The Finnish symphony orchestras created a joint summer greeting for all students and teachers in Finland – conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as musical advisor.

A massive orchestra, consisting of musicians from member orchestras of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras, have made a virtual recording of the finale of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony no 7, which will be released as a mosaic video on Friday May 29^th at 9 am, to mark the ending of the orchestras spring seasons. The orchestras’ joint project is a summer greeting to all students and teachers who are ending their school year. The choice of music is an homage to Beethoven’s 250^th anniversary.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen has acted as the musical advisor for the project, and the production has been a joint effort of all the orchestras. Approximately 300 orchestral musicians from all around Finland took part in the project, and recorded each part separately.

”Not even the exceptional situation of this spring has stopped our fantastic orchestra musicians from playing together. The orchestras collaborate a lot with schools in general, so this project was a particularly pleasant one”, says Helena Värri, executive director of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen describes the finale of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony no 7 as energetic, danceable, optimistic and frankly boisterous music, in other words an excellent match to the positive theme of the project. “The 250 year-old composer’s masterpiece is getting an exceptional execution in an exceptional time. For my own part, and for my musician colleagues who took part in this project, I want to wish all of Finland’s students and teachers a happy summer”, says Salonen.

The video will be published on the YouTube channel of the Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras on Friday May 29^th at 9 am (GMT +3) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl1sUW0IXjPSI9k1yEi8hFQ

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland, and with the Finnish National Agency for Education.

The project of the Finnish symphony orchestras is part of a package of programming for spring festivities in schools, produced by the Finnish National Agency for Education. The whole package is available on the YouTube channel for the Ministry of Education and Culture: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC099mnC25-pLRxIhcqmS1GQ as well as on Finnish Government social media accounts on Friday May 29th at 9 am.

More on the Finland forward –campaign: https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/finlandforward

For more information on the project: Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras, executive director Helena Värri, +358505569781 or helena.varri@sinfoniaorkesterit.fi

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The Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras work to further and develop professional orchestra work in Finland. The Association consists of 31 member orchestras:

Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyvinkää Orchestra, Joensuu City Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Kemi City Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonietta, Lapland Chamber Orchestra – Rovaniemi City Orchestra, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, Lohja City Orchestra, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Oulu Sinfonia – Oulu Symphony Orchestra, Pori Sinfonietta – Pori City Orchestra, Savonlinna Orchestra, Seinäjoki City Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti – Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta Lentua Orchestra, St. Michel Strings, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta – Espoo City Orchestra, The Orchestra of the Finnish National Opera, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Vaasa City Orchestra, Vantaa Pops Orchestra, Vivo Symphony Orchestra