There were more than 8,000 concert visits in the first week of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival , even though COVID-19 restrictions meant that only half of the seats could be occupied. Many of the concerts in the Kuhmo Arts Centre sold out, but there were still seats available in Kuhmo’s large church.
The Festival’s theme this year is Beethoven, and over the two weeks a large number of that composer’s key works are being performed. They include string quartets played by the Danel Quartet and all the symphonies in various arrangements for chamber ensembles.
Because of the current situation there are more Finnish artists performing at the Festival this year than usual. But there are some old audience favourites from overseas also, including pianist Nino Gvetadze, violinists Daniel Rowland, Sergei Malov and Hagai Shaham, and the Storioni Trio.
In what has been an exceptional year there have also been some last-minute changes. For example, pianist Juhani Lagerspetz, violinist Rebecca Roozeman and violist Yuval Gotlibovich will not be appearing at the Festival. And Artistic Director Vladimir Mendelssohn has had to go back to his country occasionally for personal reasons.
The Festival started a week ago and will continue at a rate of four concerts a day until Saturday 24 July, culminating in a new concert arrangement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony.
More information:
Kuhmo Chamber Music, tel. +358 44 544 5162