“Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance, when you're perfectly free.” Anna Clyne's cello concerto revolves around the verses of the Persian mystic Rumi. Inbal Segev plays the concerto with dark tone and deep insight (Gramophone). A rarely heard early version of Sibelius's fifth symphony is preceded by an overture, the strings of which are tied by a band of visiting folk musicians.

Swan, robin, peacock, cranes. Pekka Kuusisto gathers Sibelius' birds into the same flock of notes. The solo violin gives character to Pēteris Vasks’ lonely angel, who hovers over the broken world, fretting and tirelessly guarding it. Anna Clyne composed Within Her Arms in memory of her mother, in which grief leads from cutting pain to comfort and peace. JEAN SIBELIUS The Swan of Tuonela / Hark, the Robin and The Peacock from SwanwhiteSuite / Crane Scene PĒTERIS VASKS Lonely Angel – Meditation for Violin and String Orchestra JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 45 "Farewell" ANNA CLYNE Within Her Arms PEKKA KUUSISTO conductor  

Conductor Ruth Reinhardt is a graduate of the famous Juilliard School in New York. She has demonstrated her prowess as an interpreter of Antonín Dvořák's fifth symphony and been acclaimed for her lively and well-crafted performances (San Francisco Chronicle). Jennah Vainio based her commissioned work on The Pauper Girl’s Lullaby by Robert Kajanus with the life story of her orphaned grandmother in mind. JENNAH VAINIO Sylvia’s Lullaby, Helsinki Variations (world premiere) EDVARD GRIEG Piano Concerto ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 5 RUTH REINHARDT conductor ALESSIO BAX piano  

Franz Schubert spiced his sixth symphony with Italian flavours after Rossini's operas swept Vienna. Half a century earlier, Mozart fell in love with Haydn's symphonies in the same city. Theodor Guschlbauer conducts two symphonies whose seeds were sown in his hometown. “The oboe concerto of Vaughan Williams has wonderful folds in which you can enjoy extreme pianissimos,” says the evening's soloist Hannu Perttilä from the HPO's own ranks. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 25 RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Concerto in A minor for Oboe and String Orchestra FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No. 6 in C major "The Little" THEODOR GUSCHLBAUER conductor HANNU PERTTILÄ oboe  

Led by two conductors, this concert takes us from Sibelius's mythical primeval forest towards Manhattan, whose fog sirens, riverboats and fire engines enchanted the composer Edgard Varése. Sound and Fury is an international hit in which Anna Clyne has a conversation with William Shakespeare's Macbeth and her fellow composer Joseph Haydn. JEAN SIBELIUS Tapiola JOSEPH HAYDN Symphony No. 60 "Il distratto" ANNA CLYNE Sound and Fury EDGARD VARÈSE Amériques JUKKA-PEKKA SARASTE conductor PEKKA KUUSISTO conductor  

Gustav Mahler originally gave a title to each movement of his grand Third Symphony but removed them from the score before the work was published. However, six famous titles have stubbornly remained on the side of the symphony from one generation, programme and concert to the next. Now they will be heard as accompaniments to the culminating concert of Susanna Mälkki's term as Chief Conductor.   Pan Awakes, Summer Marches In What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me What Man Tells Me What the Angels Tell Me What Love Tells Me. GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 3 SUSANNA MÄLKKI conductor VICTORIA KARKACHEVA mezzo-soprano MUSIIKKITALON KUORO CANTORES MINORES

Step into a musical time machine! The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes you to a gala concert presenting exactly the same programme as the orchestra’s very first concert 140 years ago in October 1882. Kajanus is replaced by Storgårds, concertmaster Sattler by concertmaster Kauppinen, the Assembly Hall of the University of Helsinki by the Helsinki Music Centre, and the Grand Duchy by the Republic of Finland, but the concert pieces, their order and the philharmonic spirit are unchanged! LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 FELIX MENDELSSOHN The Hebrides Overture op. 26 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Romance No. 1 MICHAEL HAUSER Hungarian Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra JOHAN SVENDSEN Icelandic Melody JOHAN SVENDSEN The Herd Girl’s Sunday CARL MARIA VON WEBER Jubilee Overture JOHN STORGÅRDS conductor PEKKA KAUPPINEN violin  

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  

Moscow, Berlin, and especially Paris. Years of studying in the world’s metropolises matured Väinö Raitio into a master of colour music. Raitio dresses our national bird in an impressionistically flickering costume. India, Sudan, New York. Olli Kortekangas' new work is dedicated to the memory of the poet Meena Alexander and the soprano Tuuli Takala. Joonas Kokkonen composed by a grand piano as he paced around it. A grand piano is also the heart of the home Alvar Aalto designed for Kokkonen. His Fourth Symphony was one of the first works completed at Villa Kokkonen. VÄINÖ RAITIO The Swans OLLI KORTEKANGAS Songs of Meena (world premiere) JOONAS KOKKONEN Symphony No. 4 JEAN SIBELIUS In Memoriam op. 59 OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor TUULI TAKALA soprano  

The Helsinki Music Centre Choir blows out ten birthday candles with works whose composers have been enchanted by poetry and painting. The majestic silence and mystical atmosphere of Piero della Francesca’s frescoes fascinated Bohuslav Martinů. On his summer holiday, Johannes Brahms was moved by a poem by Friedrich Hölderlin and immediately hurried to the sandy beach to sketch a piece. Alex Freeman’s new work is an extensive choral symphony that draws on the ecstatic optimism and energy of verses by four American poets. JOHANNES BRAHMS Schicksalslied BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca ALEX FREEMAN Ghost Light (A Choral Symphony in Three Parts) (world premiere) NILS SCHWECKENDIEK conductor THE HELSINKI MUSIC CENTRE CHOIR

Allow us to introduce: the environmental robot Baltic! He has met children from Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Germany and Denmark and sought answers to their tricky environmental questions about how we can all help protect the Baltic Sea. The performance Baltic is a joint production with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. It is also part of the Sea of Music project, which is a collaboration among symphony orchestras in the countries around the Baltic Sea. Age recommendation 5+ KRISTIAN SALLINEN conductor EIJA AHVO vocalist and presenter JUKKA NYLUND director

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.