The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s 2026/2027 season introduces new talents, welcomes back familiar faces and stays firmly in step with the times. Hannu Lintu, who is responsible for the artistic content, has received much praise for his dynamic and coherent programming, and this approach will continue.

When Hannu Lintu began his tenure as artistic partner of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in the autumn of 2025, the Sibelius Festival was overhauled. The festivals for 2025–2027 were planned as a cohesive whole, featuring works by other composers for the first time in the festival’s history.

The change has proven to be a success and has significantly increased both national and international interest. The continuity offered by the three programmes published simultaneously is particularly appreciated. This year, alongside Jean Sibelius, the festival features works by his contemporaries Richard Strauss and Sergei Rachmaninov, as well as by Sibelius’s close friend Ferruccio Busoni. The festival features top soloists as well as the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s long-standing partners, the YL Male Voice Choir and Dominante.

Before the concert season in Lahti begins, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hannu Lintu, will make a guest appearance at the Turku Music Festival. The programme includes works by Sibelius as well as Angels and Visitations, one of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s best-known and most frequently performed compositions.

Encounters

The Sibelius Festival’s subtitle, ‘Encounters’, would also be quite appropriate for the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s other concerts. This season you can also ‘encounter’ the orchestra’s musicians at the very popular free ‘After Work’ chamber concerts in the Town Hall courtyard, as well as in the new paid chamber music series at Pikkuteatteri. In a concert conducted by Pekka Kuusisto in April, musicians from the Lahti Symphony Orchestra will also appear as soloists in the Concerto Grosso by Nico Muhly, one of the most important composers of our time.

Different art forms also encounter each other at the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s concerts. In early October Atte Kilpinen, principal dancer and choreographer with the Finnish National Opera, will appear on stage with the orchestra. In February, musical worlds collide when the electric guitar—a central instrument in rhythm music—meets the symphony orchestra in Marzi Nyman’s recently completed concerto for his own instrument. ‘I’ve always been infinitely fascinated by combining the inexhaustible sound spectrum of the electric guitar with that of an orchestra. The possibilities are endless’, Nyman says about the origins of the work. In March, actress Seela Sella will be the narrator in a concert conducted by James Sherlock, and on April Fools’ Day we’ll explore ‘Soivan Suomen historia’ (‘The Musical History of Finland’) with the Red Nose Company and violinist Antti Tikkanen.

Children encounter adults at the ‘Tutti Juttu’ children’s concert in April, organized in collaboration with the Lahti College of Music. To conclude the season, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Tapiola Sinfonietta will join forces, welcoming spring with the passionate rhythms of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

New talents and familiar faces

Among the conductors scheduled to appear with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra next season are some eagerly awaited returning guests: Andrew Manze, who made his debut with the orchestra in the spring of 2026, as well as Marcus Stenz and Sakari Oramo, who are already well known to Lahti audiences.

The new generation of Nordic conductors is represented by Gudrun Dahlkvist, Emilia Hoving, Tabita Berglund, Julie Røssland and Malin Broman. Others whose careers are rapidly taking off include Polish-born Barbara Dragan, British conductor James Hendry and some who are upholding the Finnish conducting tradition: Mikael Loponen, Jukka Untamala, Aku Sorensen and the Finnish-British Ross Jamie Collins.

The roster of soloists also features rising stars such as pianist Anton Mejias, trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, violinist Tami Pohjola, soprano Iris Candelaria, pianist David Munk-Nielsen and violinist Andrea Cicalese.

More from the composer-in-residence

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s collaboration with composer Sauli Zinovjev is set to continue. The upcoming season will feature his international breakthrough work Batteria (2016) and a work named Recharged (2018), which is based on Charged 1 for eight cellos (2015) and which Zinovjev describes as ‘small and spicy’. The programme also includes the song cycle Tarpeeton pyyhitään yli (Erasure), setting poems by Mirkka Rekola, which soprano Helena Juntunen premiered in 2025 as a soloist with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Juntunen will also be the soloist in this work in Lahti.

New traditions

In the case of some of these performances, you can already see a tradition in the making. In the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s schedule, one such event might be a concert for Halloween and All Saints’ Day during the darkest days of autumn, featuring adventures with the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the Noonday Witch, visits to the Isle of the Dead and the Hall of the Mountain King, and culminating in a Night on the Bare Mountain.

George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah, with its magnificent ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, is a contender for becoming a new Christmas tradition. The Finnish star baritone Arttu Kataja is among an international ensemble of soloists in this concert conducted by Hannu Lintu.

Major works of church music for the Easter season are an integral part of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s annual programme. They are also extremely well suited to the concert hall. Next spring, Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion will be performed for the first time in the Sibelius Hall acoustic, conducted by Aapo Häkkinen, one of Finland’s most highly regarded experts on baroque music. The magnificent soloists include the mezzo-soprano Elsa Angervo, winner of the 2025 Timo Mustakallio Competition, whose voice has dazzled audiences and critics alike.

Serious Fun

The legendary 25-year collaboration between the vocal ensemble Rajaton and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra will be celebrated in a concert that is sure to get your feet tapping. Under the baton of British conductor Rumon Gamba, the concert will showcase a selection of music from their shared performances over the years.

Conductor Ako Kiiski’s new arrangements add sparkle to Laila Kinnunen and Olavi Virta’s best-known hits and lesser-known songs. In two concerts on the last Friday of October, the vocal soloists will be masters of the style, Johanna Iivanainen and Aarne Pelkonen. The same programme will also be performed at the Porvoo Art Factory.

Eeva Kontu, one of Finland’s finest theatre conductors, will transport the audience into the festive spirit of the pre-Christmas season with the scents of hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts in ‘Happy Holidays’. The programme also features a selection of Finnish classics performed by Laura Voutilainen and Petrus Kähkönen.

Season ticket sales for 2026/27 begin on Thursday 16 April 2026. Single tickets are available at Lippu.fi from Wednesday 13 May 2026.

Hannele Eklund