Uutiset

Master and Apprentice

Yehuda Gilad, conductor
Olli Leppäniemi, clarinet
Turku Philharmonic Orchestra

Richard Strauss: Serenade for winds in E flat major op. 7
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major K. 622
Johannes Brahms: Serenade no. 2 in A major op. 16

All-round musician Yehuda Gilad – clarinettist, conductor and teacher – visits Turku with a programme heavy on winds. Olli Leppäniemi, a student of Gilad’s and the first Finnish winner of the distinguished international Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition in 2009, performs Mozart’s breezy and jovial Clarinet Concerto. The programme begins with a youthful work by Richard Strauss and concludes with a soothing Serenade by Brahms.

The City of Turku is contributing to the Beethoven Pastoral Project, a worldwide art and climate project, in the form of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra’s Beethoven concerts. The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra will be performing a full concert of Ludwig van Beethoven’s works as conducted by principal guest conductor Julian Rachlin at Turku Concert Hall on Thursday and Friday 13–14 February at 19:00. Beethoven is one of the most notable composers of classical music in history, and in 2020 his 250th birthday is being celebrated all over the world.

The Beethoven Pastoral Project is one of the international projects undertaken to celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday. Launched in Beethoven’s city of birth, Bonn, the project aims at increasing climate awareness and the unity between mankind and nature. The project is centred around Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, which depicts his relationship with nature. A total of 170 organisations from around the world, approximately 50 of which are orchestras, are taking part in the project. In addition to the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, other Finnish participants include the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Lieksa Brass Week and Hyvinkään Salonkiorkesteri.

The City of Turku is a pioneer in sustainable development and has set the climate goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2029. The City engages in international cooperation to mitigate climate change and aims to make the Turku area climate positive as part of its climate plan.

“We are very happy for the opportunity to participate in the Beethoven Pastoral Project and international efforts to increase climate awareness through music. Turku does ambitious work as part of global efforts to combat climate change and is one of the top cities in the world in terms of climate objectives,” says Mayor of Turku Minna Arve.

“As a city of culture, Turku and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra have a strong connection to European music history, and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the oldest orchestras in the world to have played Beethoven as contemporary music. Participating in the project also strengthens Turku’s role in the international field of culture,” Arve continues.

Turku Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert to also be streamed live online  

The Turku Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert will feature three of Beethoven’s works conducted by Rachlin. The evening will begin with the lively Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, which will be followed by the heroic Piano Concerto No. 5, popularly known as the Emperor Concerto. The piano concerto’s soloist is the internationally renowned Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin.

The evening will conclude with Symphony No. 6, also known as the Pastoral Symphony. The programmatic symphony depicts Beethoven’s favourite landscapes, namely rural life and nature. The Friday concert has already been sold out, but there are still some seats left for Thursday. The concert will also be streamed live online at tfo.fi/live.

Violinist, violist and conductor Julian Rachlin is one of the most esteemed musicians of our time. For the first 30 years of his career, he has played as a soloist with the leading conductors and orchestras of the world. Rachlin is the principal guest conductor for the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.

Denis Kozhukhin established himself as one of the most notable pianists of his generation when he won the 2010 Belgian Queen Elisabeth Competition held in Brussels at the age of 23. Kozhukhin performs regularly with several leading international orchestras and made his debut in the BBC Proms in 2018.

Congratulations Beethoven 250! Thursday and Friday 13–14 February at 19:00 at Turku Concert Hall. The 14 February concert will also be streamed live online at tfo.fi/live. Julian Rachlin, conductor, Denis Kozhukhin, piano, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Beethoven.

Further information on the Beethoven Pastoral Project: https://pastoralproject.org/.

Chinese New Year

Tianyi Lu, conductor
Huang Mengla, violin

Huang Ruo: Folk Songs (first performance in Finland)
He Zhanhao & Chen Gang: Butterfly Lovers´ Violin Concerto (first performance in Finland)
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony no. 9 in E minor op. 95 ‘From the New World’

The musical idiom of composer Huang Ruo, an original blend of various genres, has been praised for instance in The New Yorker and in the New York Times. Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto is one of the most popular Chinese orchestral works. It is based on a Chinese folk tale of tragic love. The soloist is Huang Mengla, winner of the international Paganini Competition in 2002. Dvořák’s hit symphony, also a blend of styles, concludes the concert conducted by high-flying conductor Tianyi Lu.

The concert is also performed in Helsinki, Finlandia Hall, on Monday 27th of January. In Helsinki the conductor will be Lü Jia,  Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Macao Orchestra.

Danish accordion virtuoso Bjarke Mogensen has a well-established presence on the world’s concert scene. In 2012, he won 1st prize at the New Talent competition of the European Broadcasting Union. Sound and Simplicity by his compatriot Poul Ruders was written specifically for Mogensen and is now performed in Finland for the first time. Christian Kluxen, already well known to Turku audiences, begins the evening with Debussy’s iconic tone poem and concludes with Stravinsky’s snapping and crackling Petrouchka.