Highlights of Oulu Sinfonia’s November concerts include a Piazzolla evening starring Maria Ylipää, as well as the Oulu debut of Elisabeth Brauß, the rising German pianist whose career is taking off at comet-like speed.
The concert Concerto or Carnival? on Thursday 6 November explores the extremes of classical music. Sir Michael Tippett’s delicately poised Little Music for String Orchestra (1946) opens the evening with a touch of British elegance, followed by Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (1933), performed by German pianist Elisabeth Brauß in her Oulu debut. Brauß has recently been acclaimed for her performances at Helsinki Chamber Music Festival and Mänttä Music Festival. This witty, almost carnival-like concerto brings the piano together with a near-equal solo partner: the trumpet, performed by Oulu Sinfonia’s Principal Trumpet Thomas Petit. The evening concludes with Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F Major, regarded as one of the composer’s most beloved orchestral works. The concert is conducted by Chief Conductor Rumon Gamba.
The largest symphonic work of the autumn season will be heard on Wednesday 19 November in the concert The Siege of Leningrad. The programme features a single monumental piece: Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C Major, “Leningrad” (1942). Written amid the horrors of the Second World War, during the siege of Leningrad, the score was famously smuggled to the West, catapulting Shostakovich to international fame. During the Cold War, the symphony became politicised once again, but today it is regarded as one of the most powerful works in music history. Leningrad will be performed as a joint concert by Oulu Sinfonia and Jyväskylä Sinfonia, conducted by Rumon Gamba. The performance will also be heard in Jyväskylä on Thursday 20 November.
On Thursday 27 November, Madetoja Hall will overflow with grand emotions and fiery drama as Oulu Sinfonia celebrates the long collaboration and 60th anniversary of Oulu Opera, founded in 1965. Under the baton of Ville Matvejeff, the concert Opera Favourites presents some of the most memorable arias and overtures in the history of opera. The soloists include Sonja Herranen, who appeared in summer 2025 at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as Liù’s handmaiden in Turandot. Herranen has achieved success in numerous competitions: she won second prize in the Lappeenranta Singing Competition in early 2023 and later the same year took first place in Elisabeth Connell Prize in London, a competition seeking out the dramatic female voices of the future. Tuomas Miettola, well known to Oulu audiences from his role as Tamino in The Magic Flute (2023–2024), also made his Savonlinna debut in summer 2025, performing as the First Man in The Last Temptations.
On Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 November, actor-singer Maria Ylipää and her friends bring the classics of nuevo tango to life with Oulu Sinfonia. The programme features music by Astor Piazzolla, whose compositions blend traditional tango with modern art music and jazz – a style he coined in the 1950s as tango nuevo, or “new tango”. The ensemble includes accordionist Niko Kumpuvaara, guitarist Marzi Nyman and bassist Ville Herrala. The concert can also be enjoyed with an optional Argentinian-inspired buffet.
As Oulu prepares to become the European Capital of Culture in 2026, Oulu Sinfonia will exceptionally announce its entire 2026 concert season at once. The audience is invited to preview next year’s programme at Restaurant Preludi in the Oulu Music Centre on Tuesday 25 November at 6 p.m., where Chief Conductor Rumon Gamba will present the highlights of the forthcoming season from both an artistic and planning perspective.
Immediately following the event, at 7 p.m., Oulu Sinfonia Chamber Musicians will perform the concert Interwoven Elegance in Tulindberg Hall. The same programme cand be heard on Friday 28 November at 7 p.m. in Yli-Ii Church. Admission to both the presentation event and the chamber concerts is free.
Text: Oulu Sinfonia
Photo: Elisabeth Brauß, c Felix Broede