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Press releases At Kuhmo, more tickets sold than last year Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival appears at Kostamus Meta4 to Represent Kuhmo in St.Petersburg Kuhmo ranking among top festivals Kuhmo Chamber Music Courses Held Through 40 Years The Chamber Music Festival Celebrates at Kuhmo Second season for Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter
Kuhmo Composition Competition won by Kuhmo to celibrate 40 years impressively Meta4 to become Quartet in Residence for Kuhmo This coming summer, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is putting on a programme full of variety and surprises. The two-week festival will, while presenting familiar chamber music classics, also include some rarities and concert performances of three whole operas! Performing in the close on 70 concerts will be 150 Finnish and foreign artists from Gidon Kremer to Jordi Savall onwards. Audiences will also have a chance to meet two of today’s most celebrated composers: Kaija Saariaho during the first week of the festival and Krzysztof Penderecki during the second. The festival begins on Sunday July 11 with an opera by Britten and ends with a Schumann concerto on Saturday July 24. Kuhmo will be hit by rain and thunder, at least of the musical sort. It will also examine music on both sides of the Iron Curtain, get caught up in a dancing whirl, meet some femmes fatales and daydream by the lake. According to Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn, the flow of the festival can be compared to that of a novel. Each day has a theme stated as a title and the theme subdivides into chapters. Top musicians from Finland and all over the world Among the festival artists will be violinists Gidon Kremer, Pekka Kuusisto, Priya Mitchell, Elina Vähälä and Vasile Pantir, pianists Laura Mikkola, Paavali Jumppanen, Heini Kärkkäinen, Juhani Lagerspetz and Konstantin Bogino, and cellists David Geringas, David Cohen, Martti Rousi and Frans Helmerson. Early music is the domain of the famous violist Jordi Savall. Vocal music will be represented by some of the finest talents of the young generation, such as Angelika Klas and the recent winners of the Karita Mattila Prize, Tuomas Katajala and Nicholas Söderlund. The summer’s string quartets are the Danel, Chilingirian, Enesco and Ardeo, and of course Kuhmo’s own resident Meta4 and as a first-timer the Finnish Quadrion. The Storioni Trio and the Kremerata Baltica will also be among the other ensembles. Kuhmo begins with opera The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival begins on Sunday July 11 with the opera The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten. Monday will focus on summer sounds, come rain or shine. It will also introduce the main theme for the first week of the festival, the music of Kaija Saariaho. Tuesday will visit various gardens and end in nocturnal mood. Wednesday, dedicated to dynasties, will begin with music by the Bach family, including that of a distant relative, P.D.Q. Bach. The evening will pass in the company of the Mendelssohns and Schumanns and a performance of the seldom-heard Piano Concerto by Clara arranged by Robert Schumann. Thursday looks at queens of different heavens, femmes fatales from the Lorelei to Salome and to Maria of Buenos Aires in the opera by Astor Piazzolla. On Thursday as well, audiences can meet Kaija Saariaho and hear her talk about her works. Friday will head for Vienna, calling on Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on the way to a great Schubertiade in the evening. The themes of the five Saturday concerts are mythical characters from Orpheus to the devil and the day will end with music from either side of the Iron Curtain. Waltzes and courtly dances played by Jordi Savall will be the order of the day on Sunday, in moods ranging from gypsy music to Purcell Festival ends with Kremer The second Kuhmo week begins with music on a water theme (Mare nostrum) and a rare experience – Messiaen performed on six ondes Martenot. The opera scheduled for Monday is The Emperor of Atlantis, a 20th century masterpiece composed by Viktor Ullmann. Tuesday is reserved for classics, but Pekka Kuusisto and Iiro Rantala will have a free hand in the evening for building their programme. On Wednesday Beethoven and Gubaidulina will meet Schubert and Prokofiev. Rounding off the day will be music by the festival’s eagerly-awaited guest composer Krzysztof Penderecki. Thursday has been set aside for Chopin and Russian composers. Friday will begin with Mozart, continue with Beethoven and end with a long concert retracing Zito the magician’s flights over the Check Point Charlie. Saturday July 24 will offer six concerts, and the final notes of the 2010 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will be played by Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica in a violin version of Schumann’s Cello Concerto. Two premieres Premieres have always been an essential part of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, and this year there are two. The Trio for clarinet, cello and piano by Sebastian Fagerlund, jointly commissioned by Ondine Oy and the Kuhmo Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, will get its first hearing on July 24. Last year a number of works that had won prizes in the international composition competition were heard at Kuhmo. This year the competition harvest will include the string sextet Pine Tree, Dreaming by Matthew Whittall, to be premiered on July 12, and the Trio for clarinet, cello and piano entitled Three poems from the Afterworld by Jouko Tötterström, on July 17. There will be Kuhmo, if not Finnish, first performances of the Mozart Oboe Quintet and Beethoven Flute Quintet as well as many other seldom-heard scores by composers ranging from Bach to Sciarrino. Chamber music for over 40 years The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival has been held since 1970 and has long been Finland’s biggest chamber music festival in terms of audience figures. In 2009 it was Finland’s fourth biggest festival, attracting visitors from Australia to Canada and from Europe to Japan, and recorded 38,898 concert attendances. The budget for the 2010 festival is €980,000. The concerts are held at the Kuhmo Arts Centre, opened in 1993 and renowned for its excellent acoustics, the traditional Kontio School and Kuhmo Church. Some concerts are also held at Lentiira Church and the Salakamari. Concurrent with the festival are the traditional Kuhmo music courses under the artistic direction of Junio Kimanen. The teachers on these courses, designed primarily for future professionals, are members of the festival faculty and tuition is provided in piano, strings and woodwinds. The course students perform in concerts. The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival also features poetry at meetings of the Live Poets club. Partnership The Kuhmo Chamber Music partnership model operates at two levels: Partners and Friends. The work at both levels is sustained and goal-oriented, but that with Partners is more extensive. The festival’s Partner in 2010 is the OP-Pohjola Group, while Friends are Canorama Oy, the City of Helsinki, E.ON, the Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company, F-Musiikki Oy, Kainuun Puhelinosuuskunta, Kainuun Sanomat, Kuhmo Oy, Osuuskunta Maakunta as part of the S-Group, UPM and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Grants are recieved from the Ministry of Education, the City of Kuhmo and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival wishes to thank all its Partners, Friends and other sponsors. Further info At Kuhmo, more tickets sold than last year
Compared with last year, ticket sale at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival clearly improved. This year there was in all 39 000 concertgoers whereas last year's sale the number was 37 000. Of the festival's 71 concerts 20 were sold out. The audience showed a special interest in the second festival week's programme. The festival budget amounts this year to one million euros.
Next summer, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival takes place 11–25 July 2010. One of the main themes is the Iron Wall, which in music, also could be understood as the limits of performing practice. Among the performers are, among others, Jordi Savall and his gamba ensemble and violinist Gidon Kremer, as well as, Krzysztof Penderecki, one of the most distinguished composers who has worked behind the Iron Wall.
Kaija Saariaho, important Finnish composer at Kuhmo next year, is present during the first festival week. Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn states that her works are at the centre of the concerts, influencing the choice of all compositions of the day.
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival reached this year both its sales target and its artistic goals. Stories and tales were the carrying themes of the year and, at the same time, a journey eastwards was made. For years, special favourites of the audience, Natalia Gutman, Virtuosi di Kuhmo, Pavel Vernikov, Seppo Kimanen and Yoshiko Arai were among the artists celebrating Kuhmo's 40th jubilee festival. In addition to traditional chamber music, the festival programme also included bandoneon music by Marcelo Nisinman as well as the Bizarre Bazaar, an evening inspired by folk music and created by Kari Kriikku.
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival appears at Kostamus
This year, the Kostamus Chamber Music Festival, Russia, receives reinforcement from Kuhmo. On Friday 27th, Mi-Sa Yang, Ja-Won Lee, Adrien La Marca and Victor Julien-Laferrière will appear as a quartet at Kostamus. The concert programme includes music by George Gershwin, Edvard Grieg and Antonin Dvořak.
At Kostamus, Kuhmo's nearest neighbouring town in Russia, a music festival is organized already for the 22. time. The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival appeared at the festival last year as well, as the Enescu Quartet performed at Kostamus. The Kostamus five days event started on 20 July and the audience is offered, for instance, choir music, song music, theatre, jazz and ballet performances
Meta4 to Represent Kuhmo in St.Petersburg
Next December, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will be introduced to St. Petersburg audiences. On December 15th, Meta4, the festival's string ensemble in residence, will perform the String Quartet Voces Intimae by Jean Sibelius and the String Quartet No.4 by Shostakovich, in the Maria Church. The concert completes this year's concert cycle, introducing Finnish music in St. Petersburg.
Established last year as the permanent quartet in residence of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Meta4 is one of the most successful Finnish string quartets. The ensemble has appeared at Kuhmo for many years and their vigorous performances have won the favour of both the audience and the critics. Founded in 2001, the members of the Meta4 Quartet are Antti Tikkanen, Minna Pensola, Atte Kilpeläinen and Tomas Djupsjöbacka.
This season, in addition to their Kuhmo concerts and representing the festival, Meta4 have appeared in Hongkong and Osnabrück. Further, the quartet performed at the Mankind and Cosmos- event at Kuhmo, as well as the Kuhmo Chamber Music Concert in Helsinki.
The guest performance completes a series of music events, commemorating the transition of Finland, in 1809, from the authority of Sweden to that of Russia. A good selection of Finnish music has been exported to St. Petersburg: as a part of the concert series, earlier in the year, Avanti! and the Finnish National Opera appeared in Russia. In October, also the Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform in St. Petersburg.
Kuhmo ranking among top festivals
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival features on the World's Best Festivals list of Austrian Festspiele magazine. Comparing festivals, in general, the magazine ranks Kuhmo14th.The Salzburg, Bayreuth and Bregenz festivals top the list. The comparison features in this year's second issue.
The second Finnish festival on the Festspiele list is the Savonlinna Opera Festival, ranking second after Glyndebourne, among the "castle festivals". On this list, also feature the Swedish Vadstena and Drottningholm festivals, as well as Dalhalla, on the open-air festival list. According to the magazine, the best open-air festivals are the Verona and the Orange festivals.
Earlier, in similar comparisons, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival also has risen to high ranks. In 2003, when the Financial Times listed the four top festivals in the world, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival was selected together with Drottningholm, Aix-en-Provence and Santa Fé. In 2007, the Independent on Sunday ranked Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival among one of the ten best festivals in the world.
According to the Festspiele Magazine, the 15 best festivals in the world are: 1. Salzburg, 2. Bayreuth, 3. Bregenz, 4. Wexford, 5. Aix-en-Provence, 6. Luzern, 7. the Munich Opera Festival, 8. White Nights, St Petersburg, 9. Edinburgh, 10. Pesaro, 11. Styriarte, Austria,12. Ravenna, 13. the Zürich Opera Festival, 14. Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, 15. Int. Festival Cervantino, Mexico
Kuhmo Chamber Music Courses Held Through 40 Years
In connection with the chamber music festival, once more, music courses, where the festival artists teach young musicians, are organised. In addition to instruction in playing their instrument, as well as in chamber music, the students have an opportunity to appear in student concerts and attend festival concerts.
These music courses have been organised since the year1970. Many students have become outstanding musicians and several of the festival's performers have studied at the Kuhmo courses. There are 109 students at this summer's courses. In addition to the Finnish participants, there are students from Japan, Germany, Estonia, UK, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Sweden. The Kuhmo festival audience has free access to the classes of, for instance, Konstantin Bogino, Pavel Vernikov, Hagai Shaham, Peter Frankl and the Danel Quartet. The Chamber Music Festival Celebrates at Kuhmo For two weeks, music sounds by the efforts of 150 performers
Rich in tradition, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival started on Sunday. Founded in 1970, the festival is now organized for the 40th time. The festival celebration will continue for two weeks and the last concerts will be heard on Saturday 25 July. Including Natalia Gutman and Pinchas Zukerman, 150 international and Finnish top musicians will appear in more than 70 concerts.
The festival's Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn has created a versatile jubilee programme, including both novelties and curiosities as well as chamber music classics. Fairytales and stories are the carrying theme of the year. In the programme, however, the string quartets of Beethoven and Shostakovich, as well as Gustav Mahler's music are central. The festival travels around the world, eastwards from London, ending up in New York. Works from different parts of the world, awarded at the Kuhmo international composition competition, are bringing winds of change to the programme.
Advance sale has gone well and, at the moment, more than 20 000 tickets have been sold, a thousand more than last year. On the basis of advance sale, a slightly bigger audience than last year can be expected to attend the jubilee festival. Nearly a half of the festival's income originates from ticket sale.
Executive Director Tuulikki Karjalainen believes the festive year will be a success, both financially and artistically. A noteworthy event, the festival has managed to find supporters, and this year, the budget amounts to one million euros.
40 years of international chamber music
The first chamber music festival took place at Kuhmo in 1970. The event developed rapidly into a festival of international standards and, in audience numbers, it has since long been Finland's biggest chamber music festival. As to tickets sold, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival appeared last year to be the fifth biggest festival in Finland. In 2008, 31 698 entrance tickets were sold and a total of 36 235 concertgoers was registered.
In connection with the festival, also rich in tradition, the Kuhmo Music Courses are organised, with Junio Kimanen as Artistic Director. In addition to the master classes in the piano, violin and chamber music, instruction in wind instruments will be given.
In 2009, the festivals co-operation partners are OP Pohjola Group, Biohit Oyj, Canorama Oy, F-Musiikki, Kainuun Energia Oy, Kainuun Sanomat, Kainuun Puhelinosuuskunta, Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Kuhmo Oy, Metsähallitus, Osuuskauppa Maakunta as a part of the S-group, Pörhön Autoliike Oy, UPM and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Further, operations are supported by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the City of Kuhmo, the Embassy of Austria in Helsinki and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Second season for Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter Emphasis on young artists
The winter cultural event jointly devised by Kuhmo’s cultural operators is to have an immediate successor – Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter is to be held for the second time on January 1-9, 2010. Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter is a meeting place for nationally and internationally-acclaimed Kuhmo cultural events organisers and artists. The emphasis in the programme for winter 2010 is on young artists and there will be music and dance of many kinds, exhibitions, nature photos, the Kalevala and lots more.
Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter begins on Friday January 1 with a New Year’s Day concert at the Kuhmo Arts Centre. This concert will be given by the Sinfonietta Lentua of young players from Kuhmo, the Kainuu region and Russia. This has been a local orchestra since 2000 founded and conducted by Jukka-Pekka Kuusela, its Artistic Director. He also works with other orchestras and has been appointed Conductor of the Murmansk Philharmonic Orchestra as of autumn 2009.
The Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter art exhibition opens at the Kuhmo Arts Centre on Saturday January 2. The exhibition’s young artists, Juha Kettunen and Eeva Jauhiainen, are both from Kuhmo. Juha is studying art at the North Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Joensuu and Eeva graphic art at the Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts. Juha is exhibiting oil paintings, Eeva mostly graphic art.
Saturday also features a dance evening, when the Lentua Hall will be filled with young Kuhmo dancers: the professional Routa dance group and students from the P.A.R.T.S. Dance Academy. Their performance is an interpretation of the music The Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and the choreographer and coach is Maija Palsio. Kuhmo-born Mikko Hyvönen, now studying at the Brussels Dance Academy, and Aron Blom from Sweden will star in a contemporary dance duet. Routa, from Kajaani, represents the high standard of contemporary dance in the Kainuu region of Finland.
An exhibition on the topic of Finland’s national epic, the Kalevela, opens at Juminkeko on Sunday January 3. The sculptures in Finnish granite by Jaana Bombin from Kainuu were inspired by the forces of nature combined with both universal and Kalevala mythology.
On Tuesday January 5 children and children-at-heart are invited to a fairytale opera (The poor brother and the rich brother) with a libretto based on a Russian-Karelian folk tale. This will be performed by Kuhmo-born Liisa Huttu-Hiltunen, piano, and Hanna Hurskainen, voice. Both are Sibelius Academy graduates – Liisa in the piano and Hanna in singing and acting.
The spotlight on Wednesday January 6 is on Finland’s oldest and biggest chamber music event, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. During this winter concert Paavali Jumppanen will play sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Paavali Jumppanen is a former Kuhmo music course student and a Festival artist of many years’ standing.
On Thursday January 7 a true account of the work of a nature film maker can be heard at the Petola Visitor Centre. Kari Kemppainen comes from Kuhmo and will be talking in words and pictures about his work, the moments of success and the disappointments it has brought him. Known throughout Finland for his nature films, Kari Kemppainen has spent countless hours working in forests and hideouts in the course of 20 years.
Friday January 8 has been reserved for folk musicians from Kuhmo and Kainuu. There will be a get-together with folk music and a sing-along at the Juttua café in the Kuhmo Arts Centre and the performers will include Pekka Huttu-Hiltunen, Minna Seilonen, Salla Seppä and Janne Seppänen.
Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter ends on Saturday January 9 with a rock evening for young people. Taking the stage at Kuhmo High School will be the Kuhmo bands Vinide and Andy Jay & Kumiankat. The warm-up bands will consist of the school’s own students. Vinide combines hard rock and melodic mood metal, while Andy Jay & Kumiankat play covers in 1980s gear.
The aim of Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter is to provide a wide range of culture both for local people and visitors from further afield. The Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter organisers - Juminkeko, the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the culture department of the City of Kuhmo, the Kuhmo Arts Centre and the Petola Visitor Centre - invite holiday-makers from both Finland and abroad to visit Kuhmo in winter.
The Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter visual image was designed by Klaus von Matt.
Further info:
or Taina Hyvönen, City of Kuhmo, tel. (08) 6155 5380 Sari Rusanen, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, tel. (08) 652 1964 Sirpa Nieminen, Juminkeko, tel. (08) 653 0671 Pekka Huttu-Hiltunen, Sommelo Folk Music Festival, tel. 044 250 1395 Eeva Pulkkinen, Petola Visitor Centre, tel. 0205 64 6380 Matti-Jussi Pollari, Kuhmo Arts Centre, tel. (08) 6155 5450
Jolly July is here again
Jolly July is coming again. Be sure not to miss it, you’ll never forget it. It’s well worth a visit in sunshine or rain.
Jolly July will soon be here again – crazy and entertaining, a gentle whisper, a rippling wave, a violent hailstorm, singing raindrops – something for every family and child. With a promise of laughter, dreams, happy voices, the peace of the wilds, the feel-good factor and plenty of surprises.
All this and more besides is promised by the Jolly July team in Kuhmo in its brochure for 2009. Now to be held for the third time, Jolly July will run from June 27 to July 31 and take in 136 quality culture and nature events for children, families and all who are children at heart.
The founders and main organisers of Jolly July - Juminkeko, the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, the Kuhmo Arts Centre, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and the Petola Nature Centre – have recruited 13 other members for their Children’s Kuhmo team: Kainuun Pirtti Oy, Kalevala Spirit Kuhmo, Kuhmolainen yleisurheilucup athletics cup, Tanssin Ystävät dance association, Kuhmo Kalevalaiset Naiset heritage association for women, Kuhmo Adult Education Centre, Kuhmo Library, Kuhmo Church, the Lentua Society, the Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, Taiga Spirit, Tuupala Museum and the Winter War Museum. Together they have created a programme of events lasting 35 days and packed with music, sport, handicrafts, nature, poetry, exhibitions and plenty more.
Responsible for the music are the Sommelo Folk Music Festival, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, the Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, the Kuhmo Arts Centre and Kuhmo Church. As their names suggest, Sommelo will be offering folk music and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival chamber music. The summer musicians at the Kuhmo Arts Centre will combine the two genres and introduce more besides at their coffee concerts. The Kuhmo branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare will also be bringing to Kuhmo Mimi and Kuku, a music theatre duo familiar from Finnish TV, while the Church will be hosting short organ recitals and holding music classes for babies.
Kainuun Pirtti, Kuhmo Adult Education Centre and the Petola Nature Centre will be organising lots of fun with handicrafts. Visitors to the Kainuun Pirtti workshops can, for example, make roses, catapults and organic fishing rods, while the Petola action day will feature such things as willow pipes and birch-bark boats. Art day at the Adult Education Centre will be an opportunity to draw, paint, photograph and print summer moods both indoors and outside.
All sorts of creatures may be spotted during the nature trips. The Lentua Society will be contributing bird-watching at the Kämärä bird tower and an outing to Pajakkakoski to spy out butterflies, beetles and other creepy-crawlies. Taiga Spirit will spirit families out into the wilds with some bear-spotting at Vartius. Supplementing and adding depth to the nature programmes are the Peltola nature and exhibition trails.
Anyone wanting some fun and exercise may enter for the Kuhmo Athletics Cup or join a Tanssin Ystävät dance course. There will be running races and long jump in the Cup, and modern dance, show dancing, hip hop and capoeira on the dance courses. And at the end of the dance course pupils can demonstrate what they have learnt at a dance show.
Verbal art is the domain of Kuhmo Library and the Kalevalaiset Naiset heritage association for women. The former will be running a table-top theatre, and the latter invites children to come and listen to stories in the garden of writer Irma Hannula. On Summer and Poetry Day, July 6, the Kalevalaiset Naiset will be holding a poetry karaoke session at which children can read and listen to their own and others’ poems. There will also be an exhibition of children’s books at the Library throughout Jolly July.
Information about the Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, will be provided by Juminkeko. Each day there will be a multi-media show and a chance to explore the Juminkeko exhibitions and books.
The museums will be putting on special tours for children: the Tuupala house museum looking at life on the farm as seen by a serving girl, and the Winter War Museum the work of the women’s auxiliary services. The summer programme of Kalevala Spirit Kuhmo includes a sheep maze – a light-hearted adventure in search of Heini the sheep.
All of these will be available during Jolly July in summer 2009. Jolly July will officially begin at the Kuhmo Arts Centre at 2 pm on June 27 with a children’s concert by the summer musicians.
The idea behind Jolly July is to demonstrate to anyone working with children and young people the importance of quality culture and nature experiences to the favourable growth and development of the child. The events will, it is hoped, attract audiences and participants of all ages, because shared fun or thought-provoking moments linger as pleasant memories far into the future.
Marketing the event has been made possible by Kuhmon Osuuspankki bank.
For further information please see
or contact one of these team members:
Juminkeko, Sirpa or Markku Nieminen, tel. (08) 653 0670 Sommelo Folk Music Festival, Pekka Huttu-Hiltunen, tel. 044 250 1396 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Sari Rusanen or Tuulikki Karjalainen, tel. (08) 652 0936 Kuhmo Arts Centre, Matti-Jussi Pollari, tel. (08) 6155 5451 Petola Nature Centre, Eeva Pulkkinen, tel. 0205 64 6380
Press
release 19.12.2008 Kuhmo to celebrate 40 years impressively Top artists and great themes
Next summer, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will be 40 and the jubilee will be celebrated impressively. The Festival will be welcoming a host of top artists, such as, violinist Pinchas Zukerman, mezzo soprano Monica Groop, cellist Natalia Gutman and pianist Olli Mustonen. Cellist Seppo Kimanen, the founder of the Festival in 1970, will be a festival artist as a matter of course. Also, after winning great popularity at two Kuhmo festivals, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir will appear at Kuhmo next year. The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival will be held next summer on July 12 -26, 2009.
Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn has chosen the string quartets of Dmitry Shostakovich and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as, Gustav Mahler's vocal works. In addition, during the 14 days of the festival we will be on a musical journey, by the Orient Express, from London to Istanbul. At Kuhmo, the journey will be extended also to the Holy Land, China and Japan.
As there will be a first performance dedicated to Kuhmo every day, a great deal of unheard music will feature in the programme. The winners of the international composition competition, announced last spring, will also be made public during the Festival.
Audience target reached
Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival came to and end on Saturday 26 July. Ticket sale reached the same level as last year with 32 000 tickets sold and a total of 37 000 concertgoers and visitors. In average, there were five daily concerts, many of which were fully booked.
Artistically, the festival was a success and the variety of the programme received ample praise. In addition to the classical works, the concertgoers were particularly inspired by the works of Sofia Gubaidulina, also a guest of the festival.
This year, the budget for the festival was the same as in 2007 - 890 000 euros, but this will not be enough for next year's festive event. "To achieve a balanced budget is every year more and more difficult, says the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival's Managing Director Tuulikki Karjalainen. Costs are continually on the rise and great efforts are now needed in order to find extra financing for the festive year.”
For a long time already, the Festival has been Finland's largest chamber music event. Calculated from the total of ticket sale, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival was last year Finland's fifth largest festival.
Meta4 to Become Quartet in Residence for Kuhmo
The Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival has appointed the Meta4 String Quartet to become its Quartet in Residence. According to the contract, Meta4 will play during the Festival and in concerts organised by the Festival, both in Finland and abroad. In a short space of time, the Meta4 have advanced to the front ranks of Finnish string quartets. The quartet's members are Antti Tikkanen, Minna Pensola, Atte Kilpeläinen and Tomas Djupsjöbacka.
As a quartet in residence, Meta4 will be regularly appearing at Kuhmo during the festival weeks. Further, Meta4 will play in Hongkong, in March 2009 and in Osnabrück, Germany, in April. Next spring, the quartet also will perform at the Kuhmo Humankind and the Cosmos event, as well as, in Kuhmo Chamber Music Concerts, in Helsinki.
Founded in 2001, Meta4 won the Moscow Shostakovich Competition in 2004 and the Vienna Joseph Haydn Competition in 2007. In the same year the quartet was awarded the Finland Prize. The Meta4 Quartet has played in concerts, among others, in London, Vienna and New York. Over the years, the quartet has appeared at Kuhmo many times and, with their vigorous performances, they have gained popularity among both audience and the critics. This year, at Kuhmo, the Meta4 have played works by Mozart, Ravel, Janáček and Debussy.
Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn's reasons for the appointment are simple: ”Meta4 is a brilliant quartet". The quartet is entering on an important international career and, according to Mendelssohn, not keeping the quartet would be a great loss for Kuhmo and Finland.
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