Two classical music clubs established in Helsinki

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By Vesa Sirén
     
      Classical violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who won the International Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995, has established a classical music club entitled Klasariklubi in Restaurant Belly on Helsinki’s Uudenmaankatu.
      The club's opening gig was held last week, while an expert audience of more than 100 listeners were sitting at the tables in front of the stage.
      The repertoire of the first performance included The Four Seasons by the Venetian composer Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741).
      While Vivaldi’s series of four violin concertos might have been almost overly familiar to all, the audience clearly enjoyed the charming and witty introductions of the hosts, Kuusisto and the artistic designer of the club Minna Pensola.
     
Vivaldi's four concertos for violin, strings, and continuo were on this occasion performed by a feisty little five-piece combo of solo violin, viola, cello, double bass, and acoustic guitar.
      In addition to Vivaldi, works by the Australian contemporary composer Matthew Hindson and Lithuania's Vytautas Barkauskas were also played.
     
The acoustics at Restaurant Belly are every bit as dry as those in Finlandia Hall, but thanks to the discreet use of microphones and loudspeakers this did not disturb the performance. If anything, a bigger nuisance came from the low drone of the air-conditioning system.
      While the buzz of conversation continued in the bar at the far end of the restaurant, the audience in front of the stage were sitting still as mice, concentrating on the performance.
     
The new club would like to bring classical music even to those who normally do not attend concerts. In practice, Kuusisto and the other top musicians attracted mostly young and a few somewhat more mature fans of classical music.
      "This is a brilliant idea, which will hopefully prove a success", said composer Eero Hämeenniemi, who has been very critical of the stagnant routines of classical music performance.
     
Restaurant Belly will turn into Klasariklubi on the last Wednesday of every month over the entire spring. The performances will involve various classical music artists.
      Belly is not unique in its class, as the students’ cafeteria at the Sibelius Academy (at Pohjoinen rautatiekatu 9) has long been converted into the Feenix Club on certain evenings.
      Last week’s evening programme at Feenix featured improvisations on Tuesday, jazz on Wednesday, and contemporary folk music on Thursday.
     
In the early days of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra also arranged informal popular concerts at Restaurant Seurahuone in Helsinki, with the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and certain other of the watering-hole's regular paying customers enjoying their cigars and alcohol to musical accompaniment.
      The cigars are a no-no these days, after smoking was outlawed from all Finnish bars and restaurants, but when the playing stopped the combination of classical music and alcohol did not seem at all foreign to the patrons at Klasariklubi.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / Edited from an article first published in print 1.2.2008


Links:
  Pekka Kuusisto (Wikipedia)
  Klasariklubi (in Finnish)

VESA SIRÉN / Helsingin Sanomat
vesa.siren@hs.fi