My Oulu: Oulu Symphony’s spring programme presents a star tenor from England and Diandra channeling divas
Allan Clayton and Diandra are among the star visitors of Oulu Symphony Orchestra this spring. Clayton is one of England’s most celebrated opera stars, and Diandra has risen to popularity through praised TV performances in Finland.
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Oulu Symphony Orchestra has a wide-ranging repertoire to offer this spring. Top international and Finnish conductors and soloists will be giving guest performances in Oulu. The Thursday concerts will begin 30 minutes earlier as per audience request.
Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s spring season concerts will be based on great symphonies of western art music led by prominent conductors internationally and in Finland. During the spring, the Thursday concerts will primarily begin at 18.30 as per audience request.
On Thursday January 16, the prosperous competitors of the international Mirjam Helin singing competition will be heard in Oulu. The visiting soloists will include the winner Jingjing Xu, third-place Junho Hwang and the press panel’s favorite Hedvig Haugerud. The programme includes arias by Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi and Vincenzo Bellini, as well as overtures from the operas The Flittermouse and The Marriage of Figaro.
The Italian maestra Daniela Musca is a familiar conductor guest in Oulu.
The Beethoven’s Heirs concert will be performed on January 30 and conducted by the Italian conductor Daniela Musca. The concert will include modern composer Mats Larsson Gothe’s fragmented version of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7’s finale, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 recited by Hannu Alasaarela, a leading figure of Finnish piano art who started his career in Oulu.
On Thursday February 6, the theme of the concert will be Calm and Storm. One of Finland’s most promising conductors Elisar Riddelin will conduct the concert through Johannes Brahms’s stormy Symphony No. 1. Turku’s philharmonic orchestra’s top oboist Takuya Takashima will interpret the British composer Ruth Gipps’s oboe concerto from 1941.
Honoring the Divas
Two Music of the Divas concerts will be held between the season concerts on February 12 and 13, sung by the widely popular Diandra, known from her numerous TV appearances in Finland. The concert includes hits from Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Celine Dion and other renowned divas. The concert will be conducted by Antti Rissanen.
The February 27 season concert is called French Delicacies. Concertmaster Mikko Sorri will be giving Juha Pisto’s commission Poème for Solo Violin and Orchestra its first public performance. Sorri will also be interpreting the beloved work Poème by the French composer Ernst Chausson. The evening also includes Claude Debussy’s La Mer and Paul Dukas’s Fanfare from La Péri conducted by Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor Rumon Gamba.
Lauri Vasala plays the French horn section in a duet with Allan Clayton.
On March 27, the theme is Serenade for Two. Allan Clayton, one of England’s most praised opera stars, will be giving a guest performance. The Englishman, who has charmed in London’s Covent Garden and New York’s Metropolitan Opera, will perform Benjamin Britten’s serenade as a duet accompanied with the French horn. The French horn section will be performed by Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Lauri Vasala. Additionally, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 5 as well as Sibelius’s rarely performed incidental music from the Scaramouche series will be performed, conducted by Rumon Gamba.
On Thursday April 3, the season consert is titled Mystique & Melancholy. The winner of the Jorma Panula conductor competition Jascha von der Goltz will be debuting in Oulu with Einar Eglund’s compositions for the Finnish film classic Valkoinen peura (1952) as well as Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Oulu Symphony’s solo cellist Oliver Erlich will perform Joonas Kokkonen’s only concerto.
The season concert Rise and Fall on April 17 will be conducted by the Italian Daniele Giorgi. The programme includes Richard Strauss’ late masterpiece Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings, as well as Beethoven’s Eroica.
Many have hoped for the return of saxophonist Jess Gillam to Oulu.
In the Two Princesses concert on April 24, the long-awaited return to Oulu of the star saxophonist Jess Gillam will finally happen. She is the soloist in John Harle’s Briggflatts saxophone concerto for the first time in Finland. Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Selim Palmgren’s Cinderella as well as Béla Bartók’s Dance Suite will be heard conducted by Rumon Gamba.
The Barabbas! concert on May 8 will celebrate Aulis Sallinen’s 90th anniversary with a performance of a Finnish concerto specialty, Sallinen’s Barabbas Dialogues for accordion and orchestra. The accordion virtuoso Mika Väyrynen will be playing as the soloist as he returns to Oulu after a break of many years. Conductor Kalle Kuusava will present the American romantic Amy Beach’s major work for the audiences of Oulu: a symphony in E minor, also known as Gaelic.
The spring will culminate with the Tapestries of Life joined concert with the Kuopio City Orchestra. The grand orchestra led by Eugene Tzigane will perform Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem Sinfonia Domestica and the baritone Johannes Held will interpret a selection of songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn series which explores German folk tales by Gustav Mahler. The concerts are held on May 15 in Oulu and May 16 in Kuopio.
The spring season comes to an end with the Classical Wishes concerts on Thursday and Friday May 22–23. The audience has voted for their favorites from among the gems of classical music.
Spring traditions
Oulu Symphony Orchestras’s spring includes some annual traditions.
- The orchestra will play in the Leevi Madetoja piano competition’s Concerto Finale on Friday January 24.
- The Oulu Music Festival will be held in March.
- The Tutti Juttu concerts on April 10–11 will once again invite the sixth graders of Oulu’s music schools on stage with the orchestra. The joined concert will culminate the semester-long project led by Matias Nässi.
- The May Day Matinee led by Jukka Myllys will answer the wishes for a May Day concert that will highlight hidden talents.
- The Oulu Symphony Chamber musicians will continue their free of charge Chamber Concerts. There are plenty of interesting venues in Oulu and neighboring municipalities for smaller compositions. The Chamber musicians will visit, for example, the Koivu ja Tähti Culture Centre in Muhos, the Botanical Garden of the University of Oulu, and the Oulunsalo Church.
