Toivo Kuula and the HPO made a lasting impression on the Helsinki audiences in February 1911. “The young composer has with these two concerts fully captivated the audiences of the capital region. He is its favorite child now. He has, with his compositions, struck the heart of Helsinki.” (Suomalainen kansa, 24.2.1911). Part of the Helsinki captivation was also the Sea-Bathing Maidens, composed to lines from Eino Leino’s beloved poem collection Helkavirsiä. Oskar Merikanto’s songs also have a stronghold on Finnish hearts and landscapes of the soul. JUKKA LINKOLA New piece, Helsinki Variations (world premiere) TOIVO KUULA The Sea-Bathing Maidens OSKAR MERIKANTO Omenankukat OSKAR MERIKANTO Pai pai paitaressu OSKAR MERIKANTO Päivyt paistaos JOHANNES BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 ANJA BIHLMAIER conductor ANU KOMSI soprano  

“Minun kultani kaunis on, vaikk’ on kaitaluinen!” Philomela-kuoron tuottamalla 24-minuuttisella videolla näkyy, miten tuttu iloinen laulu tempaa mukaansa, sanat muistuvat mieleen vuosikymmenten takaa ja koko olemus vetreytyy. Kun mukaan otetaan yksinkertaista liikettä ja yhdessä tekemisen elementti, on vaikea kuvitella, mikä paremmin tukisi ikääntyneen toimintakykyä ja yleistä hyvinvointia. Musiikin hyvää tekevä voima on tiedossa: jo musiikin kuunteleminen parantaa muistia, kohottaa mielialaa, rauhoittaa ja laskee verenpainetta. Laulaminen auttaa ylläpitämään ja parantamaan niin fyysisiä, kognitiivisia kuin sosiaalisiakin toimintoja, puhumattakaan sen  piristävästä vaikutuksesta. Parasta on, että laulaminen ei vaadi ulkoisia apuvälineitä tai taloudellisia resursseja. Laulutuokion järjestäminen ei vaadi edes erityistä musiikillista lahjakkuutta. Se vaatii vain uskallusta. Philomela haluaa rohkaista ikääntyneiden ja muistisairaiden kanssa työskenteleviä tarttumaan laulamisen mahdollisuuksiin. Tarjoamme käyttöönne opetusvideon, jolla musiikkineuvos Marjukka Riihimäki ja ohjaaja-koreografi Päivi Järvinen ohjaavat liikunnallisen lauluhetken Laulusta voimaa -ryhmälle, ja aivotutkija Hanna Renvall kertoo, mikä musiikissa ja liikkeessä hermoston tasolla vaikuttaa. Video tarjoaa siis sekä teoriatietoa että helposti sovellettavia käytännön vinkkejä ikääntyneiden kanssa työskenteleville. Toivomme, että se inspiroi tutustumaan laulun mahdollisuuksiin! Tuotanto: Philomela ry Asiantuntijat Marjukka Riihimäki, Päivi Järvinen ja Hanna Renvall Kuvaus ja editointi: Timo Tapaninen Tukija: Helsingin kaupunki  

The Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition is held in Helsinki in the concert halls of the Helsinki Music Centre and Sibelius Academy’s R Building from 14 to 27 October 2022. Nearly 30 young piano virtuosos will take part in the competition. The competition is organised by the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Subtitles in English and Finnish. Kansainvälinen Maj Lind -pianokilpailu Viides kansainvälinen Maj Lind -pianokilpailu järjestetään Helsingissä Musiikkitalon ja Sibelius-Akatemian R-talon konserttisaleissa 14.–27.10.2022. Kilpailuun osallistuu lähes 30 nuorta pianovirtuoosia ympäri maailman. Kilpailun järjestää Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia. Tekstitys englanniksi ja suomeksi.

The Fifth International Maj Lind Piano Competition is held in Helsinki in the concert halls of the Helsinki Music Centre and Sibelius Academy’s R Building from 14 to 27 October 2022. Nearly 30 young piano virtuosos will take part in the competition. The competition is organised by the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Subtitles in English and Finnish. Vuoden 2022 Maj Lind -pianokilpailun esittely Viides kansainvälinen Maj Lind -pianokilpailu järjestetään Helsingissä Musiikkitalon ja Sibelius-Akatemian R-talon konserttisaleissa 14.–27.10.2022. Kilpailuun osallistuu lähes 30 nuorta pianovirtuoosia ympäri maailman. Kilpailun järjestää Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia. Tekstitys englanniksi ja suomeksi.  

Two violin sounds – a sforzato and a pizzicato – provided the basic material for the tape used in Kaija Saariaho's first orchestral work. The French premiere of Verblendungen in 1984 marked the starting point for Saariaho’s international breakthrough. Notes on Light, in turn, has been described by cellist Anssi Karttunen, to whom the work is dedicated, as a rich journey into the heart of light. "I am a choral singer myself and wanted to use Finnish choral singing as the basis of my work," says composer Matthew Whittall of his work "Silence Speaks" commissioned for Helsinki Variations and inspired by a Christmas song by Jean Sibelius. MATTHEW WHITTALL Silence Speaks (world premiere) KAIJA SAARIAHO Notes on Light KAIJA SAARIAHO Verblendungen JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 4 SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor ANSSI KARTTUNEN cello The concert ends approx at 21.15.  

Last autumn, the Los Angeles Times lauded violinist Leila Josefowicz’s performance of John Adams’ Violin Concerto: "A daring, probing, thinking, dancing, spectacularly virtuosic soloist… she played each turn of phrase, each gesture, as though it were a new thought or feeling that suddenly astonished her." (Los Angeles Times, 9.11.2021) Good news for lovers of mysticism and mysteries! The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra will perform no less than three symphonies by Anton Bruckner this season. The series begins with one of his most popular, the 4th Symphony – a mysterious relation to ancient tales. JOHN ADAMS Violin Concerto ANTON BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 "Romantic" SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor LEILA JOSEFOWICZ violin The concert ends approx at 21.15.

"Orchestra, do not disturb the audience!" Richard Wagner hid the orchestra in the pit in his Bayreuth Festival Theatre and even went a step further by putting the cover on. In our opening concert of the season, the Wagnerian tide washes over the Helsinki Music Centre, promising listeners rich musical treasures. Stuart Skelton and Lise Lindstrom are Tristan and Isolde in the passion of the night. RICHARD STRAUSS Metamorphosen RICHARD WAGNER Tristan and Isolde, Act II SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor STUART SKELTON Tristan, tenor LISE LINDSTROM Isolde, soprano JENNY CARLSTEDT Brangäne, mezzo-soprano MARKUS NIEMINEN Kurwenal, baritone BRINDLEY SHERRATT King Marke, baritone ROLAND LIIV Melot, tenor

Camilla Nylund, one of our most successful opera singers, is also one of the brightest stars among international sopranos. The full-bodied glow of late romance fills the concert hall as Nylund, Mälkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra join forces with Richard Strauss. Death and Transfiguration, composed as a young man, and The Four Last Songs, composed fifty years later, and that look at death calmly, the ending life made complete by death. Sampo Haapamäki's scale has long had 24 notes. Quarter-tones can also be heard in the world premiere of his commissioned Helsinki Variations piece, which is inspired by a chord in a concerto composed by Aarre Merikanto in the 1920s. SAMPO HAAPAMÄKI Helsinki Variations (world premiere) RICHARD STRAUSS Vier letzte Lieder RICHARD STRAUSS Death and Transfiguration SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor CAMILLA NYLUND soprano  

Two concertos for the price of one! Pianist Kirill Gerstein has compiled a symmetrical concert programme in which Webern’s short tonal aphorisms cleanse the musical taste buds in preparation for the flow of Brahms’s concertos. John Storgårds begins the concert by switching his baton for the violin for Webern’s Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Opus 7. ANTON WEBERN Four Pieces for violin and piano op. 7 JOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 ANTON WEBERN Five pieces for Orchestra op. 10 JOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 JOHN STORGÅRDS conductor, violin KIRILL GERSTEIN piano  

In this evening’s concert hosted by Pekka Kuusisto, art music does not turn its gaze away but instead holds onto our hand firmly while compassionately exploring our home planet, its beauty and its wounds. Strangely beautiful birds of paradise flew into Andrea Tarrodi’s composition that was inspired by the TV series Planet Earth, while the melodic worlds of Hildur Guðnadóttir have made millions of television viewers feel the apocalyptic moods of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on their skin. For Igor Stravinsky, the Psalms of the Bible were poems of ecstasy and rapture, but he also found hatred and judgment, even curses, in their verses. “I wanted to counter the numerous composers who had mistreated these authoritative verses by using them as the wooden legs of their own poetic-sentimental ‘feelings’.” The works of composer Antti Auvinen are firmly connected to time. He believes that a contemporary composer can express in his music his views of the world around him. His new composition, commissioned for the Helsinki Variations series, receives its world premiere. PJOTR TŠAIKOVSKI Andante cantabile for string orchestra HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR Vishnaja Pamyat arr. Robert Ames (Finnish premiere) ARVO PÄRT Fratres for violin, string orchestra & percussion ANDREA TARRODI Paradisfåglar (Finnish premiere) ANTTI AUVINEN Stabat Tiger Mater (Premiere) IGOR STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms PEKKA KUUSISTO violin, conductor MUSIC CENTRE CHOIR ELERIIN MÜÜRIPEAL choir coach

A favourite soloist playing a favourite concerto! Mackenzie Melemed, winner of the 2017 International Maj Lind Piano Competition, enchants audiences with his focused presence. The American pianist, who fell in love with Finland and settled here, has said that he buys a glass bird designed by Oiva Toikka every time he performs as a soloist with a Finnish orchestra. The solo section of Sergei Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto complements Melemed's collection with another glass bird. Rachmaninoff dedicated his most beloved work to his hypnologist, who had helped ease his writer’s block and complete the concerto. “As soon as conductor Mei-Ann Chen stepped on stage, her smile immediately spread throughout the orchestra. She is an energising catalyst on the conductor’s podium!” (Camilla Dahl, Mittmedia). Taiwanese American conductor Mei-Ann Chen makes her debut in front of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Toccata e due canzoni SERGEI RAHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 7 MEI-ANN CHEN conductor MACKENZIE MELEMED piano  

Hauska kuvaus Helsingin metrosta. Myös Kalasataman tornien alkutyömaa näkyvissä.