Search for sound in the FRSO´s first music centre season

Guests include Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra enters a new era with the start of its new season at the Helsinki Music Centre in autumn 2011.

New are not only the premises, but above all the environment in which the music is played. “Actually we’re starting right at the beginning. Finding out how the music sounds,” says Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo. Many works focusing precisely on orchestral sound have accordingly been chosen for the season’s programme. Among the artists are many international stars who did not need much persuading to perform at the new concert hall.

Five world premieres and Finnish premiere of Hillborg’s Cold Heat

During the forthcoming season the FRSO will give the world premiere performances of five works commissioned by Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). These will be a Violin Concerto by Ville Matvejeff, music by Yrjö Hjelt for the Finnish silent film Elämän maantiellä in the autumn, and a new orchestral work by Max Savikangas, a Viola Concerto by Canadian composer Matthew Whittal and a song cycle by Jukka Tiensuu in the spring. YLE has also been one of the co-commissioners of Cold Heat by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg that was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under David Zinman in January 2011. Zinman will also conduct the Finnish premiere at the concert by the FRSO on 13 April 2012.

Music Centre sound to be sought with big orchestral works

In order to establish the best sound in the Music Centre concert hall, the programme for next season will feature some big orchestral works, such as Mahler’s Symphonies 6 and 9, Bruckner’s Symphony no. 7, Liszt’s Faust Symphony and Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 4. In October the FRSO will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt and in November the centenary of the birth of Erik Bergman. On 30 November members of the FRSO will perform the six Bach Brandenburg Concertos without a conductor.

Top artists from Kurt Masur to Lisa Batiashvili

The FRSO had no difficulty persuading some of the finest artists on the international circuit to come and perform at the new Helsinki Music Centre. The audiences can be enchanted by the magic Mahler interpreter Christian Gerhaher, Camilla Nylund, Topi Lehtipuu and Lilli Paasikivi. Appearing with the FRSO will be violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Janine Jansen, and Thomas Zehetmair as both soloist and conductor in the Beethoven Concerto. Representing the keyboard elite will be Sunwook Kim, Angela Hewitt, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Olli Mustonen and others, and there will also be soloists from the FRSO’s own ranks: Jukka Harju, French horn, and Ilari Angervo, viola. Wielding the baton will be both top Finnish conductors and maestros Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt.

Increase in chamber music recitals at the Music Centre

For the 2012 season members of the FRSO have planned a series of chamber music recitals inspired by Vienna, city of music. Once a month on Sundays there will also be a free chamber music recital in the Music Centre’s Rehearsal Hall.

The foreign tours in the forthcoming season will head for Bonn, Amsterdam and London. In Bonn the FRSO under Sakari Oramo will play at the closing concert of the prestigious Beethoven Festival and in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw. The London concert will be conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Barbican.