Sibelius Festival Programme 

29–31.8.2024 Sibelius Hall, Lahti
Dalia Stasevska, artistic director

SYMPHONY CYCLE

OPENING CONCERT

THU 29.8. AT 7 PM, SIBELIUS HALL
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor

Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 2

6 pm Pre-concert Talk, Carpenter´s Hall

The work that marked Sibelius´s international breakthrough, the First Symphony, showcases a fascinating new composer, the music of a young giant. The bright and romantic Second Symphony consolidated Sibelius´s reputation as a national hero

RUNONLAULAJA – RUNIC SINGING

FRI 30.8. AT 4 PM, SIBELIUS HALL, CARPENTERS´S HALL
Pajolaine Folk Song Duo:
Minna-Liisa Tammela, voice, laments, jouhikko
Emmi Kuittinen, voice, laments, kantele

After his marriage in 1892, Sibelius travelled to Karelia to study runic singing. The laments and songs, their history and Sibelius´s journey are revealed in this narrative concert by the Pajolaine Folk Song Duo.

GUEST CONCERT

FRI 30.8. AT 7 PM, SIBELIUS HALL
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor
Golda Schultz, soprano

Symphony No. 3
Luonnotar
Symphony No. 5

6 pm Pre-concert Talk, Carpenters´s Hall

The Third Symphony is dominated by an artless beauty, clarity, energy and purity of form. For the masterful and sublime Fifth Symphony, the composer drew inspiration from nature − ´Nature´s mystery and life´s melancholy!´ In Sibelius´s vocal output, Luonnotar emerges as an undisputed masterpiece.

AINO

SAT 31.8 AT 1 PM, SIBELIUS HALL, CARPENTERS´S HALL
Seela Sella, narrator
Vilina Rainisto, piano

Six Impromptus, Op. 5
Caprice, Op. 24 No. 3
Valse, Op. 24 No. 5
Nocturno, Op. 24 No. 8
Romance in D flat major, Op. 24 No. 9

The young Aino wrote letters to her new husband, whose piano pieces spund like musical replies to Aino.

FINAL CONCERT

SAT 31.8 AT 5 PM, SIBELIUS HALL
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska, conductor

Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 7

4 pm Pre-concert Talk, Carpenters´s Hall

‘The symphony represents a very important and great part of me’, Sibelius said of his Fourth Symphony. About the most lyrical of his symphonies, the Sixth, the composer remarked: ‘it is supported by undercurrents deep under the surface of the music’. The last symphony in the cycle masterfully combines the elements of a multi-movement symphony into a single entity.