The last concert of the festival on Aug 20th presents the French violist Antoine Tamestit and the German pianist Markus Hadulla, who captivate the audience in Sigyn Hall with interpretations of Schubert, Britten and Shostakovich. Before the Closing Concert we hear Lunchtime Concert in the Art museum and the last Bach in the afternoon with Eero Palviainen, lute.

 

Handel's first performances at Turku Music Festival on Thursday

The Italian orchestra Il Complesso Barocco, conducted by early music "guru" Alan Curtis, performs baroque music pearls in the Academy Hall on Thursday Aug 19th. The Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn sings as soloist - and on the program we find some newly rediscovered Handel arias!

 

Mechanical instruments, two concert series  and beatboxing on Monday

The chamber orchestra Avanti! pays a visit to Turku on Monday Aug 16th. The concert "Mechanical Music" at 7 pm in Sigyn Hall presents the most peculiar mechanical instruments composers and musicians have tried to invent in order to make their job easier - and Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy, among others, can be heard as soloists thanks to the machines!

Two concert series, "Cantus Diurnus" in the Orthodox Church and "Bach in the afternoon" in the Cathedral, will start on Monday. At the former, Turku Festival Ensemble performs vocal music from the renaissance to our days, and at the latter the world-renown guitarist Ismo Eskelinen plays Bach's suite for lute E major and Ciaccona d minor.

Felix Zenger and Jarkko Riihimäki conclude the evening at Monk. Monday's concert programmes are given new forms when beatboxer Zenger and pianist Riihimäki sample the day's offerings to match the jazzy mood of Monk.

 

Adventurous experiences of liberty on Saturday and Sunday

The daylong archipelago trip Själö - the Island of Souls on Sunday Aug 15th and the prison concert Le prisonnier libéré on Aug 14th and 15th offer adventurous experiences of liberty. The excursion to the former isolation island Själö includes a touching concert in Själö church, archipelago cruise, guided tour of the island, brunch and dinner. Le prisonnier libéré captures the prisoners mind with songs of Schumann and Tom Waits, performed by baritone Florian Boesch.

 

Soprano Helena Juntunen charms on Friday night

On the second day of Turku Music Festival, Friday Aug 13th, we get to peep in a soprano's living room and experience liberating blues in the Turbin Hall.

Soprano Helena Juntunen has invited some guests - baritone Florian Boesch, pianist Jukka Nykänen and researcher Mikko Sams - to sit with her on a couch in Sigyn Hall at 6 pm. The soirée, free from traditional concert norms, is about happiness, and the merry ensemble is to perform songs that make them happy and talk about happiness both on musical and scientific terms. The programme includes beloved songs by Jean Sibelius, Oskar Merikanto, Robert Schumann and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others.

Honey B. & The T-Bones, the number one Finnish blues band, and pianist Seppo Kantonen bore into the core of the festival theme "liberty" as they perform blues classics and new Finnish blues pieces in the Turbin Hall at 9 pm. The barren Turbin Hall creates an impressive setting for the blues, born in difficult times to express desire for freedom.

Today's programme:
6 pm. Sigyn Hall: Helena's kitchen * Helena Juntunen, soprano, Jukka Nykänen, piano, Florian Boesch, baritone, Mikko Sams, researcher
9 pm. Turbin Hall: Bluesturbiini * Honey B. & The T-Bones, Seppo Kantonen

 

International glamour at the Opening Concert

The theme of the Opening Concert, held at the Turku Concert Hall on August 12th, is "Women and Liberty", interpreted by the German soprano Melanie Diener. This is the first time the international top soprano visits Finland, but it may not be the last: Diener's voice is described as addictive. The orchestra, in honour of the new artistic director from Tampere, is Tampere Filharmonia, conducted by Hannu Lintu. The programme consists of Samuel Barber's haunting Andromache's Farewell, Richard Strauss' Rosenkavalier Suite, Thomas Adès' Powder Her Face Suite and the beautiful ouverture and Isolde's Love-death (Isoldes Liebestod) from Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde.

 

Ismo Eskelinen's unique master class on Turku Music Festival

Guitar virtuoso Ismo Eskelinen holds a master class on Turku Music Festival Aug 16th to Aug 20th in Turku, Finland. Guitarists as well as chamber music ensembles are welcome to participate on the unique course held by the Finnish world-renowned guitar talent. Master class participants get free access to all the concerts during the festival - this year the programme presents among others an exclusive Guitar Festival: J.S. Bachs lute compositions are performed by the best young Finnish guitarists and a remarkable lutist.

Course fee is € 240. Don't miss the exceptional chance! Send in your application to Sähköpostiosoite on suojattu roskapostiohjelmia vastaan, Javascript-tuen tulee olla päällä nähdäksesi osoitteen by July 2nd.

 

The Infernal Comedy is soon in Turku - buy your ticket now!

The Infernal Comedy, stage-play starring actor John Malkovich, is soon in Turku! There are still some tickets left to the extra show on July 4th at the Turku Concert Hall - don't miss this unique chance to see the international success! Buy you ticket at Lippupalvelu or at Turku Music Festival Box Office (tel. +358-2-277 7377, Mon-Fri 12-15).

 

Turku Music Festival Box Office now open!

Turku Music Festival Box Office is now open. Tickets to Turku Music Festival can be purchased in Turku at the Ã…bo Svenska Teater (Turku Swedish Theatre) Box Office, situated in the heart of Turku in Hansa Shopping Center (Aurakatu 10). The Box Office is open from Monday to Friday 12-15. Welcome!

 

Turku Music Festival - over 40 concerts to explore!

Turku Music Festival will be celebrated for the 51st time in August 2010. On July 4th, before the actual festival week, we take a head start with the internationally renowned stage-play Infernal Comedy, starring John Malkovich, which in the Nordic countries will be seen exclusively in Turku. The festival starts at the Turku Night of the Arts on August 12th and lasts until Friday following week. With over 40 concerts to explore, the festival week will be filled with different musical experiences.

Turku Music Festival's new Artistic Director, tenor Topi Lehtipuu has chosen liberty as his theme for the 2010 festival. Topi's programme is versatile: soprano Helena Juntunen presents her skills not only as a singer but as an actor in a unique lied concert themed happiness, Avanti! chamber orchestra plays with fascinating mechanical inventions, the French violist Antoine Tamestit offers thrilling interpretations, winner of the XI national Turku cello competition Tomas Nuñez-Garcés gets sentimental with Bach, the Italian orchestra Il Complesso Barocco gives first performances of some newly discovered Handel arias, the prized dance theatre Glims & Gloms takes the whole family to a world filled with fairy tales and the new Artistic Director himself sings at a thrilling first concert in the Gas Bell. The festival also offers beat boxing by Felix Zenger, comics in concert, blues by Honey B. & The T-Bones, lute music accompanying a neck massage and traditional Finnish runo song. In addition, music can be heard at the Kakola prison and at the former isolation island Själö.

Tickets can be purchased at Lippupalvelu (a ticketmaster company). The Turku Music Festival Box Office will open on June 1st at Ã…bo Svenska Teater's Box Office in the Hansa shopping centre and will be open Mon-Fri 12-15. The entire festival program can be seen under Program.

Free music, free concerts
At the 2010 festival the concert format is being played with freely. The beloved soprano Helena Juntunen gives a unique concert Helena's kitchen on Aug 13th - instead of a traditional concert, Helena and guests discuss, make music and surprise their audience in a cheerful atmosphere in Sigyn Hall. The new generation is represented by beat boxer Felix Zenger who, together with pianist Jarkko Riihimäki, offers new views on the concerts heard earlier that day at Simply Sampling evenings at Monk on Monday Aug 16th and Tuesday Aug 17th.

Bluesturbiini, with top names of Finnish blues Honey B. & The T-Bones and Seppo Kantonen, nails the essence of freedom at the rough Turbine Hall on Friday Aug 13th. Classical blues pieces as well as modern Finnish blues are on the program. The freedom of improvisation, again, is on the agenda at the concert Improdialogues in Sibelius museum on Saturday Aug 14th. During the first half of the concert, archaic Finnish runo song is combined with freejazz while the other half, called Comics in Concert, witnesses the simultaneous forming of music and picture.

One of Finland's foremost chamber orchestras Avanti! gets crazy about machines at the concert Mechanical Music on Monday Aug 16th in Sigyn Hall. The wonders of mechanical music make it possible even for Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy to appear as soloists at the concert that presents the most peculiar mechanical instruments.

Unique first performance and international stars
The festival week will open on Aug 12th in the Concert Hall with an Opening Concert featuring Tampere Filharmonia conducted by Hannu Lintu and soprano Melanie Diener as a stunning soloist. The concert, themed "liberty of women", offers, among others, Adès' Powder her Face Suite and Wagner's touching Isoldes Liebestod. The last concert of the festival on Aug 20th presents the French violist Antoine Tamestit and the German pianist Markus Hadulla, who captivate the audience in Sigyn Hall with interpretations of Schubert, Britten and Shostakovich.

The Italian orchestra Il Complesso Barocco, conducted by early music "guru" Alan Curtis, performs baroque music pearls in the Academy Hall on Thursday Aug 19th. The Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn sings as soloist - and on the program we find some newly rediscovered Handel arias. The Gas Bell, owned by the local energy enterprise, is introduced as a brand new concert venue; it has never hosted a concert before. At the concert In the beginning there was a breath clarinettist Karin Dornbusch, accordionist Mikko Luoma and tenor Topi Lehtipuu captures the audience with music by Perotinus, Tiensuu and Reich, among others. The whole family is entertained by the prize-winning dance theatre Glims & Gloms performing a classic Finnish fairy tale Pessi ja Illusia in Sigyn Hall on Sunday Aug 15th.

Atmosphere
The popular and familiar concerts Bach in candle light and Bach in the afternoon continue with known artists - on the former, we hear some elegant Bach interpretations from the winner of the XI national Turku cello competition Tomas Nuñez-Garcés, and the relaxing afternoons are spent with Bach's lute music performed by various guitarists, among which the internationally renowned Ismo Eskelinen. This year's novelty is the series Cantus diurnus, attracting the busy citizens to the Orthodox church situated by the market place, to hear beautiful vocal music performed by Turku Festival Ensemble, a group of skilful singers. On Sunday Aug 15th the same ensemble can be heard at the Festival Mass in the Cathedral.
Experiences!
August's festival week gets a head start on July 4th when the Concert Hall will be overtaken by the haunting, international stage-play Infernal Comedy. The play is based on a true story and the internationally known actor John Malkovich plays the main character. Orchestra Wiener Akademie, conducted by Martin Haselböck, and sopranos Bernarda Bobro and Aleksanda Zamojska perform arias by Gluck, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Boccherini and Weber, to intensify the plot.

The daylong archipelago trip Själö - the Island of Souls on Sunday Aug 15th and the prison concert Le prisonnier libéré on Aug 14th and 15th offer adventurous experiences of liberty. The excursion to the former isolation island Själö includes a touching concert in Själö church, archipelago cruise, guided tour of the island, brunch and dinner. Le prisonnier libéré captures the prisoners mind with songs of Schumann and Tom Waits, performed by baritone Florian Boesch.

Sibelius museum hosts a new wellbeing concert on Saturday Aug 14th when lutist Eero Palviainen plays relaxing lute music and massagers from Turku massage academy take care of the audience's neck and shoulders - sweetness for both body and mind.

In addition, music is being taken to schools as well as senior citizens. On the Turku Night of the Arts an outdoor stage on the new Vähätori-square offers a setting for festival artists in the warm August evening. The traditional Evening at the VPK follows the liberty theme with the title Freestyle.

Turku music festival's traditional master class concerts are held at the Arts museum from Tuesday to Friday Aug 17th - 20th. The master class students are trained by top guitarist Ismo Eskelinen, renowned cellist and chamber musician Erkki Lahesmaa, violin virtuoso Alexander Vinnitski, prize-winning cellist Samuli Peltonen and the legendary song pedagogue Elisabeth Werres. In addition to the master classes, a beat boxing workshop is arranged with Felix Zenger as instructor.

 

John Malkovich live on Turku Music Festival

Turku Music Festival 2010 Aug 12th - Aug 20th, Head Start July 4th with Infernal Comedy starring John Malkovich. For more information, see Program.