Competitions highlight autumn season of large Helsinki orchestras
Helsinki Philharmonic to introduce three new compositions, Radio Symphony Orchestra focuses on vocal and choral works
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By Mari Koppinen
This autumn two major international music competitions are to be held in Helsinki. In September the Sibelius Conductors’ Competition is in town, and in November and December, it will be the turn of the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition.
Both competitions involve the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and will require alterations in the ordinary autumn season programmes of both.
"The competition will reduce the number of our own concerts. In practice, we will have two fewer concerts", says Marianna Kankare-Loikkanen, Publicity Manager for the Helsinki Philharmonic.
However, the feeling at the orchestra is that although the competitions affect their ordinary life it is important to be involved in them.
"They bring new audiences and give us international visibility. Besides, as the orchestra of Sibelius, we have to be involved in the celebrations of the 140th anniversary of Sibelius’ birth", Kankare-Loikkanen notes.
Tuula Sarotie, General Manager of the Radio Symphony Orchestra, says that the two weeks devoted to competition will not detract from the orchestra's other activities.
"This is not exceptional in any way. We always have recordings and tours that affect our normal seasonal rhythm.
The competitions will also influence the autumn of the orchestras in the sense that both will be able to engage musicians who succeed in the competitions to perform as soloists.
The winner of the Sibelius Violin Competition will get a chance to perform before both orchestras. At this point only the Helsinki Philharmonic has indicated interest in giving the baton to whomsoever wins the Conductors’ Competition. The Radio Symphony Orchestra will decide during the compeition if an appropriate conductor emerges.
Nevertheless, the competitions are only one aspect of the autumn programmes of the orchestras.
The Helsinki Philharmonic has three first performances in its programme. On September 4th it will perform From the Wreckage, a trumpet concerto of the rising British composer talent, Mark-Anthony Turnage. The orchestra will perform the piece at The Proms in London.
In October the Helsinki Philharmonic will premiere a work commissioned for the Sibelius Conductors’ Competition - Trial by composer Uljas Pulkkis. The new Bassoon Concerto by Kalevi Aho will have its premiere at the same concert.
The Radio Symphony Orchestra will bring out a fair amount of vocal music in the coming season. During the autumn it will perform, among others, Sibelius’ choral Kullervo Symphony, Four Songs from Iberti’s Don Quixote, and Mahler’s Rückert Songs performed by bass baritone Thomas Quasthoff.
The Radio Symphony Orchestra has three premieres scheduled for this autumn. In November the orchestra will give the first performance of the Second Symphony by Finnish composer Tapio Tuomela.
Also in store is Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 545 on Saturday at the LuostoClassic concert, and the premiere of the new version of Kimmo Hakola’s Le Sacrifice at the Helsinki Festival.
In October, the Radio Symphony Orchestra will go on an extensive tour of Japan. The programme includes plenty of Sibelius, but there will also be performances of symphonies by Mahler, Tshaikovsky, and Beethoven.
One of the themes of the season is the chamber music of Beethoven; in the previous season the orchestra performed all of the composer’s symphonies.
The musicians of the Radio Symphony Orchestra will hold chamber music weekends at Helsinki’s House of Nobility, both in the autumn and spring seasons. The concerts will include performances of all of Beethoven’s string quartets and sonatas, and variations for cello and piano.
The first chamber music weekend will be on September 9th-10th.
Helsingin Sanomat - first published in print 12.8.2005
MARI KOPPINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
mari.koppinen@hs.fi
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| 16.8.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Competitions highlight autumn season of large Helsinki orchestras |
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