Rejoicing Under the Whip

En Saga, a highlight of Jean Sibelius’s early oeuvre laced with Northern mysticism, was one of the composer’s personal favourites. “En Saga is one of my most profound works psychologically. I might say it encompasses the entirety of my youth. It is an expression of a certain state of the soul.”

Dmitri Shostakovich, under personal attack by Joseph Stalin, salvaged his career with his Fifth Symphony. The composer, accused of pessimism, declared his newest work a public apology that gave unrestrained praise to the to the Soviet ideology — or, as Shostakovich would later reveal, demonstrated what it sounds like to rejoice under the threat of the whip.

Danish National Romanticist composer Carl Nielsen probed the limits of tradition with his concerto, now considered one of the key works in the flute canon of the last century. Janette Leván, a young Finnish prodigy of the instrument, makes her Oulu debut as the soloist, and the orchestra is conducted by the students of the conducting class of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.

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Duration about 2 h (incl. intermission)

Tickets 29 € normal/ 24 € pensioner / 16 € student, unemployed, child (3–17 yrs)
Free entry to the concert for Kaikukortti holders (limited amount, must be purchased in advance from Oulu10 service point).

Prices include service fee. Order fee 2 €/order when bought from Ticketmaster shops or 1,50 €/order when bought from Ticketmaster online shop will be added, excluding tickets purchased at Madetoja Hall ticket booth and Kaikukortti-tickets.

Head start at Restaurant Preludi at 18:30. Discussion of the forthcoming concert.