The theme of the 55th Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is ‘Nordic Utopia’

14.1.2025

Kuhmo Chamber Music is set to take place for the 55th time from 13th to 26th July 2025. This year, our artistic directors Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen have chosen Nordic Utopia as the theme for the upcoming festival. The program will explore many unique aspects of Nordic culture, lifestyle, climate and mindset, while acknowledging the region’s deep connections and interconnections with the rest of the world. The 14-day festival program will feature a total of 57 ticketed concerts.

“This year’s theme and the sheer breadth of the festival give us once again a wonderful opportunity to put interesting things together, to delve into a topic, to go off-topic, and, above all, to have fun. There is plenty to admire in Nordic history, societies, nature, and mentality, and plenty to perform too. That being said, we are a group of very different, unique, and smallish countries, and from time to time it’s a good idea to examine what we get up to from the outside, and always with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor,” Pensola and Tikkanen explain.

Three World Premieres

Highlights of the summer’s festival include numerous premieres and three specially commissioned works. This year’s quest composer will be the Danish composer Josefine Opsahl, several of whose works will be heard throughout the festival, including a newly commissioned piano trio performed by the Gaspard Trio. Opsahl will also perform as a cellist at the festival.

The 2025 festival will open with Intimate Voces, a collaboration between the Red Nose Company theatre group and the Meta4 string quartet. This co-production delves into Jean Sibelius’s experiences of self-doubt and his fear of death. A new work from Seppo Kantonen will have its first performance. Entitled Nordic Utopia, a series of miniatures for violin and double bass, the work reflects the festival’s theme and explores significant moments in Scandinavian history, traditions, and the fusion of local culture with influences from further afield. Our artistic director Minna Pensola and her brother, the double bass virtuoso Jani Pensola, will perform the piece.

Our Interaction with Europe

Nordic composers have historically had very close connections with their European peers, and this theme will be explored in many of our concerts. For instance, Edvard Grieg had a not insignificant influence on 20th-century French music, particularly that of Debussy and Ravel, and a whole concert will be dedicated to exploring this connection. Another example is the curious number of Nordic composers who studied in Leipzig during the era of Mendelssohn and Schumann concert; these composers traveled to Leipzig, met one another, established friendships, and eventually brought European influences back home. Composers who met in Leipzig include the Norwegian Christian Sinding, the Swede Amanda Meier, the Dutch composer Julius Röntgen (who later married Meier), and the Dane Niels Gade, and their music will be explored in a concert entitled All Roads Lead to Leipzig.

Our Connection with Nature

Nature and landscapes have always inspired Nordic composers, and this tradition is reflected throughout the festival program. For instance, Jean Sibelius’s home estate Ainola, and its surroundings resonate in many of his works, just as Edvard Grieg’s music is overflowing with admiration for the Norwegian fjords. Finland-based composer Matthew Whittall has drawn inspiration from Lapland’s ‘Devil’s Gate’ (Pirunportti), and here his work will be juxtaposed with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Additionally, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons will be paired with seasonal works by a whole smorgasbord of Nordic composers.

Female Composers

Equality, a key Nordic value, is another significant theme of this year’s festival. Indeed, chamber music as a genre exemplifies equality in performance, and this will be emphasised throughout the festival as we platform works by women composers. Alongside Josefine Opsahl, the program will feature works by Finnish composers Kaija Saariaho, Outi Tarkiainen, and Cecilia Damström, as well as the Swedish composer Elfrida Andrée, a veritable trailblazer for women in music, who challenged strict 19th-century expectations not only through her work in the women’s movement but as the first female cathedral organist in Scandinavia.

Romani Traditions

Kuhmo Chamber Music 2025 will also celebrate minority cultures, and this year the spotlight is on Romani traditions. The violinist Miritza Lundberg is soon to become Finland’s first Romani doctoral graduate with her thesis examining the influence of Romani music on European classical music. At Kuhmo, Lundberg will perform both alone and with her ensemble, presenting classical music influenced by Romani culture and selections of authentic Romani music from Finland to be played, sung, and danced.

Nordic Noir and the Nobel Prizes

Can a festival about Nordic culture possibly omit the phenomenon that is Scandinavian crime fiction? At Kuhmo Chamber Music, we think not! The Swedish author Henning Mankell is the undisputed father of Nordic Noir, but how many of you knew that his grandfather – incidentally, also called Henning Mankell – was a composer? Thus, the Mankell family will be represented at Kuhmo Chamber Music in both word and music. And that’s not all! Texts by Satu Rämö, the Iceland-inspired Finnish crime author, will be paired with music by an Icelandic composer. The texts will be read by internationally acclaimed actress Alma Pöysti.

And if we cannot omit Nordic crime fiction, we certainly can’t overlook the Nobel Prizes either. One of our concerts will feature music directly inspired by the texts of Nobel Prize-winning authors.

Superstars

The great figures of the classical music world will be explored in a concert entitled Nordic Superstars. These ‘superstars’ include Sibelius, Nielsen, Saariaho, and Grieg, but the program will also shine a light on some forgotten talents and rising stars. One such forgotten figure is the Finnish composer Agnes Tschetschulin, who studied in Berlin under the tutelage of the renowned violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, a close friend of Johannes Brahms. Agnes was a prolific composer and performer and would undoubtedly have become a superstar, had she not been a woman. In contrast, the Icelandic composer and conductor Daniel Bjarnason is a contemporary superstar who already has a string of awards and accolades to his name. The roll call of the good and the great also includes the Norwegian virtuoso violinist Ole Bull, who captivated audiences across America, where he eventually founded his very own utopian colony, ‘Oleana’. Bull visited Helsinki in 1838, where he was noted in the diary of none other than Zacharias Topelius, and sparked something of a violin craze in Southern Finland.

Hymns and Singing Together

Hymns have always echoed throughout the Nordic region, and this summer we will present a whole concert dedicated entirely to the genre. This concert will feature national anthems from various countries and highlight some very surprising connections between them. Denmark, for instance, has two national anthems – one for the king and one for the people. Similarly, Norway has two, one of which shares its melody with that of the United Kingdom. Finland’s contribution will be Finlandia, which was briefly the national anthem of Biafra too. The concert will also feature South Africa’s national anthem, which shares its melody with the hymn Kuule isä taivaan (‘Hear, O Heavenly Father’) and will surely rise to hitherto unheard heights when performed by South African viola player and overtone singer Gareth Lubbe. In many of this year’s concerts, the audience will be invited to sing along too. What’s more, a free sing-along event inspired by the popular Swedish ‘Allsång’ tradition will take place in Kuhmo’s marketplace.

Hygge, Fika, Sisu and Much More Besides

The children’s concert by the Red Nose Company will be a retelling of H. C. Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes, while, in the spirit of Scandinavian hygge, at another concert audience members will be encouraged to bring along their knitting and clack away while listening to music inspired by Nordic fairytales. Other Nordic lifestyle phenomena, such as Sweden’s fika and Finnish sisu, each get a concert of their own.

Climate change and the apocalyptic dystopia threatening our planet will be addressed in a special concert, while the festival will revive its traditional ‘Chamber Music Fever’ evening events. And there are surprises in store as accordionist Veli Kujala turns his hand to a spot of magic.

There’s always plenty to see and hear at Kuhmo Chamber Music. Our 2025 festival comprises 57 ticketed concerts and 20 free events, featuring a total of 300 works – a volume of music equal to a full year’s repertoire for the average symphony orchestra. Daily Heart of the Day events will provide insights into the upcoming concerts. These free events will be hosted by the artistic directors, our musicians, guest composers and the musical journalist Minna Lindgren.

As usual, the Kuhmo Music Courses will take place during the festival. Both professional students and active music enthusiasts are welcome to attend the summer courses. In 2025, there will be a special focus on chamber-music ensembles aiming for or on the verge of international recognition. Course details will be announced in February.
This summer’s visual arts exhibition will be organized in collaboration with Pertti Ketonen from the Himmelblau Graphic-Design Studio and art expert Markku Valkonen. Kuhmo Arts Centre will host an exhibition by photographer and video artist Elina Brotherus. The Chamber Music Centre Gallery will feature an exhibition by the Latitude 64th Parallel collective, whose practitioners include the textile artist Ariadna Donner and the nature photographer Ville Heikkinen.

The main concert venues for this summer’s festival will be three distinctive wooden buildings: Kuhmo’s wooden church, built in 1816, Kuhmo Arts Centre from 1993, and Tuupala Primary School, completed in 2018. Concerts in the surrounding area will take place at Lentiira Church and Sotkamo Church. The concert in Sotkamo will be the main event of the Sotkamo Day.

100 artists
Around 100 international artists will perform at Kuhmo Chamber Music in 2025, with a focus on Nordic musicians. Highlights include Norway’s Vertavo Quartet, Denmark’s Theatre of Voices, the flautist Janne Thomsen, the pianist Marianna Shirinyan and the Swedish cellists Thorleif Tedéen and Jakob Koranyi alongside home-grown festival favorites such as the pianist Paavali Jumppanen, the violinist Tami Pohjola, and the Meta4 string quartet. Exciting newcomers include the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Miritza Lundberg’s Romani ensemble and Australia’s Affinity Quartet, winners of the Melbourne String Quartet Competition. Audience favorites from previous years include the Baroque ensemble Scherzi Musicali and the Paddington Trio.

Finances
The combined budget for the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and courses is one million euros, of which 920,000 euros is allocated to the festival and 80,000 euros to the courses. The festival aims to cover 55% of its budget through ticket sales and 10% through support from our partners. Grants from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the City of Kuhmo are expected to cover 31%, with other subsidies covering 4%. For the courses, 63% of the budget is expected to come from course fees, with 37% from grants and other income.
“The most important value at Kuhmo Chamber Music is maintaining the highest artistic standards, which we are determined to uphold even during these difficult financial times. A festival this extensive and its associated courses simply cannot be realized on a smaller budget,” says Executive Director Sari Rusanen. “We are confident that our program is so outstanding that our financial goals will be achieved,” Rusanen continues.

Kuhmo Chamber Music’s business partners include OP Kuhmo, OP Kainuu, Kainuun Sanomat, Kuhmo Oy, No-Pan Auto Oy, and Osuuskauppa Maakunta. Other grants include a €10,000 grant from the Kone Foundation for the performance of Roma music in Kuhmo, and a €25,000 grant from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation for highlighting Danish composers and musicians. The Scherzi Musicali ensemble’s travel expenses to Kuhmo are supported by Wallonie-Bruxelles International.

More information:

Kuhmo Chamber Music, tel. +358 44 544 5162