This internationally acclaimed festival will bring together friends of Sibelius’ music from across the globe September 2.9.-5.9.2021, as the Lahti Symphony Orchestra once again invites followers of Finland’s national composer to a wonderful celebration in the acoustically splendid setting of Sibelius Hall. The Artistic Director of the festival is the distinguished Chief Conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska.

For a long time Sibelius dreamed of a career as a violin virtuoso, only to discover that his technical abilities were insufficient and his nerves would not hold out. For his own instrument he composed an excellent concerto in 1904–05, technically demanding, symphonic, yet at the same time engagingly poetic and powerful. The charismatic soloist Pekka Kuusisto finds a lot of Finnish folk music in the work.

The Fifth Symphony required a tremendous amount of work before the composer could say in 1919: ‘Now it is good!’ After the introspective musings of the Fourth Symphony, the Fifth sounds open and free, though not without clouds on the horizon.

The symphony creates broad arches in which the basic idea of the music is in a constant state of transformation. Sounds and colours, textures, rhythms and harmonies create a musical fabric suggesting great time and space. The symphony’s form is determined by its content.

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra reserves the right to make changes to the programmes and timing of concerts if the restrictions are required by the coronavirus infection situation.