Chamber music classics and ideas from across the world, celebrated artists and young musicians – all come together this summer in the Kuhmo Global Village. Kuhmo Chamber Music begins this year on July 10 for a festival that lasts two weeks. Appearing in the nearly 80 events will be over 150 top musicians from Finland and abroad.
The theme for this year’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is the Global Village, incorporating exciting ideas from different corners of the world, but the focus is nevertheless on the great chamber music classics. The Danel Quartet will be performing the complete string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich, while Kuuhiomo by Jukka Tiensuu and a string quartet by Juha T. Koskinen will receive their premiere performance.
Performing in Kuhmo this year will be no fewer than 30 young chamber musicians. For this reason, there will be more large ensembles than usual, and even some piano concertos. The young musicians selected by means of auditions will have a chance to play with recognised masters. Present at the Festival will be some real Kuhmo veterans, headed by Seppo Kimanen.
[b]Each day has its own theme[/b]
The first notes will be heard in Kuhmo on Sunday July 10 at a concert of cities, from Babylon to Florence. Each day has a theme of its own. That for Monday is The Ports of Knowledge and will present spirited music by composers ranging from Ravi Shankar to Sofia Gubaidulina. On Tuesday, the Kuhmo Global Village welcomes musical visitors from China, Japan and India. The premiere of a string quartet by Juha T. Koskinen is scheduled for that day.
On Wednesday, audiences can listen to Legends of the Global Village, trace two melodies as they travel round the world, and hear large ensembles in the Paganini Variations by Sergey Rachmaninoff and Bedřich Smetana’s Moldau. Thursday July 14 will take a look at Culture of the Sword, right up to the music of the Cold War era. Friday sails along the Danube, past bridges and towers, arriving at midnight at J.S. Bach. On Saturday, each concert will include Robert Schumann’s Von fremden Ländern und Menschen in different arrangements and settings.
Wonderland is the theme of the second week, beginning on Sunday, entering the worlds of witches and magic. On Monday July 18 it is time for some great chamber works, and the day ends with virtuoso numbers in the spirit of Niccolò Paganini. On the programme for the evening concert is some music seldom heard in Kuhmo, by Vladimir Mendelssohn.
The heading for Tuesday July 19 is Utopia Park (a park in New York). The day includes the premiere of Kuuhiomo by Jukka Tiensuu. On Wednesday the composers come from lands afar and the music bears messages from countries as diverse as Italy, America and Hungary. The day ends with an unusual performance, of Gustav Mahler’s fourth symphony in a transcription for chamber ensemble. Tangos and elegies are among the items on the programme for Thursday July 21, while audiences at the evening concert may be filled with real Kuhmo nostalgia as Seppo Kimanen joins other highly memorable musicians from the early years of the Festival.
The setting for the next-to-last day of the Festival is palaces, from Schönbrunn to the Kremlin. On the platform will again be large ensembles, for a programme that includes a Mozart piano concerto. The Festival ends with a Lesson in Seduction on Saturday July 23. The very last piece is one of the most popular works heard at Kuhmo in recent years, the tango opera Maria de Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla.
[b]Meetings and an exhibition[/b]
New this summer are the morning sessions at which Festival musicians freely outline the programme for the day. These sessions will begin at 10.00 each day except for the opening day, when Vladimir Mendelssohn will talk at 17.30 about the Festival themes and how they were chosen.
As in previous years, music will join with visual art at Kuhmo. The exhibition at the Kuhmo Arts Centre is this year of work by graphic artist Inari Krohn.
[b]Music not confined to Kuhmo[/b]
This year, chamber music will not be confined to Kuhmo. The Festival will be jumping the gun with an afternoon concert at the Kajaani Poetry Week on Sunday July 10. Two concerts with a tango orientation will be held at Vuokatti, and Piazzolla’s tango opera will be performed in Iisalmi on July 22.
There are also some concerts during the spring. The Kuhmo Music Association behind the Festival is 50 years old this year and to mark the occasion, a gala concert will be held during the Man and the Cosmos event. In May, Kuhmo chamber music can be heard both in Kuusamo and at the Villa Gyllenberg in Helsinki.
[b]Budget just over a million[/b]
The budget for the 2016 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is just over €1 million. Grants from the Ministry of Education and Culture and from the City of Kuhmo will hopefully cover about 30% of the budget. The remaining 70% will be made up of ticket revenue (50%) and other earned income.
Kuhmo Chamber Music 2016 has 12 friends and partners. The Partner of the 2016 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival is the OP Group. The Friends are Canorama Oy, the magazine Eeva, F-Musiikki Oy, Kainuun Sanomat, Kaisanet Oy, the Etera Mutual Pension Insurance Company, Kuhmo Oy, Loiste Oy, Metsähallitus, No-Pan Auto Oy and Osuuskauppa Maakunta. The Madetoja Foundation has awarded a grant for musical commissions.
Further info:
Kuhmo Chamber Music, tel. +358 8 652 0936
Press Officer Juhani Koivisto, tel. +358 40 508 9896
Executive Director Sari Rusanen, tel. +358 44 544 5162