Festival

This evening's performance of Nielsen's Symphony No. 2 provided further evidence that the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra belongs in the top echelon of the world's great orchestras.  Sakari Oramo is currently Chief Conductor ...

Finnish premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto

At least on this first hearing, Salonen's new Cello Concerto seemed confident and uncertain at the same time. This evening's concert marked the opening of Esa-Pekka Salonen's second season as Artist-in-Association with the Finnish National ...

Sakari Oramo in Elgar’s Symphony No. 2

Sakari Oramo did not hesitate in bringing Elgar's unabashedly passionate and emotional elements to the fore.  During his tenure as principal conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (RSPO), Sakari Oramo ...

Broadly : Kent Nagano in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8

Nagano's performance of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, while abundant in individual highlights, was not quite a fully convincing interpretation of this massive work. Anton Bruckner is arguably the perfect example of ...

Exploring the depths : Osmo Vänskä in Sibelius’ Symphony No. 4

Osmo Vänskä is unrivaled in his ability (and willingness) to explore the deepest depths of Sibelius' Symphony No. 4.  Osmo Vänskä earned himself and his former band (the Lahti Symphony Orchestra) international recognition ...

Truls Mørk’s noble Schelomo with the Helsinki Philharmonic

Truls Mørk brought nobility to Schelomo's lamenting qualities. The current, inaugural season of Susanna Mälkki's tenure as music director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HKO) is focused considerably on 20th-century French orchestral music, which ...

Herbert Blomstedt in Sibelius and Beethoven

This was undoubtedly one of the great performances of Sibelius' Symphony No. 4. Herbert Blomstedt is approaching his 90th birthday and is showing no signs of slowing down. A quick look at his ...

Susanna Mälkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic in Mahler’s Symphony No. 6

Throughout the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 6, careful attention was given to accents, articulations, and dynamics, along with a clear focus on orchestrational detail. Susanna Mälkki's recent performances with ...

All-British with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Janne Nisonen

After Sakari Oramo, Janne Nisonen could very well be the next great Finnish interpreter of British music.  Orchestral programs dedicated entirely to British music are rare in the Helsinki region, so ...

Focus on Shakespeare : The Tempest by Osmo Vänskä in Helsinki

The performance  of The Tempest by Osmo Vänskä and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra was a true celebration of some of Sibelius' most forward-looking music. The work of Shakespeare and his influence ...

Death and Transcendencev : Robert Spano and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

Robert Spano led a taut and disciplined performance of Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead.  The subjects of death and the beyond have certainly fascinated many artists, both past and present. Among composers, ...