Oulu Sinfonia’s April opens with the Mystique & Melancholy concert on Thursday, 3 April. The evening’s mysticism is conjured by Einar Englund’s (1916–1999) iconic score for the landmark Finnish horror film The White Reindeer (1952), set in Lapland among shamans and witches. The melancholic counterpoint comes from Russian Romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, whose wistful Symphony No. 2 features some of his most beautiful melodies.
In the concerto of the evening, mysticism and melancholy become one. Academician Joonas Kokkonen’s Cello Concerto, considered one of his major works, was composed for Arto Noras and commissioned in dedication to Alvar Aalto. The piece crystallises Kokkonen’s late style, which leans towards neoclassicism and provided the foundation for his celebrated opera The Last Temptations. The soloist for the concerto is Oulu Sinfonia’s new solo cellist, Oliver Erlich. The concert is conducted by German-born Jascha von der Goltz, known as the winner of the 2021 Jorma Panula Conducting Competition.
The rise and fall of German music – that is the theme, in short, of the Rise & Fall concert on Maundy Thursday, 17 April. Exactly 80 years ago, Richard Strauss witnessed his homeland first crumble under a brutal regime, then succumb to bombing raids. The day after the destruction of the Vienna State Opera, he completed Metamorphosen, a work for 23 solo strings woven from themes of classical masterpieces, including symphonies by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as Strauss’s own piano concerto. The concert concludes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, Eroica, regarded as one of the cornerstones of romanticism. The programme is conducted by Italian maestro Daniele Giorgi, making his Oulu debut alongside von der Goltz.
The Two Princesses concert on Thursday, 24 April, presents Béla Bartók’s vibrant dances and the musical tales of two fairy-tale princesses, conducted by Chief Conductor Rumon Gamba. The evening begins with the rarely heard Cinderella Suite (1903), which composer Selim Palmgren himself considered one of his finest works even in his later years. The programme’s centrepiece is Briggflatts, a saxophone concerto inspired by the poetry of modernist writer Basil Bunting. This work by British composer John Harle (b. 1956) was written in 2019 as a bespoke piece for rising saxophone star Jess Gillam, who last dazzled Oulu audiences six years ago. The concert concludes with Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s suite from The Sleeping Beauty, a beloved 1890 ballet score brimming with romantic drama and orchestral grandeur.
The most joyous concert of the spring is the traditional Tutti Juttu, a collaboration between Oulu Sinfonia and Oulu’s music classes that has been running for over 30 years. Young musicians and professional orchestral players come together to prepare this annual concert, conducted by Matias Nässi. This year, music classes from Pateniemi, Myllyoja, and Teuvo Pakkala schools will take part. Tutti Juttu takes place on Thursday, 10 April, at 18:00.
Oulu Sinfonia Chamber Musicians also offer music for the whole family in April. A Musical Adventure concerts will be played on Saturday, 12 April, at 15:00 at the Koivu ja Tähti Cultural Centre in Muhos and on Sunday, 13 April, at Pekuri Library in Oulu, with performances at 11:30, 13:00, and 15:00. As always, the chamber concerts have free admission.
Text: Oulu Sinfonia