The spring season of the orchestra of Oulu will be continued by old and modern classics, classic guitar music and concerts of light music. In April, the orchestra is going to play three season concerts (Beautiful Dreams 7.4., Tabula Rasa 14.4. and ¡Viva España! 21.4.) and already for the third etime at the LIVE presentation of Entisten nuorten sävellahja (29. and 30.4.), where the Madetoja
Hall is filled by the evergreens presented by Saara Aalto, Pete Parkkonen and Pauli Hanhiniemi on two successive nights. The programme also contains two chamber concerts of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Musicians.
On Thursday April 7th, lead by the chief conductor Rumon Gamba, the last orchestra song cycle Nocturne (1958) of the most popular English composer of the 20th century, Benjamin Britten will be presented. The songs composed on the poems of William Shakespeare, Alfred Tennyson and William Wordsworth, for instance, describe the nightly thoughts in the middle of darkness. The work will be interpreted by the British star tenor Benjamin Hulett, who is a habitué of the London Royal Opera House, Vienna State Opera and Salzburg Music Festival, among others. The concert is closed by the fifth symphony of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
A week later, on April 14th, two most famous works of Arvo Pärt from Estonia, who is perhaps the most played modern composer, will be presented. In the year of 1977 completed works Tabula Rasa and Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten describe both the core of the existence: Tabula Rasa tells about the spiritual awakening, and Cantus was composed to the memory of Benjamin Britten, greatly admired by Pärt, soon after Britten´s death. The first symphony of Johannes Brahms, which will close the concert, was completed after 20 years, and got soon after the first public performance the nickname Beethoven´s tenth. The concert is lead by the Estonian conductor Risto Joost, familiar to the public in Oulu.
The Italian conductor Daniela Musca is a familiar guest, too. She leads the Mediterranean concert on Thursday, April 21st. The programme includes the music of the Italian composers Luigi Boccherini and Ottorino Respighi, the Spanish styled Siesta of the British master Sir William Walton and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov´s Capriccio Espagnol. Ismo Eskelinen, who is one of the Finnish first-class classic guitar heroes, will play as a soloist Sebastian Fagerlund´s guitar concerto Transit.
Ismo Eskelinen will be the quest of Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Musicians in their concerts of the spring chamber music series on Friday, April 22nd at 5 pm in the Tulindberg Hall (Oulu Music Centre) and Saturday, April 23rd in the House of Oulunsalo Youth Association from 4 pm on. The programme includes Guitar Quintet, Op.143 of the Italian Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco known for his several film compositions, and Maurice Ravel´s String Quartet in F Major.
Entisten nuorten sävellahja LIVE, which has become enormously popular, will fill the Madetoja Hall again at the end of April. On Friday, April 29th and Saturday April 30th there will be a concert full of classic melodies with the patinage of age interpreted by Saara Aalto, Pauli Hanhiniemi and Pete Parkkonen. Presenters are Jorma Hietamäki and Jyri Kataja-
Rahko from Yle Radio Suomi, and the orchestra is conducted by Jukka Myllys. The concert of Saturday is also sent live on Yle Areena. The audience is also invited to enjoy a delicious First of May buffet at Restaurant Preludi. The buffet is served on both conceert days.
Text: Oulu Symphony
Photo: Daniela Musca, c Stefano Corso