It couldn’t be more authentic: the Philharmonic Orchestra Helsinki performs all seven symphonies by Jean Sibelius live in the spectacular concert hall of the Finnish capital’s modern Music Centre — the place where almost all of them had their premieres. Over a period of approximately 25 years, Jean Sibelius composed his seven symphonies. All of them, except for the seventh, were premiered in Helsinki under the composer’s own direction. Now, more than 100 years later, a symphony cycle by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its chief conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, offers a unique and moving experience.
Sibelius Symphony No. 1
It couldn’t be more authentic: the Philharmonic Orchestra Helsinki performs all seven symphonies by Jean Sibelius live in the spectacular concert hall of the Finnish capital’s modern Music Centre — the place where almost all of them had their premieres. Over a period of approximately 25 years, Jean Sibelius composed his seven symphonies. All of them, except for the seventh, were premiered in Helsinki under the composer’s own direction. Now, more than 100 years later, a symphony cycle by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its chief conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, offers a unique and moving experience.
Inaugural concert of Tarmo Peltokoski in Latvia
With the start of the 2022/2023 concert season, 22-year-old Finnish conductor, Tarmo Peltokoski, becomes the musical and artistic director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO). The French music magazine Diapason writes about him: “ATTENTION, A GENIUS!” Peltokoski has a strong musical vision and a clear idea of what he wants to achieve in the next three years. His inaugural concert took place in the Cesis Concert Hall, which is characterised by exceptional acoustics. PROGRAM Williams: Symphony No. 5; Auznieks: Grace; Sibelius: Symphony No. 5
RCO: Mäkelä conducts Mozart & Sibelius
The Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who will become the orchestra’s eighth Chief Conductor in 2027, is leading the orchestra in Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony and in Mozart’s emotional Requiem: it’s fascinating music surrounded by speculation. The work thus became a requiem for Mozart himself, as well as a universally loved masterpiece which still serves as a source of comfort, reflection and pure listening pleasure to many. Jean Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony, a work full of menace and darkness – yet the work is not all doom and gloom: Sibelius’s Fourth contains beautiful moments of hope, light and mystery. PROGRAM Sibelius: Symphony No. 4; Mozart: Requiem
Paavo Järvi – Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Inaugural Concert
The Tonhalle Orchester Zürich has appointed one of the best conductors of our time as ist new artistic director: Paavo Järvi takes over the post with the 2019/2020 season. Born in Estonia in 1962, Järvi is currently music director of the NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. In 2009, he worked with the Tonhalle Orchestra for the first time and again most recently in December 2016. Kullervo, Op. 7, is a suite of symphonic movements by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Although often referred to as a „choral symphony,“ the work avoids traditional symphonic structure and its five movements constitute a set of related but independent tone poems. PROGRAM Sibelius: Kullervo
LSO: Rattle conducts Sibelius & Bruckner
Sir Simon Rattle conducts music in which vast landscapes merge with the human soul: Sibelius’ tone poems and Bruckner’s radiant Seventh Symphony. Bruckner said that the beginning of his Seventh Symphony came to him in a dream, played by an angel. This huge, glowing mountain-range of sound is basically soul music by any other name. Far away in Finland, meanwhile, Sibelius was thinking big too. Whether it’s the sun dancing on the Mediterranean sea, or the forests of the far north, you can practically feel the freshness in the air. Sir Simon Rattle has been conducting Sibelius since he was a teenager, making him an unrivalled guide through this untamed musical landscape. PROGRAM Sibelius: The Oceanides, Tapiola; Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
LSO: Simon Rattle & Leonidas Kavakos at Barbican
The 2020s meet the 1920s, as Sir Simon Rattle conducts Sibelius, Bartók, and the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s new Violin Concerto. A new year, and a brand-new masterpiece from Unsuk Chin, the poetic, dazzlingly original musical mind behind the opera Alice in Wonderland. She’s called it Shards of Silence, and it prepares the way for a musical journey back to the 1920s – when Sibelius and Bartók found equally astonishing, equally uncompromising new ways of listening to the world. This is Chin’s second violin concerto. Her first is already a modern classic, and she hadn’t planned to write another – but when she heard the playing of Leonidas Kavakos, she broke her own rule. Naturally, he’s the soloist for tonight’s world-premiere performance, and since history demands context (even while you’re making it) Sir Simon Rattle completes the programme with Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony and Bartók’s brutal, brilliant Miraculous Mandarin Suite. PROGRAM: Chin: Violin Concerto No 2 (workd premiere); Sibelius: Symphony No 7; Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin – Suite
Sibelius – Complete Symphonies
It couldn’t be more authentic: the Philharmonic Orchestra Helsinki performs all seven symphonies by Jean Sibelius live in the spectacular concert hall of the Finnish capital’s modern Music Centre — the place where almost all of them had their premieres. Over a period of approximately 25 years, Jean Sibelius composed his seven symphonies. All of them, except for the seventh, were premiered in Helsinki under the composer’s own direction. Now, more than 100 years later, a symphony cycle by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its chief conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, offers a unique and moving experience. The Symphonies were recorded between 2023 and 2025.