In Dalia Stasevska’s first season as chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, diversity is a strong theme running through the concerts. Diversity will be highlighted in the concert season 2021/22 both by the music to be performed and by the guest artists. As a novelty, ‘Focus concerts’ will be presented – curated by the American legend John Adams, who will conduct his own concert in October, and Jukka Tiensuu in November. The spotlight falls on young artists in many ways, for example at a concert in collaboration with the Lahti Conservatory. The autumn season begins with the Sibelius Festival, which focuses strongly on the folk music connections of Sibelius’s music.

‘I am very excited about the orchestra’s coming concert season, where the main theme is diversity and adventure’, says Dalia Stasevska, the new principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, noting that communication between people has undergone major upheavals. ‘Music is one of the ways of communicating and has also experienced major changes, from the most primitive sounds to tiktok culture’, says Stasevska. ‘The orchestra is a traditional entity, but music is dynamic. It is interesting to take the tradition of classical music forward while at the same time considering how the concert season 2021/22 will appear, and how to create something new while still respecting what has gone before.’

Ticket sales for the Sibelius Festival concerts will begin on Monday 24 May 2021, and seating will maintain safe distances. If the coronavirus situation eases and audience restrictions are lifted, distance restrictions will be removed and extra seats will be released for sale. Ticket sales for the autumn concerts will start on Monday 9 August 2021 in the Lippu.fi online store and from sales outlets. The start date for ticket sales for the spring 2022 concerts will be announced later.

Dalia´s Season Autumn 2021 concerts

Dalia´s Season Spring 2022 concerts

The Sibelius Festival delves into the folk-music connections of Sibelius’s works

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s autumn season will begin with the orchestra’s 22nd International Sibelius Festival on 2–5 September 2021. The festival is centred on three symphony concerts in the Sibelius Hall conducted by the orchestra’s chief conductor and the festival’s artistic director, Dalia Stasevska. The opening concert on Thursday will feature Kullervo with soloists Miina-Liisa Värelä (soprano) and Arttu Kataja (baritone), and the YL Male Voice Choir. Saturday’s orchestral concert will feature the Violin Concerto (soloist: Pekka Kuusisto) and the Fifth Symphony. The three works mentioned above are preceded by preludes composed by Timo Alakotila, which lead Sibelius’s music back to it folk-music roots. These preludes are performed by Johanna Iivanainen, Maria Kalaniemi and Mikko Iivanainen as well as Alakotila himself. Saturday’s orchestral concert will feature tone poems as well as a suite of Sibelius’s songs, ‘In the Stream of Life’, arranged by Einojuhani Rautavaara, with the British bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams as soloist.

The guest orchestra at the festival is the Finnish Baroque Orchestra (FiBO), which will perform the Lemminkäinen suite with its conductor Tomas Djupsjöbacka on authentic instruments at the Saturday afternoon concert. In Friday afternoon’s concert, the legendary actor Seela Sella will read the letters of Aino Sibelius, and Sibelius’s early piano music will be performed by the young Estonian pianist Tähe-Lee Liiv. On Saturday and Sunday, runic singing/dirge concerts will be held at Myllysaari, where the Pajolaine folk music duo will perform. The festival’s concerts are complemented by pre-concert talks, and for example a church boat trip to Myllysaari will take place as an additional event, if coronavirus restrictions and weather permit. Tickets for the church boat trip will go on sale in August.