A wealth of English music will be heard during the spring season of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. The January concerts cover both the urban throb of London and Austrian natural landscapes. Concerts will be streamed live on the orchestra’s YouTube channel and can be watched free of charge for 30 days after the premiere.
The spring season of Rumon Gamba, the new Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra , has a clear theme: the relationship of English masterworks with Continental European classics. In Welcome Rumon! -concert (13th of January), the first concert of January, the British legacy is represented by Edward Elgar’s Cockaigne Ouverture (In London Town) and A London Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Elgar’s work describes the bustle in London while Vaughan Williams borrows from the Westminster Chimes and from the songs of stallholders for example.
“What usually comes to mind about Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar is the countryside, the nature, and the verdant landscapes that they knew well and often romanticized”, Gamba says. “This time, they appear to reflect a colourful urban landscape, even though nature is not far from there either. The Thames in particular stays always put even though the city is in continuous change.”
To complement London music, Gamba originally selected Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with the Spanish violinist Leticia Moreno as a soloist. Unfortunately, Moreno has had to cancel her arrival at Oulu due to illness, and the concert will be played without the Sibelius concerto.
The season of English music will continue on January 20 when Jessica Cottis, the new chief conductor of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in Australia, returns to conduct the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. In addition to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, a depiction of nature treks near Vienna, she will conduct the Divertimento on Sellinger’s Round composed in 1954 by one of the great names of English music: Sir Michael Tippett. It is based on a 16th-century melody from the Elizabethan era.
The trumpetist Matilda Lloyd, the soloist of the evening, will make her debut appearance in Oulu. The UK-born Lloyd is quickly ascending to join the best-known players of her instrument and has already performed as a soloist with the Malmö and Rotterdam Symphony Orchestras and with the BBC Concert Orchestra. She made her breakthrough in 2016 already by appearing at the BBC Proms festival as the soloist of the London Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall. In Oulu, she will interpret Johan Nepomuk Hummel’s Trumpet Concerto which is considered to be the cornerstone of the Viennese-classical trumpet repertoire.
Due to Covid-19 situation and regulations given by authorities, the XII Leevi Madetoja Piano Contest will be postponed to a later date. We will inform the audience more as soon as possible. Tickets purchased for the orchestra finals on Friday 28th of January will be valid on the new date, too.
Ticket prices for the January concert will be refunded to our customers. Those who have bought single ticket or mini series tickets will get cash refund. Those who have bought season card will be refunded the amount of cancelled concerts. Oulu Symphony Orchestra will send more detailed information to the customers by email, and publish instructions on web during the second week of January.