Roots and wings at the Kuhmo Chamber Music winter concert
21.10.2022
The theme for Kuhmo Chamber Music in the summer of 2023 is Roots and Wings, which is also the theme for the start of the concert at the Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter event. The event and the concert will at the same time open the series of events to celebrate Kuhmo’s selection as the Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2023.
The concert is on Sunday 19 February 2023, and it starts at 6 pm at the Kuhmo Arts Centre. The performers are the Festival’s Artistic Directors, violinists Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen, pianist Heini Kärkkäinen and cellist Tuomas Lehto.
The Artistic Directors have described the programme as follows: ’the concert begins with Kelly-Maria Murphy’s Give me Phoenix wings to fly, which opens a door to the world of myths, and, indeed, spreads its wings! The work is based on the legend of the Phoenix and is at once sensitive and gripping.
Trees spoke to the great master, Jean Sibelius, and next on the programme is his most admired work for piano Five Pieces op. 75, also known as the Tree Suite. All five pieces will be heard, these being When the Rowan Flowers, The Lonely Pine, The Aspen, The Birch, and the splendid Spruce.
There is also a whiff of Finnish nostalgia in the last work in the first half of the concert, Toivo Kärki’s wistful tango Siks oon mä suruinen (That’s why I’m sad). It will be performed in an intimate arrangement for singing violinist, violin and cello.
After the interval there is a performance of Outi Tarkiainen’s mournful Kunnes kivi halkeaa (until the Stone splits) and the peppery tones of the finale of Zoltán Kodály’s sonata for solo cello. These represent the link between the sound worlds of Finland and Hungary. Outi Tarkiainen is also guest composer at the Festival next summer.
The last work of the evening is Jouni Kaipainen’s piano trio no. 2, entitled nous hauki kuusen latvukseen (The Pike rose to the Top of the Fir Tree), which is from Aaro Hellaakoski’s poem Hauen laulu (The Pike’s Song). It was the composer’s final work and was first performed just one week after his death. It is powerful, expressive and deeply personal, and many of those familiar with Kaipainen’s output might have thought that it represented a new direction in his career.’
Tickets are now on sale. They are available directly from the Kuhmo Arts Centre or via the lippu.fi service. Tickets cost 25 euros. Students, those under the age of 20 and the unemployed pay just 20 euros.
The rest of the Kuhmo Culture Celebrates Winter programme is still being planned, but it will be out in the next few weeks. The event coincides with the traditional annual skiing holiday for residents of southern Finland. Whilst at Kuhmo, during the day visitors can ski, go walking (snowshoes are advisable!), catch fish through the ice and do all the other things that make winter special. In the evening they can attend the Kuhmo Winter events. Come and enjoy a winter break!
Further information from:
Kuhmo Chamber Music; tel. +358 44 544 5162
